Originally posted by Atobe:
With the Thai Coup taking place, several issues will concern
Singaporeans -
Firstly, Temasek's takeover of Shin Corp for a sum of S$3 Billion
was the final push that place Thaksin in a continuous nose
dive.
Secondly, prior to Temasek's take over of Shin Corp, it was already
known that Shin Corp is already facing a very tough telephone
market with profits continuously shrinking. With many Thais seeing
the takeover as a national loss - as the take over meant the loss
of Thai satellite and its accompanying national bandwidth slot - a
boycott of Shin Corp services was being called.
What will be the worth of this S$3 Billion Temasek takeover of Shin
Corp now ?
Thirdly, after forty-five years, MM LKY has recently hinted that
Singapore may have to use a 'Military Coup' to resolve a
'freak election result' -
which will bring an [b]'Alternative Party' to form
a new Singapore Government. This begs the question if MM LKY insist
on abrogating the Peoples' Choice for an Alternative Party' in
view of events that leave Singaporeans losing faith and confidence
in the incumbent Political Party in bringing any solution to the
Peoples' problems ?
Is the SAF, the Singapore Police Force and all other government
uniformed organisations to be made use of as tools of the Incumbent
Ruling Party ?
At least in Thailand, the Thai Military that dismissed the Ruling
Government had declared its allegiance and loyalty to the Thai King
and Royal Family.
Who will the SAF, Singapore Police, Civil Defence and any other
uniformed military and para-military groups pledge their allegiance
to, when the supposedly elected-President is also a known political
appointee, whose existence and authority is held to ransom by the
Ruling Political Party.
Any random Presidential decision made without consultation with the
Ruling Government, will incur its displeasure and a stinging rebuke
will soon be forthcoming in the form of new legislations to curb
such independent actions from an Elected President. (Reference made
to the late elected-President Ong Teng Cheong's famous attempts to
seek the extent of the Singapore Reserves that he is supposed to
protect.
Can Singapore politics and political systems develop into positive
institutions that will last into posterity ?
[/b]
On another note, Temasek's buy-out of Shin Corp could have been
a move orchestrated by its subsidiary, Singtel, as Shin Corp may
have been a potential competitor in the telecommunications regional
market.
With the buy-out, it removes one competitor from the field swiftly,
allowing Singtel to plow on with its long term regional plan to
reach out into the asian market.
In this case, there would not have been any interest in
profit-making, since the move was aimed to close down and possibly
liquidify a rival business.
But since such decision-making processes are not explained to the
public, the actual reasons behind the takeover bid will never be
known.
