“Forbes’ Power Women list isn’t about celebrity or popularity; it’s about influence,” says the American publishing and media company, Forbes. It names German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the Most Powerful Woman in the world, for the fourth year running this year. The Chancellor is the leader of the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Ho Ching, CEO of Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, Temasek Holdings, and wife of the Prime Minister, is ranked fifth, up from eight spot last year. “Temasek has delivered extraordinary average annual returns of 18% under the leadership of Ho Ching,” Forbes says in its appraisal. However, Forbes got it wrong when it described Ho Ching as “Singapore’s first lady”.
“Singapore’s first lady is keeping her day job in the corner office while she looks for another successor,” the magazine said. (See here)
The first lady of Singapore is the wife of the President, although there is no Constitutional provision for this.
Forbes describes Ho Ching’s “next challenge” as “maintaining Temasek’s vaunted 18% compounded annual return since the fund’s 1974 inception.”
You can see the full list here.
Forbes on Ho Ching:
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Mrs. Bill Clinton who works harder and holds more important appointment than Ho Ching, ranks only at 36.
Wonder Forbes is being sacarstic or what..
Disgusting!
Ho Ching is First Lady ? This is very disrespectful of our Mrs. Nathan!
To protect Singapore’s good image, Nathan family and Lee family should quickly take legal action against Forbes.
Crap, mockery to our president indeed…. Singapore’s first lady ?!? haha … maybe the only firstlady that is immune to public accountability while losing billions of taxpayer money.
1) ApApA
Hillary Clinton has to be held responsible for any mistake…but HC can seems to wash her hand off it, that my friend, is the different in power….
Mr Obama controls such a large economy….yet his pay is only a fraction of LHL…see the link here…
#5) Yamamoto
So its the ranking is awarded for ‘Power of hand washing’ is it?
But the boss managing the car-wash at the Shell station not nominated leh. I thought he was very good at it already.
The CEO job at TH confers her the world’s 5th most powerful women. How to give up this position and be a nobody?
No, no. must find way to retain job through strategic differences.
Mr. Goodyear is very gentleman. In order to let Ho Ching gets her ranking, he decided to leave TH.
In order not to let down Mr. Goodyear’s good intention, Ho Ching should also become CEO of GIC in order to improve her ranking next year.
In my opinion, I think she is the MOST powerful woman in the world. Just imagine, who else in the world can make mistakes again and again and still survive without a single reason or explanation needed. She is the one and only. So she should be in number 1 spot. Not 5th
With all due respect to HC and Forbes, this is total BS !
The 1st lady to lose so much money, to mention a few Shin corp, Micropolis, ABC, LB etc.
I think the gahmen should sue forbes magazine for libel, spreading falsehoods and for interfering in the domestic affairs of Singapore and ask for a retraction.
A good joke for the day. thanks to forbes.
hao ma pu chi hui tou cao. This is a 5,000 year old Chinese wisdom and cannot be wrong.
What was Temasek’s performance before Ho Ching’s tenure, and after Ho Ching became CEO? Certainly Temasek’s performance in the last 3 years has been eyebrow-raising at best.
#14) mars
It’s not grass back in TH, its qian nian ren sheng (thousand year old Ginseng). And i think her skin is much thicker than a horse also.
(Forbes got it wrong when it described Ho Ching as “Singapore’s first lady”.)
Forbes is not wrong.
They sure know whose the real boss in SG.
There are a lot more money to be burnt in TH, thus a lot more accolades will come along. A basic sales pitch, sweet talk before making another big kill.
After investing and losing more than $100 billions into USA, and all she get is fifth position ? There must be conspiracy to do her in. She should have awarded 1st position as billions and billions of dollars invested into USA’s investment companies. The Math is not right ! Does Forbes even have a sense of proportion ?
Worse still, she losing the top position to Angela Merkel who been paid pathetically at
Angela Merkel (Germany)
Salary in dollars – $303,000
Salary in local currency – €228,000
Angela Merkel must be very corrupted judging by how much she is paid as our clowns said that high pay equal to less corruption. She is not even paid millions !
What is Forbes thinking ? Forbes might want to seriously relook into the ranking again because integrity and credibility are very important to Singapore government ! Forbes must be fair to Singapore. Kayu to Forbes.
If the west don’t really know singapore, that is less of an issue than the Youths not knowing the reality.
People pay for ads in magazines sometimes ya? hehehe
HAHAHA!!! What a laughing stocks!!!!
What powerful woman? She is not even elected…hahaha
5th? Comeon! It was HC that rescue the US economy! Surely she deserve nothing but a 1st?
For depleting our funds? Hooray!!!!!
Her phychedelic apparel, which she is so highly fond of, must have distorted the vision of Forbes. Lets agree there is no first lady where Singapore is concerned. Nathan is a puppet of LKY and can we call his wife a first lady; calling Ho Jinx a first lady, must be the most ludicrous idea that ever originated from the realms of Singaporean society. Singaporean society has to evolve further before we will able to produce a FIRST LADY.
They sure got the ranking wrong. She should have been 1st. And her hubby’s family should have been ranked the most powerful in the world too.
PUI!!!
what a disgrace. HC as sg 1st lady, total disgrace.
But wait, shouldnt it be Mrs Nathan? President’s wife? or LHL wife got more priority for all the lovely damages and monies she lost?
Forbes should rank her no.1, at losing money and creating discourse. that one i will agree.
Sigh…could’ve been Mrs Goodyear.
[i]ApApA on August 20th, 2009 10.20 am
Ho Ching is First Lady ? This is very disrespectful of our Mrs. Nathan!
To protect Singapore’s good image, Nathan family and Lee family should quickly take legal action against Forbes.
[/i]
you meant nathan the president of singapore reputation is good mey?
he have the power to veto his authority?
if he cannot act liked a people’s president, what is mrs devan nair’s status?
17) yeswecan on August 20th, 2009 12.13 pm
Forbes is not wrong.
They sure know whose the real boss in SG.
How true, the only and last 1st lady of SG. Can’t wait to see her end up in jail when PAP is overthrown one day.
New definition of “powerful”, whereby mental capacity is not part of the equation.
Forbes has this perception of Nathan being the istana jaga, so it is understandable they think Ho Ching is the First Lady….. or
are they being cheeky to imply HC is sharing the same bed as Nathan ? …….LOL
Why do you think Forbes annoint her as the world’s 5th most powerful women? The Westerners know that by keeping her at TH, she will continue to lose billions of Singapore’s reserves to the them.
@APAPA,
Heard of :
Who pays the piper calls the tune?
What makes her unique that she is telfon coated. Thick and impenetrable as hell. Accountability, transparency and reporting non-existent. A modern day tyranny.
Did the other women on the list has that unique feature?
I am ashamed by Forbers normination of Ho Ching as 5th most powerful women. What so powerful about her when she lose $50 Billion in our money? She is as irresponsible as other ministers in the cabinet. Transparency is not put in place, we have no darn idea whats going on in Temasek.
beware of Hu Lee Jinx (fox spirit)!! :P
Mrs Lee Hsien Loong as First Lady.
Was the mistake intentional ?
And if it was, what’s the Motive and Purpose ??
Was it to show the First Lady(Mrs President) is no comparison
to Mrs Prime Minister or has done nothing worthy of mention ?
patriot
An old article Ho Ching Googled:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/business/worldbusiness/27iht-temasek.1.6862331.html
”
Temasek’s chief, Ho Ching, likes to take risks
By Sara Webb
Published: Friday, July 27, 2007
SINGAPORE — One of the colleagues of Ho Ching once said it was her willingness to take risks, not her family ties, that won the wife of the prime minister her top job at Temasek Holdings with a mandate to shake up Singapore’s state investor.
That penchant for risk-taking came to the fore this week with Temasek’s unexpected £2.1 billion, or $4.34 billion, investment in Barclays, the U.K. bank that is locked in an increasingly costly bidding war for ABN AMRO in what would be the world’s biggest bank takeover.
The investment is one of many big deals engineered by Ho, who keeps a low profile despite her prominence in financial circles and as a member by marriage of the first family of Singapore.
…”
i am not surprise…..who in the world has being given so much liberty and power to gamble with our money? Try giving her the entire estate of singapore…i guarantee u…she will be NUMBER ONE next year….not just in the world but in the universe! Nothing to do with her performance!
in the animal kingdom, bright, striking colours are hallmarks of dangerous animals. HC is often pictured in bright striking colours too.
after loosing billions with no regrets, what more prove is needed?
think correct la, losins so much ppl’s $, not still ceo, if not powderful ,then what hor?
2oth August…. the new “August Fool Day” instead of “April Fool Day”….
It’s time to change…lol
I wonder how her husband ranks in the list of world’s most powerful man?
sorry, sorry, err, i meant her father-in-law….
She will contest in the next election and become the next PM. Huray!!!!!!! Make my words!!
Funny 90+% all the Western newspapers who reported the Forbes list failed to mention her except for a brief one line description of her title and/or the list itself. I wonder if the Western public knows who is Ho Ching in the first place, or the land mass size / population of Singapore. She is more powerful than the Queen of England and Michelle Obama, more Westerners should know this.
MSNBC does a little bit better:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32483191/ns/today-today_technology_and_money/
”
…
‘Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Tamasek, has delivered extraordinary average annual returns of 18 percent under the leadership of Ho Ching (No. 5). She is currently seeking a successor.
…”
“Funny 90+% all the Western newspapers who reported the Forbes list failed to mention her except for a brief one line description of her title and/or the list itself.”
Obviously western countries must be very jealous of her extraordinary power. Which influential female leader can ever get away with loss of few millions of state assets, let alone ten of billons, and still live a life of no regret other than our oneAndOnly Ho Jinx ? So it is pretty understandable that western refuse to believe the power of Ho Jinx. They can only understand if they become citizen of Singapore.
Omega Lee ,
the artice state the criteria for selection into Forbes’s list.
“In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility — by press mentions — and the size of the organization or country these women lead.”
No wonder HoJinx get selected because shittyTimes mention her so many times and give her visibility. Me thinking why visibility is not by Online count ?
When you google for “Angela Merkel” , the total result is 5,700,000.
When you google for “ho ching”, it return only 93,900. To help her boost her number, I play cheat by combining the result with “Ho Jinx” to make 100,100 but it is still 56 times poorer than “”Angela Merkel”.
Look like our next TH successor should be “Angela Merkel”.
To be fair, the few Chinese newspapers around the world who mention her in their articles are equally as brief. Apart from no 38 China born HKer Margaret Chan, Director-general, WHO and HK Amway regional head is 92 (香港安利集團大中華及東南亞地區行政總裁鄭李錦芬（Eva Cheng)) but apart from that, no one else from East Asia is in that list.