Leong Sze Hian
Both the Merrill and BoA losses came to light only after securities filings in other countries or when international news agencies reported them – and were not voluntarily disclosed by Temasek or the government.
“Temasek Holdings sold its stake in British banking giant Barclays in December and January, at an estimated loss of between 500 million (S$1.2 billion) and 600 million pounds, sources told the Straits Times”. (Straits Times, 4 June 2009)
This comes on the heels of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s remarks in March 2009 when he said: “We’ll most probably stay with the financials… Eventually, it must recover. It is the circulation system of the world.” (Reuters)
When asked to comment on the latest suspected losses, which was first reported by Reuters, a Temasek spokesman was quoted as having said, “We don’t comment on unsourced reports”.
This is akin to saying to Singaporeans that they are still not entitled to know about how much of their money has been lost once again.
The remark by Temasek’s spokesman is really a very weak excuse not to confirm or dismiss the report. I think Singaporeans and our Members of Parliament (MP) should finally say “enough is enough” and demand that the government and Temasek give us straight answers and be accountable and transparent to Singaporeans.
Both the Merrill and BoA losses came to light only after securities filings in other countries or when international news agencies reported them – and were not voluntarily disclosed by Temasek or the government. Earlier in March, the Minister Mentor revealed GIC’s losses to Reuters and not to Parliament which debated the issue a few weeks earlier.
Are there any other losses that Singaporeans still do not know about? And should Singaporeans wait for international news agencies to reveal these?
Non-disclosure of losses between November to March
I refer to the report, “Temasek has made net gain of S$56b since March 2003″ (CNA, May 28).
The Finance Minister said that “even after taking into account the recent sharp decline, Temasek’s portfolio had still grown by S$56 bn over the course of the cycle.”
So, what this means is that Temasek’s investment portfolio gained S$114 bn from March 2003 to March 2008, and then lost S$58 bn between March 2008 and November 2008.
The key point to note is that the mark-to-market unrealized losses (including Merrill) are only until November 2008. What we do not know is how much it has lost from November 2008 to March 2009.
The minister explained this by saying that “the full year accounts to end-March 2009 have not been audited” and that “the picture should not be fundamentally different.”
He further said the sale of the Merrill/BoA investment would not have aggravated the results either. Still, Singaporeans would want to know the losses incurred, if any, for the period November 2008 to March 2009.
If the “sale of the Merrill/BoA investment would not have aggravated the results either”, why is it that the actual amount lost is still not disclosed to Singaporeans?
Inconsistent and arbitrary use of market cycle periods
I am somewhat puzzled by the apparent inconsistency that after 9 paragraphs of the Finance Minister’s statement in Parliament, which referred to a 5-year cycle, from paragraph 10 onwards, it started to refer to a 6-year market cycle instead.
“But while Temasek has performed better than many other large investors over this 6 year market cycle, it is not realistic to expect it to outperform in every cycle,” Mr Tharman had said.
“It is also not realistic to expect it to avoid losses on every individual investment, or losses on its overall portfolio when the markets go through sharp corrections.”
While that may be true, without a consistency in reporting of its performance over 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 years, and since inception, how can one make a meaningful comparison with others?
Why does the minister arbitrarily use a 6-year market cycle for his evaluation, instead of the 5-year cycle he used earlier? In the final analysis, Singaporeans still do not know how much was lost in the Merrill investment.
And the how, why and who were involved in the decisions and processes leading to the loss! If we don’t question how and why it happened, how do we learn the lessons to avoid a repeat of the Merrill/BoA saga?
This is the fundamental issue, which is an entirely different issue from how well Temasek has done over the last 6 years.
Read also: Temasek may have lost 800 million pounds on Barclays – Reuters —-
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I’m just so afraid that one find day, all the sand castles they have been buidling will come crashing down, and then, reveal the TRUE HORROR – all our money (CPF and whatever) GONE.
The citizens of Singapore deserve Transparency and Accountability in the management of our funds.
No question about that.
Our public servants must not delay any more.
Beginning to look like one big gaint NKF scandal. This is sad news for Singaporeans.
ABC learning, ShinCorp, Merrill BOA, Citi, UBS, Barclay ….. wah, the lists go on. I thought GIC and Temasek are governed by talented people. Can we trust them ? Can we trust Pap ? Can we take back our Cpf ? Cpf minimum sum will continue to increase, I bet our money will go now the drain if we continue to vote for Pap.
I don’t mean to get off tangent even if we are discussing about Temasek Holdings now. The fact that it was in the spotlight recently, and this was not treated with aggregated emphases by Parliament gives the impression of a failure in the accountability system, and I am looking forward to see how the finance minister (or anyone else involved) get out of this one now.
Sigh
Look, the government has never acknowledge that the assets of temasek belong to the people. The fact is, it belongs to the government (MOF), its sole shareholder and by that, it means temasek does not have to account directly to the people. So, even if Temasek screws up and loses all its money, the people still do not have right to question the management / BOD of Temasek, only the government has this right – of course, it is the absolute prerogative of the government whether it wishes to even listen to whom it might regard as “lesser mortals”.
4 June 2009 (20th Annieversary of the Tiananmen massacre)
Can someone (Sze Hian or TOC etc) organize something at Speakers’ Corner to rally support amongst citizens to demand the government and/or President disclose the full extent of ALL losses by both Temasek and GIC, accountability, etc? Perhaps crowdsource for questions to be raised and formally submitted (petition-styled) to the govt and President for proper reply. Let’s fill the Speakers’ Corner to overflowing for the first time.
Can Singaporeans do a “Tiananmen” here, in memory of those brave Chinese killed exactly 20 years ago who rightfully should be credited for dismantling the communist system, dismantling the Berlin Wall, the old Soviet bloc, etc…..
The “lesser mortals” have suffered long enough and it is time to rise up to RIGHT THE WRONG.
Come to think of it, why should 90-95% of the citizens be cowered and dictated by the PAP and their elitist system and inner circle?
It is time we UNITE to demand for FULL ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY for the billions of taxpayers’ money lost by Temasek, GIC (and even our CPF? MAS? etc…?).
If we (the citizens of Singapore) do not show we care for our very own money (our reserves), then we will have been deemed to have given the PAP and the government the blank cheque to do whatever they like in the future, without accountability and recourse for their actions!
Truly, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
The PAP govt’s motto is your money is my money my money is my money, so don’t question how I spend ur money.
“ah, the lists go on. I thought GIC and Temasek are governed by talented people.
Of course they are talented. They are just very extraordinary talented in losing billions of state money and then pretend it is not their interest to be accountable to Singaporean.
“Can we trust them ?”
Do you have a choice ? Even if you don’t trust them, what are you going to do anyway ? Police , IMH, ISA , everything belongs to gov. Obviously they believe that state money is their money too.
“Can Singaporeans do a “Tiananmen” here, in memory of those brave Chinese killed exactly 20 years ago who rightfully should be credited for dismantling the communist system, dismantling the Berlin Wall, the old Soviet bloc, etc….”
No need for tank, I doubt Singaporean has the courage to stand in front of police car.
Ironman,
I’m puzzled. Isn’t it true that the government doesn’t own any money since its money comes from the people?
that it seems to suggest that it is ok to lose money as long money has been made before?
So when the IR opens, I should tell my family the same thing when I hit the gambling tables. It is ok to lose money because I have won before too.
How come the long term is now suggested to be 6 years? But we all know why it is this magic number from 2003 onwards and not any year before then.
For 2) Lao Uncle :
> This 61-year old Senior Citizen say: TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY are just two of the many supposedly “PAP virgin-pure values” of Integrity, Meritocracy, Incorruptibility, blah,blah,blah…….ad nauseum.
> Good Example of “empty/insincere political promises” [polite phrase for "political bullshit"]:
When he took over as PM in 2004, Ah Loong had promised “an OPEN and INCLUSIVE Singapore”.
OPEN = tell us the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth about all the Mindboggling Monumental Financial Losses of GIC/Temasek.
INCLUSIVE = keep ALL Singaporeans informed (because their hard-earned monies and CPF savings are involved !!!)
> Singapore’s obscenely-paid Million-dollar Ministers are truly “First-World” as self-proclaimed? RUBBISH !!!
It’s over-paid Bird-brained Bureaucrats are really “First-Class” as self-proclaimed? MY FOOT !!!
3 words to describe: Corruption, Corruption, Corruption.
the amazing thing about these over-paid Bird-brained Bureaucrats is that never for once we see them “paiseh” or sorry about the losses
I think we should not jump to conclusion.
The People Trust the Gomin.
If the Loss was made in December and January, the highly respected and trusted MSM ST whose chief editor also very credible and unbiased , would have reported to the People during that time.
Also, our even more revered and respectable leader by the name of LKY had so much confidence that he said “Eventually, it must recover. It is the circulation system of the world.”
So, surely they are as trustworthy now as before?
People , please continue to trust. I do that and not only that,
I join the line dance and karaoke at RC and watch free oldies movies and play taichiquan with RC members too. They very fun wan. Honest and Trustworthy.
this is what happen when the person trusted with too much money is tasked to handle it, after some time the person is inclined to think its his, therefore not accountable to the original owner.
the opposition parties better think of some ways to “ring fence” those who squandered the money.
They have sold so many bank shares. How many bank share still on the list not sold yet!! I wondered, maybe they have sold all and make huge losses still kept queit.
In Singapore, success will be proclaim with fanfare and loud voices and credited to the first world leaders…whoever when fiaso like this occur, you can only hear whisper about it and everything is brush off as external factors causes….unique SGP
I think we should dont trust the government no more? There must be someone out there in our country who will stand up to the government.
I agree much, enough is enough.
Well, the best we can do now is write a song about Recovering The Losses and get the newer MPs to sing it lor.
No wonder CPF minimum sum went up and LKY scooted off to UK. and all this happened when you know who was Temasek CEO.
What is known via either the internet or the Foreign highly international and world class news sources, and some local MSM sources, I wonder are these Losses all that there is? Does this mean smaller losses here and there do not exist?
So, what are reported or released info, what mechanism certifies the accuracy and can allow the People to know for sure that such info can be proven by black and white to prove beyond reasonable doubt there is absolutely no inaccuracies ?
I mean, I am used to trust. But this 5 letter word is becoming less than satisfactory to me as I was burnt in investment recently for over trusting. With all the due respect it can get, I would say I like to trust AND I like to see some hardcore evidence.
I wonder what has any of the MPs got to say about this?
MPs, over to you.
Many may be waiting for your reply seeing all the numerous questions posed.
MPs are so great, that they represent the people wor.
It is not the government that we should not trust it is the PAP with Talent or Elite or whatever xxxx coming together to con us.
>>should Singaporeans wait for international news agencies to reveal these?
No need…we’ve our State Time and their “professionalism”
I do not trust Tharman to do the right thing.
He could have told us this loss in the recent parliament but he chose not to.
Can I still trust him? No.
Loss of $1bil and he kept quiet.
What else is there to hide – more realised losses, or more unrealised gains?
If a loss of $1bil does not require him to volunteer this information in Parliament just 1 week ago, what is there to prevent him stonewalling more losses?
We need opposition in the GIC / TH.
To be fair to the MPs, some of them like Inderjit and M.Palmer did question the minister about the losses etc. But what do they get?
They got assurance (trust them?) that the losses are OK because TMSk made A LOT MORE before, they can afford the losses mentioned, and still look pretty. now beat that.
The minister has cleverly put a stop to all those questions about temasek’s losses – that they still can afford to lose another $56B and they still breakeven!!
Don’t blame the opposition every time. Is not the present elite group given the mandate by the loyal citizen themselves. Everything will be forgotten at the ballot box with upgrading and some peanuts. It will be a dream if fellow singaporean are looking forward to withdraw the cpf. Think of the future generation if changes are needed or else we should not complaint too much. Do not think your one vote is not important, you make your choice
Interesting reading
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/dealbook/cuomomerrill021109.pdf
Singaporeans are absolutely disgusted with the secretive and discriminative ways of the PAP government. That’s right Enough is Enough. Now is time for
Singaporeans to take actions against a poor performing, non-reponsive,
non-accountable and reckless government.
“Quick to humtum slow to credit seems to be the hallmark of bothLZH & opp”
If you take superman pay, it’s only natural that we demand superman results
You mortals out there. You gave them the mandate to run this country and manage the reserves.
If they made profits, sure they will blow the trumpets, roll the red carpets and announce that our golden age is here.
If they made a loss, they will just tone down and sweep the news under carpets and focus on other more “important things”. If you all mortals start to question and demand for transparency, all department in the ministries will take out every english dictionaries out there to choose their words, play with figures and time, hold meetings to brainstorm the official statement to make it seems things are not so bad after all.
#28) fengchu on June 4th, 2009 4.47 pm
So far the only people who say they have made money are the elites themselves.
However, I do not trust these people anymore.
So can you tell me specifically which are the investments that have made money?
we should all just SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN !
Leong Sze Hian is doing the wrong thing by ‘stand up and ask question?’
right Feng chu?
Can Lucky Tan confirm that fengchu is his disciple ?
Wasn’t March 2003 a low point for the Singapore stock market? I would think it was a low point for Temasek’s portfolio as well. Nice start point to illustrate good returns, right?
Wall Street Journal reported (4th June) that Temasek lost US$850 million while Abu Dhabi made US$2.5 billion on Barclays Bank shares. Temasek bought high sold low, whereas Abu Dhabi boutght low sold high!!
Why did our Finance Minister chose 2003 as the starting to measure Temasek’s performance? Why not 2000? Also, why did he measure the performance in S’pore Dollars? Why not US Dollars?
We need “Freedom of Information Act” here…..like they have in the US.
I really dun wish to see another similar case like the ex.marcos of philippines, when his govt was toppled and he went into exile, they leave the country almost into bankruptcy and the people to suffer for it.
Tharman, we are waiting for your excuses
oh go ahead and whine more. think about who put them into power in the first place
28) fengchu
If you proclaim yourself to have superhuman capabilities to justify superb pay etc, then you have bear the backslash when you failed to deliver the superb result that is expected…
“Quick to humtum slow to credit seems to be the hallmark of bothLZH & opp”
The quick to put down of LZH and opp is the hallmark of people, guess what, is from people just like you fengchu
Dear dear fengchu, i think you are looking at it the wrong way, if those investments that are suffering such loses are in safer funds, the noise produce won’t be so much….however, these people invested Singapore’s money and the people’s money into something that the Oracle of Omaha won’t even touch with a ten-foot pole….do you call that prudence?
“By selectively pinpointing @ particular investments” It is not one investment that is been make in such high risk portfolio fengchu, there are multiple ,and this particular investments is just use as an example…
let me ask you fengchu, if you are an investor, investing money of stakeholders rather the your own, will you A) do value investing or B) do investment in high risk portfolio with high cost. if your answer is B, i am sure you won’t have much clients and you are digging your own ditch….
and in the end, mr fengchu, you are just like those people who all of a sudden pop into TOC, bashing people for comments against the MIW or gahmen related stuff….and in doing so,parroting what we have seen coming out from the mouths of our dear leaders and from ST…if you like to stereotypes others, be craeful of been done so on yourself
40) tiredsingaporean
If that really happens, then the word of someone will happen….something along the line of “the women of singapore will be working as maid overseas” who said that???
Makes me sick just to watch Lim Swee Say and other overpaid PAPies singing on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQKIOhBciJ8 Another bloody waste of taxpayers’ money.
44) SZ
Anything is possible in today’s world. Just hope that this would not be the case here, but then again anything can happen.
LOL, tiredsingaporean, don’t worry lah.
Sinkies got guts to toppled the PAP? You think that day will ever come??? HAHAHAHA!
New Temasek and GIC Investment Strategy… Buy high sell low. Even a monkey can do it. Maybe we should employ monkeys instead from now onwards..only need to feed them bananas and peanuts.
“Sinkies got guts to toppled the PAP? You think that day will ever come??? HAHAHAHA!”
Now I know why you are Ah Siao
aiyoyo
when cpf $ can withdraw all at one go?
still wonder why own $ need to wait so long to take out?
aiyoyo