A*STAR would just love to think they were the boss, and that's
probably the foundation of the problem. Correct me if I'm wrong,
but I believe JH and A*STAR were supposed to be in PARTNERSHIP.
Just to clarify, partnership doesn't mean master-and-servant or
employee-and-boss, despite A*STAR's wishes. There are no bosses,
masters, captains, generals or any other hierarchical labels of
power for the weak-minded to hang on to like life rafts in a
storm.
Anybody who's thinking that there's a boss in this scenario who
gets the *ahem* pleasure of firing someone else really needs
to:
a) find out what partnership means and;
b) grow up
I didn't say it, A*STAR did in their litany of JH's sins. You
acknowledge the brand name value that A*STAR was getting out of
riding on JH's coat tails, so you can see how ludicrous their
bleating about brand names is.
Again, with regards to this "boss" nonsense, you're just going
to have to get a grip, lion. In fact, A*STAR is going to have to
get a grip too. Within Singapore they may be backed by the holders
of all the strings, but out in the real world they're nobody and
carrying on like this will only lead to their own embarrassment.
After all, Idi Amin pronounced himself General, Doctor and so on,
but did anybody take him seriously? Same thing whern someone in a
partnership has the temerity to call themselves boss.
Fact of the matter is that the very small pond that A*STAR's a big
fish in is looking to get bigger, but this kind of thing just get's
in the way of that goal. Let's face it, who in their right minds
wants to work with a bunch of tin-pot dictators?
Sure, within Singapore what A*STAR thinks is important and what JH
think isn't. Then again, if Singapore wants to become a technology
hub, they'd jolly well better start getting a grip on reality and
understand that on an internationa stage, a whisper from JH carries
a helluva lot more weight than all of A*STAR's yammering and
stammering.
Why hasn't JH said too much about this? Open your mind and consider
other possibilities instead of going "full stop" - that's like a
child saying, "it is too!". 
Unlike A*STAR, they're polite, intelligent and, most
importantly, they know how the political situation works
internationally. It is better for them not to dignify A*STAR's
yapping with a response. Getting into an open debate with them only
makes them look defensive to the people whose opinions really
matter (i.e. their other current and potential research partners,
and funding bodies like the NIH). JH already knows that nobody
outside of Sinagpore is going to take A*STAR's standing over
theirs, and getting into an argument only wastes time and drags
them down to A*STAR's level - there's simply no mileage in
it.
In contrast, A*STAR's whinging and dirt-throwing just makes them
look stupid and childish - they obviously have no idea how polite
society conducts itself, and research institutions are going to be
wary of dealing with people who have no compunction about acting
like louts just because they're favoured children at home, so
effectively A*STAR's just shot itself in the foot.
Go have a read of Altbach's article again, and if you're not
entirely dense you'll see that he's subtly saying that A*STAR's
behaviour only does themselves harm because the other kids in the
sandbox won't want to play with someone who spits the dummy.