SDP's Tan Jee Say says that Temasek and GIC should be made to account to the public for their investment losses
Singapore Democratic Party candidate Tan Jee Say has blasted the PAP over the enormous losses incurred by sovereign wealth funds Temasek Holdings and the Government Investment Corporation (GIC), and further lambasted the government’s refusal to disclose the accounts of the two state-owned companies to the public.
Mr Tan, a former senior official at the Ministry of Trade and Industry as well as Principal Private Secretary to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, had been criticised by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean over proposals to spend $60 billion to reshape the Singapore economy. Mr Teo had said that $60 billion was “not small change”, and emphasised that there were “ten zeros” in the figure.
Speaking at the SDP’s rally in Yuhua, Mr Tan retorted that his proposed $60 billion spending plan was to help Singapore develop a stronger services infrastructure, through investments in schools, daycare centres, polyclinics and hospitals.
On the other hand, he said, Temasek Holdings had lost “tens or hundreds of billions” on risky foreign investments, adding that Singaporeans do not even know the exact scale of the losses. He said that “because the government doesn’t want to tell us how much was lost, it must be bad”.
Temasek Holdings is wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance and is run by Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
In addition, Mr Tan also reserved strong criticism for Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, saying that he ought to learn how to manage his own ministry’s budget before commenting on the issues of others. He also repeated the SDP’s call for Dr Balakrishnan to explain to the public how his Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) overspent the Youth Olympic Games budget by over $300 million – a figure that Mr Tan said was “not small change”.
Now the truth is out. SM Goh has revealed that Tan Jee Say quit the civil service because he could not make it as a Perm Sec. So what does that say about his motives? Did he join SDP because of a personal vendetta against his former bosses? Tan’s proposals are totally irresponsible. $60 billion dollars is a lot of money that could be used to help Singaporeans in many ways. He is advocating that we should just spend money recklessly and his flippant attitude that $60 billion constitues “small change” is rather worrying. Do voters want someone like him in charge?
Every Worker knOws VERY WELL THAT
BOSSES ALWAYS TELL ALL KINDS OF LIES
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“I think what Ajohor has said is right. There’s still a net profit; its not like they made a huge loss. It’s unfair to say “why did they buy Lehman Brothers stocks” when we are looking back on it now. If everyone could say that back then, the world wouldn’t have been hit so bad by the economic crisis. I think Temasek’s doing ok.”
Of course, there is profit at some point in time but the question is what is been written off, and what the asset and liability that been transferred to the company . (Did our national assets power station been sold off and money transfer to cover loss for TH ?) … This is the type of question that we should ask. Figures alone don’t tell the whole story. A loss is still a loss no matter how they cover up because the gain could come from the loss somewhere, and this is the basis of accounting. Did the govt resort to creative accounting that their books cannot be scrutinized ? Didn’t we heard of creative feature that certain MP use to achieve the number target ?
Surely you heard something call T-load in army where some equipment is loan to other party to cover up for loss for it for official auditing purpose. That also make the audit look good .
WHY SERVANTS ARE ALLOWED TO TELL CITIZEN OWNERS
THAT THEY CANNOT KNOW THE TRUTH
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Kenneth J says the RP’s proposal is to public list Temasek on the stock exchange and distribute shares to all S’poreans. I like this idea.
TH & GIC must be listed for HONESTY & INTEGRITY
THIS IS THE TRUE
PERMANENT GROW & SHARE SCHEME
from WP
BETTER THAN THE C P F
The point is not whether there is a profit or a loss. The point is, we DON’T EVEN KNOW THE TRUTH and there is NO WAY TO VERIFY!! Because there is zero transparency and accountability. So even if they embezzle all the money (not saying they are, but IF they do), we have no freaking way to know! Are Singaporeans seriously so daft that they dont realize how serious this is?
I think what Ajohor has said is right. There’s still a net profit; its not like they made a huge loss. It’s unfair to say “why did they buy Lehman Brothers stocks” when we are looking back on it now. If everyone could say that back then, the world wouldn’t have been hit so bad by the economic crisis. I think Temasek’s doing ok.
What I want to know is – Where the hell did our S$400 Million go for the YOG. How the hell do you spend S$400 million and still end up having terrible food.
@ajohor yes, there will be risks to be managed. but in this case, it’s the ‘risky investment’ which he is refering to and not just any ordinary investment. raiding and putting our ‘reserves’ at stake. probably this is why HDB has to raise price to cover back the reserves.
i wonder why they bought into Lemon (lehman) bros.
Frankly, yes, there are losses but there are more gains.
In business, there are both gains and losses and the idea is to create more gains than losses.
Temasek and GIC did state the quantum but overall, year on year, there were gains.
It is similiar to Tan Jee Say work at Morgan Grenfell, in which as long as 6 out of 10 investments make money, they receive their bonuses unless he is God who can create 100% sure win pau chiak.
Transparency is need, no doubt.
Why no opposition parties bring up the issue of Ho Ching resigning as CEO then supposed to be replaced by that angmoh guy, then last minute reverse decision and she stays on? What is this? Also, how much is Ho Ching getting paid? I won’t be surprised if it’s more than a PM’s pay since she can say she private sector. But Singaporeans deserve to know all this.
Ho Ching is a national disgrace. She makes me ashamed to call myself Singaporean.
Agree
Yes, all this thanks to Ho Ching, best CEO in the world and also world’s top 50 most powerful women. Can’t stand her cb face.
Why is it until now Temasek never account to the people how much they lost?? Is it because they scared to admit? Could it be that they lost $200 billion??