20 Oct 06
Given the revelations of the scandalous deal between Temasek Holdings and Shin Corp which continue to trickle from Bangkok, it is impossible for Singaporeans not to take notice.
The transaction has not only provoked outrage among the Thai people, leading to the souring of relations between Singapore and Thailand.
This reinforces the Singapore Democrats' stand that the Government has to get out of being directly involved in business as it arouses, not without reason, suspicion in the countries in which it makes deals.
In addition, with the questionable performance of the Temasek-linked companies and some high profile debacles, including
- The sinking of Micropolis which cost Singaporeans $630 million
- The ill-advised acquisition of Optus by SingTel which stands to face a write-down of between $5 billion to $8 billion,
- And the present eruption of the Shin Corp deal in which due diligence was not exercised which may yet incur a loss of up to $3 billion
it is clear that Madam Ho Ching, wife of PM Lee Hsien Loong, has failed as head of Temasek. Her decision to buy into Shin Corp has even provoked a criminal investigation into the deal in Thailand.
And while Mr Thaksin Shinawatra and his family are laughing all the way to the bank, Temasek has lost the hard-earned money of Singaporeans which now looks unrecoverable.
While all these developments have taken place, the Government and the company continue to remain tight-lipped apart from the few platitudes offered by the Prime Minister that serve no purpose or have any meaning.
In light of all this the SDP calls on Madam Ho Ching to resign as chief executive of Temasek Holdings.
In addition, in the interest of transparency and accountability Singapore should hold its own public inquiry into the affair and have Temasek come clean about all the related matters. There are reports that the non-transparent deal was influenced by members of the Lee family.
If Temasek is indeed a commercial entity that adheres to the corporate code of conduct, then it will make itself transparent to its shareholders, that is, Singaporeans.
Singaporeans must be given all the information to determine for themselves if there were any wrong-doings by all the players involved.
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
22 Oct 2006
Mdm Ho Ching must step down as head of Temasek
From Dr Chee
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7 comments:
I hear Lee Hsien Yang is looking for a job; maybe Dr Chee would like to tell him about any future vacancies at Temasek...
She should have been given the bitter pill a long time ago.
Whether she has earned enough in the past or that she would be able to recover the losses in the future must be inconsequential to her total removal.
The Lee family should take a hard look at what disservice they have done to Singapore.
Ho Ching will not be sacked, given that Temasek is under the control of the Lee empire. She might even get a pay increase, joke aside.
Ho Ching is a stooge for the Lees. How much has they gave back to the society that made them so powerful, wealthy? Only commendable person is the daughter. They should take a long hard look at the other Lee family ( whose forefathers founded OCBC & Fourseas ) and emulate them.
GLCs, Temasek should be dismantled. The cronyism - you rub my back and I rub yours- is so obvious.
just give shares of temasek, GIC, other GLCs to the citizens and distribute cash regularly; people can use the money
Any business deals is not risk free.So, just concentrating on the failures and not on the success issus negates the above. Based on their other deals, they are still ahead eg StanChart.
but less ahead than khoo teck puat; he bought StanChart really cheap
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