With the recent debacle on the wastage of the country’s money on various investments overseas, and the prospects of criminal charges being pressed on Government-held Temasek Holdings, I cannot help but wonder how much of our money is being wasted every day. Needless to say, such evidence would be hard to find or produce, since even such large losses in the region of billions can be flippantly attributed to poor investment practices.
A larger question should be, how much is left in our national reserves right now, and can it withstand another disaster such as the 911, SARS or another recession? Don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but I find it so hard to find information on the government websites. There is no transparency on the hard facts that we are entitled to know, other than those nicely wrapped and published ones.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Thank you for bringing this up. I am shocked by the news. I have always have faith in the Govenment especially Tamsek Holdings. Now I am losing sleep. I think our Govenment owes her citizens a good explanation (and PRs too as they do pour in money into CPF).
However, having said all these, being just a simple minded citizen whose vision cannot sees beyond the return of CPF’s 2.5% (is it 2.5%?), do I really care of Government is making money or not? I mean even if they make like 40% in a year-to-year basis over a duration of 20 years (they are all scholars supposed to be smart right), how much do I as a simple minded citizen gets in return?
2.5%
What Temasek Holdings has gotten into is unfortunate. Then again, in a business world, you gain some, you lose some. The return posted previously due to SingTel shares increase (I think) has increased the portfolio quite a bit.
October 25th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
SG is ranked 146th in press freedom. explains a lot ain’t it ?
http://majulah.xblogger.net/in.....-position/
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October 27th, 2006 at 11:39 am
From my discussion with my friends, the situation may not be as bad as what we perceived. Tamasek Holdings will need to dilute the share but will probably do so with Singapore-based big buyers who are closely related to Tamasek Holdings. If we buy that in shares, the price goes up and down and in long term, that could be a good investment, we may give Tamasek Holdings some time to see if it is indeed a good one. 25 billion Bt may sound big but in the world of shares, the value fluctuates a long. I also heard that in the time when Tamasek made that investment, lots of other foreign companies also hold more than 49% of the Thai shares. It is the political turmoil that we have overlooked. Personally I hope that the risk management framework of Tamasek Holdings is solid enough to weather this shortfall.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Oh btw 2.5% is hardly a “return”. Minus the ever-increasing inflation rate, your “return” is not enough to cover your old age medical bills (maybe even wiped out one-time if your illness is serious enough). Crediting what happened to pure “unfortunate” is just another excuse. We’ve always been told to abide by the damn bloody law in Singapore, so what about the law Thailand has about foreign investments? My thinking now is, if they get sued, so be it and let it be a lesson to all Singaporeans to open their eyes big big.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Hi there, i am looking for info on online education but i am left wondering how is your post Darkspore – Space of a Singapore Blogger related to that ? .
December 13th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Hi TS, I have no idea what is the context of your question. May I know how did you get to this site? If it is through some search engines like Google, I have no control over it. But it is good to know that some higher beings up there think my site is related to education