By Fang Zhi Yuan
At the Singapore Tripartism Forum last Sunday, Prime Minister
Lee was asked by a business leader to comment on the performance of
Temasek and GIC in the wake of the stunning revelation of its
recent losses.
He replied straight in the face that “these are very respectable
figures” based on the annual returns quoted by
Finance Minister Tharman.
“Some years it will go down, some years it will go up more. But
on average it’s not
bad. And we have to take a long-term view because
this is not money for now, this is money for many years
ahead. If you look at a long-term basis, on the
overall on the way the government has managed the money,
we haven’t done
badly“, he said. (read the original report here)
I wondered if the journalist who wrote the report was equally as
convinced as Prime Minister Lee. If the article was meant to allay
the fears and angst of Singaporeans, it doesn’t sound reassuring at
all.
In the first place, we are still kept in the dark over the real
extent of GIC’s losses, which a Thai Daily put it at
an estimate of over S$200 billion dollars. Then
there is the danger of Citi Bank and Bank of America being
nationalized by the United States government which will wipe out
much of our investment.
Given the dire state the U.S. banks are in now, how long will we
have to wait before we recoup our losses and we are talking about a
mind-boggling sum in terms of billions. Even if the share prices do
rebound in 10 or 20 years time, what is the opportunity cost lost
when we could have grown the money by investing it in gold,
bonds or fixed deposits.
I am not an economist and yet I am able to point out such
glaring deficiencies in the news report. Surely there are
financial professionals in the government and the media who being
more knowledgable than me, are able to correct the Prime Minister’s
mistakes and give the people a more accurate and detailed answer ?
Why is there such
a deafening silence ?
The culprits responsible for this devastating loss are none
other than the wife and father of the Prime Minister. While Madam Ho Ching has
stepped down from Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew is still the Chairman of
GIC and a minister in the Cabinet. Which minister or MP in
Parliament will dare to question the Minister Mentor’s judgement
and authority?
The media has
long ceased to be a genuine voice for the people and instead it has
been deftly manipulated to serve as tinted glasses for us to view a
distorted reality from the government’s
perspective.
Seeing Singapore through this tunnel vision, we are trained over
the years to believe that our leaders can make no mistakes. We are
not allowed to question them or to demand for more information from
them. Just keep quiet and let them run the country because they are
the “best talents” tiny Singapore can offer.
Our leaders
are surrounded by cronies and sycophants who dare not speak the
truth out of fear of losing their rice-bowls or ruining their
careers. The state media exercise stringent self-censorship to spin
the news which sound pleasant to their ears. They live in ivory
towers erected by their sense of pride, omnipotence and
infallibility completely disconnected with the people they are
supposed to serve. That is how the Singapore government has been
treating us, like kids.
If Prime Minister Lee were to leave his ivory tower for an
instance and venture into the “wild wild west” of Singapore’s
blogosphere, he would be absolutely flabbergasted at what his
citizens are speaking of him. Few were convinced by his lame
defence of Temasek and GIC’s performance. Many more were angry and
shocked by the loss of our precious reserves.
In an online poll conducted here, 98%
of 500 netizens polled want a Commission of Inquiry to be set
up to probe into the loss. 73% are “very unhappy” with the
way the government had handled the fiasco while
22% are “quite disappointed“. And more
embarassingly, 73% wants the
Prime Minister to step down.
If our leaders come to know about the poll results, they will
probably dismiss it as ”an online poll taken from a
website devoted to anti-government invective.” We will be
accused of spreading rumors and lies to provoke hatred against the
government and soon another minister will threaten to arrest
us.
We are in great danger of being fooled, misled and deluded by
all these irresponsible and callous “self-spinning”. The citizens
are taken in by the spin and remain contented to let their leaders
run the show. The leaders believe the spin and continue to ignore
underlying concerns and disgruntlement on the ground. What will
this country become ?
I sincerely implore our leaders to stop hiding behind the spins
of the state media and come forward to face the people;
fellow Singaporeans to stand up and give honest feedback to
the government, and journalists to be report the truth fearlessly
bearing in mind their obligations to society.
An open, accountable and transparent government should
not fear its critics and treat them as enemies. In fact,
it should be glad that there are Singaporeans who care enough to
speak out. It will be a sad day for Singapore if nobody bother
to question how the country is being governed for it would mean
that it has ceased to become a home in our hearts.
Our country is
facing the greatest crisis in its lifetime. There is no space and
time for parochial and petty politicking to safeguard one’s vested
interests and misplaced pride. Turning a blind eye to the problems
and pretending all is well will only plunge us into a greater
abyss.
The soul of a nation does not lie in GDP numbers, world class
infrastructure or a first world government. It lies in a
well-informed, socially active and politically mature citizenry
which is able keep the nation together in spite of any internal or
external threats.
If I do not love Singapore, I would not waste my time typing
this article. As an ordinary citizen, that’s about as much I can
do. I may not know enough to teach our esteemed leaders how to run
the country, but I am concerned enough to express my misgivings
about the direction we are heading now and in the future.
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