From Gerald Giam’s blog:
While I believe Singaporeans accept that in all investments there will be ups and downs, Temasek and the government cannot hide behind this flimsy excuse for realising as large a loss as this. This is a national scandal! Where is the accountability? None whatsoever, it seems.
The CEO of the company is allowed to retire gracefully, saying she has “no regrets”. So what will cause you to leave with regrets, Ms Ho Ching? A $10 billion, or a $100 billion loss of our future generations’ money? Since Temasek is a wholly owned company of the Ministry of Finance, I don’t think they can just claim they are a private company that is accountable only internally.
The Minister of Finance must answer to Parliament and to the people for this staggering loss of Singapore’s reserves. The government needs to be reminded that the reserves belong not to them, but to the people of Singapore, and more importantly, our children and future generations. —-
From the Financial Times:
Temasek Holdings, the Singapore state investment company, has pulled out of its investment in Bank of America, selling its 3.8 per cent stake in the US group.
The disclosure on Friday of the sale follows an announcement by Ho Ching, Temasek’s chief executive, that the company is to cut its target for planned investments in developed economies and invest more in emerging markets.
Temasek is estimated to have lost at least $2bn on an investment foray that began with it taking a stake in Merrill Lynch in December 2007 for $5bn.
Temasek injected another $900m into Merrill last July and became its biggest shareholder, with a 13.7 per cent stake. It held 219.7m Merrill shares at the end of 2008.
So this is what you call “long-term investments”??
Why, the stocks “too hot” to hold??
Every time I see a photo of Ho Ching I get the shivers. I get the shivers because every time I see her face, I see the same face that has been splashed across our tv screens, of a man who stretches his hands out to ask for the piggy bank belonging to his daughter.
The words that ring in my ears are so traumatic that I am going into depression very soon: “I promise I will give it all back“. These are words of one who takes a long term view on investment, even if the investmest can be clearly seen by sane and sober people, as outright gambling.
Yes indeed. In the long run, the gambler is going to hit the jackpot! Well, if he still have enough money to feed his gambling disease. Ho Ching is such a gambler and I am shivering. You should too.
89) RighteousSinga on May 17th, 2009 11.08 pm
Iskandar @ 85.
I admire your stand but unfortunately your voice of rationality is being lost in “the Crowd” . You would be advised to understand the futility of doing so.
I really admire you guys for your patience. Many times, I just give up. (Someone should set up a forum that encourages people like me to post)
As long as “the crowd” is still large enough to pose a risk during election, it is unlikely that PAP would improve their transparency. Right now, the only feasible source of power to open up comes from economic partners.
People should think what they really what, and how best to get it. Alright, I admit — I’m being emotional to try again to tell emotional people how to behave…
re Iskandar,
////We have ourselves to blame for years of the incumbent’s iron grip, if we continue to remain silent or if we continue to pass emotional personal comment whenever incumbent makes mistakes. Let the personal, emotional, hate comments be confined to kopi-tiam chats but we have to the raise the standards of debate when in comes to writing, to effectively challenge the incumbents, otherwise there is absolutely no hope for Singaporeans, now or ever.////
very well, said. & that you have a much more level head than most here, including me. :)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
re Gemami,
no wonder today rain so heavy & now so cool. if shivering now, time to wear a sweater or jacket to keep warm.
…. & guard that piggy!! :P
Wow ..with such losses, how does one not make a rope and hang herself… but still live on.. and still have accolades to collect?
Dead blood money in my book and also other Singaporeans books.
#89 – You now have the basis of comparison. The question is who do you want to compare Temasek with? I suspect friendlier people will choose the MSCI World Index and Abu Dhabi while less friendly people will choose Norway..
The pragmatic approach is to choose alternatives within one’s reach. One can invest in the MSCI World index, but can’t invest in the Norwegian fund. If one wants to invest himself, then don’t expect the government to regulate “foolish” investments.
I hope “the crowd” see my point.
PAP = Pay And Pay
To be fair to the fund, every other fund also lost money some to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. It was that bad this year.
What irked me was that they remained nonchalant and no one dared tocome out and apologised or at least talk about such losses.
For that, Ho Ching got her gold medal May Day award and got to leave the company in good stead handing over to someone to take the rap. This is unacceptable even though she is the PM’s wife.
Now she is determining the next investment phase for Temasek before she departed from a company that she nearly bankrupted.
The way we are governed, I foresee that we will face massive problems in future. There is a real lack of transparency here and officers got away from responsibilities. No one seemed responsible here and we always make scapegoats of junior officers.
why you guys complain? if anyone of you is in the job, do you think you can do better? Ho Ching lose just a few billions. Others may lose hundreds if not thousands of billions more. Who are you to say Ho Ching is not the best. So shut up and sit down!
It is interesting to note that Temasek Holdings’ astronomical loss did not have to be answered by Ho Ching, the paid CEO. In recent days, finance minister Tharman said that he is prepared to answer any questions relating to Temasek’s loss in parliament. Not too long ago, Tharman did express that Temasek is independent from the govt and makes investment decisions on its own.
Mr Tharman, are you now being made answerable for Ho Ching’s mess because of your superior’s request?
By the way, have we come to terms with the fact that just 1% of the investments is worth more than $100 million already?
Re 107) Jim Raynor PAP = Pay And Pay
Latest versions: PAP = Pathetic And Pathetic
PAP = Pissed And Pissed
PAP say: Pay peanuts, and you will get Corrupt Monkeys!
S’poreans say: Pay big bananas, but still get Incompetent Chimpanzees!!!
The time will come in our life time when Ho Ching, Temasek and GIC will be investigated, history has a funny way of paying back the good and bad in all situations. More pressure and sensible arguments must come from the net to get answers. When it comes to the country’s monies there is no such thing as being independant or secret. it is our money too indirectly and we want to know where it went and how, what are the safe guards for future monies and investments. What pisses me off is this, we have not benefitted at all from all these investments. Why are we still struggling , increases every year, where are we heading to? It’s like this. A country with oil but the prices at the pump are sky high, pray tell?
#Wee Long(term)
Dont be silly,nobody,nobody can do worse!
This episode shows a lack of accountability and leadership.
We all can accept that mistakes can be made. But it is not acceptable if people make the mistake (e.g. like failing an exam and pretending to score As) and want to wish away the responsiblity by giving poor ungrounded explanations in the Straits Times.
I believe Singaporeans just merely want to know the truth, and know how the bad mistakes are made and what we are doing to prevent recurrent of such mistake. We always pride that we have system that works. In this case, it fails as the decision should have been vetoed.
Secondly those that make mistake should be held responsible. This is about leadership. Make a poor judgement & you have to pay for it – it is NOT your money. Afterall, you have been handsomely paid for the job. Hiding in the shadow further teaches our future generation that it is ok to make mistake after you are high up in the corporate ladder. You will be protected.
I will not want such people to lead the country or corporations as they breed the thinking that leadership is about protecting yourself.
One wonders whether the huge losses incurred will make an impact on the forthcoming election?
I am sure it will.
Gilbert, before the next election. All of us will be feed with a lot goodies and will forget what had happened in the past. History repeat itself in S’pore. Human beings tend to forget the past when present time is good. I would urge all capable S’poreans to stand up for the next election so that we can monitor what is going on in the government operation. There must be some kind of check in place! Good Luck and Stand Up For S’pore.
aiyoyo
not sure if elites stand up & take actions on this?
aiyoyo
#113) gj,
You are very wrong! There are people who will do worse. Those who still support such bad invesments and give reason that no one could have done better. Gosh! No one is Singapore is smarter than Ho Ching. A nice big cake to swallow!
why you guys complain? if anyone of you is in the job, do you think you can do better? Ho Ching lose just a few billions. Others may lose hundreds if not thousands of billions more. Who are you to say Ho Ching is not the best. So shut up and sit down!
how much hc pay u to write this piece of xxxx
since investing is made to be such a hit-&-miss job with so many variables beyond one’s control, many would be qualified & cost way less.
… or maybe a team of (apolitical) professionals from diverse backgrounds each dealing with a specific discipline could make a more sound judgement? afterall its everyone’s money.
95) Iskandar on May 18th, 2009 9.11 am
“Let the personal, emotional, hate comments be confined to kopi-tiam chats but we have to the raise the standards of debate when in comes to writing, to effectively challenge the incumbents, otherwise there is absolutely no hope for Singaporeans, now or ever.”
Dear Mr. Iskandar,
I am much mesmerised by your non-emotional & rational story, albeit from the kind of difficult-to-explain hynotic effect. After all this from you, I still do not see any tinge of effect on them (i mean the incumbents).
That’s terrible ! Look like the world knows about the Temasek jinx. Anything that Temasek touch will be jinxed, and the moment it sell all stake of BOA, the share price goes up. Maybe the world knows that whatever Temasek invest, it will go low, and when it uninvest, the company’s share price will go high. Yes, Temasek must now reveal their strategies as which invested companies to dump its share so that investors can buy more of that companies.
Actually, we cannot blame Temasek for bad timing of offloading its share of BOA because it may due to Temasek offloading all stakes that the share price goes up as the world know of the Temasek Jinx. So anyone want to be smart investor might want to find out which is the next companies Temasek is going to offload their share.
Wow… uniquely Temasek.
Temasek is not the Jinx. The Ho is. She should have left Temasek straight away instead of dragging her ass on Goodyear.
The whole saga again proves that our 1st-world, world-class, million-dollar, PAP government has NO ACCOUNTABILITY AT ALL. NOT AT ALL.
Temasek Holdings released a statement repeating that its investments are for the long term. According to the report in TODAY papers, Myrna Thomas, MD for Corporate Affairs, said: “Temasek invests with the onjective of delivering sustainable returns over the long term.
She did not give a clue how long is ‘long term’? She is worse than the TV add guy who, at least, promised to “give it all back“.
“You know me. My luck is changing. I am going to strike the big one. Imagine what we can do. One more try. I promise I will give it all back” – this is the long term objective of a gambler.
Managing the nation wealth is a resposibility that we SinKaporean expect the appointed CEO to take seriously. It is a fact , sometime investment suffer loses but the one in charge should take responsibility for it. A simple explanation and apology will goes a long way to show some humanity to the citizen. An open discussion might even benefit those in charge as the right and wrong will be aired. A lesson learn session but sadly we the citizen are too low down to be deserving such an honour. I must admit, the author by the user name “simple” is right to say we need to vote in a new party to learn the truth about this affair. We as a country have many problems but the biggest one is the ruling party. They are not part of the solution anymore but the Problem.
i suspect, by 2010/2011, when the Great Singapore Farce of an election rolls around and the economy is well on its way up again, Singaporeans will have forgotten what has transpired.
a new face will be at temasek’s head (still under the Lee Family), new schemes to “reward” us will be given.
the only thing our country lacks now, is a leader with enough charisma and cunning to forge the opposition into a force to be reckoned with, i.e Anwar Ibrahim of malaysia and yukio hatoyama of japan (the latter to a certain extent). our prominent opposition MPs are LTK and CST, and ms Sylvia Lim as an NCMP, who is basically powerless to do anything.
i have faith in my fellow singaporeans my age, who are enlightened and do not just blindly lead their lives as the PAP would have us doing. we form the future of our country, and the opposition must of course have realised this, well, at least i hope so.
@ Iskandar: pay no attention to people like budamax. you speak the truth and do so lucidly.