By Eugene Yeo
Wherever you go these days, be it the kopitiams, markets,
internet cafes, restaurants or pubs, the topic of the
day will invariably turn to the castastrophic losses
suffered by our SWFs, Temasek and GIC, which at last count, is over
SGD $100 billion dollars.
Tongues have been wagging on how the government manage to lose a
bulk of our reserves and still remain eerily silent on the matter.
Massive protests would have erupted in other countries as
illustrated by Iceland. The calm and quietude on the
surface seem too surreal to be true.
The issue was
not debated in Parliament. The country’s leaders have not issued
any public statements to allay public concerns. Neither has the
press published any reports on it.
Speaking at a dinner celebrating Standard Chartered Bank’s 150th
anniversary in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called
on foreign banks to take a long-term view in their investment in
Singapore. There was no mention on the “long term” investments of
Temasek and GIC which are now in limbo.
The state
media has been busy painting a rosy picture of how the various
state agencies are doing their utmost to help Singaporeans tide
through the storm, the latest being the Public Transport Council’s
“kind gesture” to reduce the transport fare by 2
cents.
Is the PAP really ignorant of the endless rumblings on the
ground which is whipping up a frenzy in both the internet chatrooms
and the HDB heartlands ? Has it really lost touch with the people
?
Perhaps Prime Minister Lee doesn’t feel the need to explain his
wife’s investment decision to lesser mortals like us which is after
all deemed as a private matter between both of them to be settled
in the confines of their bedroom. Or according to his warped
logic, Singaporeans have accepted the SWFs’ losses heartily because
there were no protests outside Parliament House.
Even during the Mas Selamat fiasco last year, opposition MP Low
Thia Kiang manage to put up a half-baked wayang in Parliament when
he appeared to be stunned by PM Lee’s direct question to
him if he felt that Wong Kan Seng should resign. Low is
nowhere to be seen too at this critical juncture where leadership
from the opposition is solely needed and missed. (I forgot Low
doesn’t regard himself as an “opposition” MP, he yearns to be a
constructive “watchdog” of the PAP).
Will the matter simply go away if the authorities continue to
put up the facade that nothing has happened ? In the absence of
official news release, half-truths, rumors and lies are spreading
like wildfire in the populace which will eventually erode public
trust and confidence in the government.
The PAP should be astute enough to realize the long-term
repercussions for keeping mum on their latest blunder now. Like in
the past, the Chua sisters will always intervene just in time to
save their skin.
So when will Dr Chua, our psycho-psychiatrist who has the
uncanny ability of diagnosing personality disorders in opposition
figures from afar without even examining them spin another fairy
tale for us again ? Do not be deceived by her reticence so far for
it is probably a delaying tactic to wait for the public fury to
subside first before she start concocting her potent “red pill” to
mislead the crowd again.
I reckon she will use some if not all of the following:
1. Quote figures from other SWFs such as the Kuwait and Abu
Dhabi which have lost more money than us to put “things into
perspective” so as to exonerate Temasek and GIC from their
dismal, if not disastrous performance.
2. Solicit the views of some authoritative figures in the
banking industry to defend the SWFs’ investment decisions on the
usual pretext that they were sound at that time and nobody was able
to predict the extent of the financial turmoil then.
3. Release selective figures from Temasek and GIC to defend its
track records of generating annual returns and that they had merely
lost what they had earned through “prudent management” over the
last few years.
4. Interview some grassroots leaders for them to express
their evergreen confidence and trust in the government
to create the false impression that the people are genuinely
behind them.
5. When all else fails, resort to the usual “ku3 lou4 ji4″ by
tugging at Singaporeans’ heart chords with the gentle reminder yet
again that Singapore will not be where it is today without our
godfather Lee Kuan Yew. (YUCKS !!!)
Rest assured we will be seeing a repeat of the Mas Selamat
wayang kulit in which PM Lee “disappeared” for almost two weeks
before slamming Low Thia Kiang in Parliament only after his
father had spoken out on the matter. A few days later, Chua Lee
Hoong wrote a “let’s move on” article to tie up the loose ends.
Will Low Thia Kiang serve as the “punching bag” again to make PM
Lee look good ? Will another wayang COI filled by the henchment of
PAP be called eventually to appease
Singaporeans?
Unless
Singaporeans start to make themselves heard in the
public arena such as a protest at Hong Lim Park drawing the
attention of the international media, the PAP will never take us
seriously and all our online grouses will remain forever, in the
words of one Rear-Admiral, “unhelpful
comments”.
http://wayangparty.com/?p=5359