The figures are all released, it is just a question of whether you dig it out and publish it. But we will study how to present it, so that it tallies with the objectives we have.
Lee Hsien Loong, on releasing more data on the GNP
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“WE WILL STUDY HOW TO PRESENT IT, SO THAT IT TALLIES WITH THE OBJECTIVES WE HAVE” – This is what LHL said about the GNP Data.
Well said Mr PM…. you are the government, nobody can stop you from doing anything! Go ahead, play the music all over again !!
I thought we have scraped the bottom with Bush when he opened his mouth, but it seems like we have found a new candidate! Keep digging… it makes me laugh.
Outstanding pickup.
Yet another mee siam mai hum gaffe?
what our prince meant was…
after he passed the gnp documents to laugoh who will overseer it in potong pasir kopitiam who in turn will passed to his highness’s laupa laulee and last but not least make the prataman CHOPPEd and signed
what so difficult to understand?
This almost seems like an open admission by the govt that it twists and bends figures (and by that extent perhaps even the truth?) to whatever it fancies and deems fit.
Its undeniable that every politcal party or government in the world does this but what I demand from this government, in my capacity as an involved and concerned citizen is accountability for what it does. This is something I have never seen in my whole life while holding that red passport whose quality seems to be diminishing by the day. First I get less pages for the same price, now I can only use it for half as long as what it should have been. A fitting analogy to the sorry state of affairs today.
PM Lee hopes to see Singapore’s GNP growing faster than before
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 January 2010 2125 hrs
HANOI: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he hopes to see Singapore’s Gross National Product (GNP) growing faster than before.
Mr Lee was speaking to reporters as he wrapped up his official visit to Vietnam.
In his recent New Year message, the prime minister had said that Singapore had to make up for its expected slowing Gross Domestic Product (GDP). One way is to grow its GNP, which means expanding the country’s external wing.
The other strategy is to raise per capita income, through up-skilling and economic upgrading. This way Singapore can continue to prosper and every Singaporean can look forward to a better life.
Domestically, Singapore’s size means limited resources for growth, and the country has managed this by taking in foreign workers.
But even then, Mr Lee said more needs to be done – such as developing opportunities overseas, where the benefits of projects and investments abroad accrue back to Singapore.
Going to Vietnam and other rapidly growing parts of Asia is an integral part of this strategy, which could see Singapore’s GNP growing faster than before.
Mr Lee said: “We will do the best we can to foster this. There is ample niche for a player our size with these strengths in Asia and we must make the most of it. And that depends on our people (who are) willing to go and take the chance and venture.”
The prime minister said his interactions with top leaders in Vietnam during his stay here suggested they were receptive to Singapore investments. But as with any emerging economy, the approach is not always straightforward.
Mr Lee said: “Of course, the Vietnamese environment isn’t completely transparent. The bureaucracy is still complicated, you have got to know your way around.
“And so sometimes our companies do take time to overcome problems and they run into roadblocks and difficulties. So when this happens, I think the G2G (government-to-government) links will be useful.
“At least give them a hearing, so if there is a problem, the Vietnamese government can see what can be done to help them.”
To encourage more Singaporeans to go abroad, the government is looking at presenting more economic data.
Mr Lee said: “We have to look at multiple indexes. I don’t think you can look at just one. GDP will remain important, but perhaps we should look at GNP together with it.
“The figures are all released, it is just a question of whether you dig it out and publish it. But we will study how to present it, so that it tallies with the objectives we have.”
GNP contains products produced by companies owned by a country’s citizens, whereas GDP – a widely-watched indicator – includes only products produced within a country’s borders.
Mr Lee returns to Singapore on Friday.
- CNA/sc
Instead of spending time fixing the oppostion, he now has so much time fixing figures to make them look good and make him look credible regardless of how screwed his policies were. Now that explains further, MOM, HDB and Temasek figures, I believes, are also fixed to look good too. Instead of blaming Vietnam for being non transparent and accountable, why didn’t PAP look into the mirror and ask themesleves the same question.
Say what you like about LHL. But bne thing you can’t criticize about him is his honesty. lolz
This statement is filled with so many sweet sounding euphemisms that I think I am going to have diabetes.
//lobo76
Honesty?
Where is that with LHL?
I think we should read LHL statement this way:
I need a salary increment year on year but if I tag my performance to GDP, it is not going to work as I had squeeze the country enough.
GDP is not going to grow sufficiently and faster enough if it does grow.
So, I need to tag my salary on other people’s success through GNP.
i forgot to add…
It doesn’t matter if people are not living better.
He just need his salary increment fix.
Sounds to me the key words are ‘so that it tallies with the objectives we have.’
and ‘how to present it’
wow, cannot be straight forward wan hor.
Maciam like statistics.
Even if the opposition question the data, can the opposition have access to the raw data or just take what is told to them?
GDP BONUS FOR MINISTERS
15. Mr Siew Kum Hong asked the Prime Minister whether the GDP Bonus for Ministers is awarded based on real GDP growth or nominal GDP growth.
The Minister for Defence (Mr Teo Chee Hean) (for the Prime Minister): Mr Speaker, Sir, the GDP Bonus is awarded based on the real GDP growth rate. The bonus is paid out in March every year, based on the real GDP growth rate of the preceding year.
Mr Siew Kum Hong: Sir, I have two supplementary questions. My first question is to ask the Minister whether the GDP growth rate, even the real GDP growth rate, is the most appropriate matrix because the bonus really should be tied to the benefits to Singaporeans arising from economic growth, whereas GDP growth, as a measure, includes the wages paid to foreigners. So my question is, would the Government consider a matrix that strips out components of GDP growth that do not benefit Singaporeans directly so as to more accurately measure the benefits to Singaporeans from the economic growth?
Sir, my second question is this. The Public Service Division recently disclosed that the pay for the Ministers at the MR4 Grade, which is 77% of the benchmark, and I quote, “includes all bonuses such as the 13th month bonus, the average performance bonus and the GDP bonus”. The reference to an “average performance bonus” suggests that some would be paid an above average performance bonus. Does it then mean that the better performing Ministers will be paid more than 77% of the benchmark?
Mr Teo Chee Hean: Sir, the issue of finding the best approach to try to measure and pay according to performance for public servants, including Ministers, was debated extensively in this House in April last year. And it is not easy to find a very good measure, a precise measure, and I have explained that the GDP Bonus is a good proxy for most things in the economy. I do not know of any measure which strips out the components in the way that Mr Siew has suggested, which is reliable and well understood by Singaporeans as a whole. So I would still suggest that for ease and simplicity of understanding and implementation, as a broad measure of how the economy has been doing, the real GDP growth rate is a good proxy.
Mr Siew should understand what benchmarks are. Benchmark is a typical salary for a typical grade. If you take an employee in a company and you say, this is his salary grade, there will be some variations within that. Some will get more, some will get less. And this is indeed what we do want to achieve because if we want to link performance to pay or pay to performance, then there must be some variability within that. So the benchmark rate is in fact the typical rate which an average Minister or employee in that grade will be paid. Some may get less, some may get more.
http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2008/02/opq-22-january-2008-gdp-bonus-for.html
omg, that’s another gem coming from the horse’s mouth.
beware, singaporeans! we’ll be soon presented with data in such a way that they tally with pap’s objectives.
Why bother to listen to his crap!! Nothing he says is credible.
This country sucks! Need to vote this greedy bunch …. OUT!!!
If only majority singaporeans have the ability to question like i can.
sigh….
But we will study how to present it, so that it tallies with the objectives we have.
hahhahaha…creative accounting.
dig out the figures?
good, you passed the first line of defense.
and the second line of defense is those figures you got wont get you anywhere closer to the Truth.
Mr Leong holds multiple degrees and be a respected professional in Finance, but other Experts like him still can’t make any valid and distinct interpretations to the numbers we have.
Clearly, the PAP Government has no wish to tell Singaporeans the real story. It could be like what Tharman Shamugaretnam said regarding the over SGD$45 Billion losses: “its not in Singaporeans interests to know”
how different is this from Sally Ang from AWARE saga: Shut up and sit down!
what accountability and transparency?
oh they are both probably aspirations like what MM Lee said what our Pledge is.
publish the figures?
sure, publish in 133th Singapore Press Holdings. they will sugar-coat everything and put a smiley on your face with their Senior Political Writers Chua Mui Hoong and her sister.
the Straits Times can tell Singaporeans are taking 30 years mortgage loan and congratulate everyone that we are having more millionaires here because of the rising market price of their HDB: all of which is made possible by quality management of the People Action Party(the PAP Ministers deserve another Million dollar pay raise after GE 2010!)
oh no this is not propaganda, you just need to relax and take a breather from your typical Sinkie stressful life. we sinkies are too stressed perhaps, probably thats why we need a cooling off day.
so PM Lee, have you told your master chef The Straits Times how you want the figures to be presented?
fully cooked, semi-done, quarter done or raw?
don’t give us over-done, Singaporeans will have a bad stomach and there are probably not enough toilets to use with the number of Foreigners shitting here.
and why the sudden mention of Gross National Product?
first of all we must know the definition and differences between the 2 indicators:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Difference_between_gnp_and_gdp
“GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is a commonly used calculator of national income and measures the economic activity in a country. Essentially, the GDP is a figure which measures the value of the goods and services produced in a country in a given time period (usually one year).
GNP (Gross National Product) is also a calculator of economic activity. However, GNP also encompasses the value of net income made abroad. Moreover, when calculating GNP, the value of what foreign countries earn in the given country is subtracted from the value.”
given PAP’s propagandizing skills, they wont mention anything new and unfamiliar(to them but not to Singaporeans who are mostly unfamiliar to almost any chim chim nomenclatures), especially this time: GNP.
here is the story i come out with through thinking without figures(still at PM Lee’s hands):
the GNP is used because it doesn’t include profit made from overseas investments.
or let me repeat into a clearer statement:
the GNP is used because it doesn’t include losses made from overseas investments too.
ding dong ding dong!
do i need to explain the rest?
…more than SGD$40 Billion loss from Merrill Lynch, Bank of America and Lehmann Brothers….
.,,nearly SGD$1 Billion lost from Stuyvesant Town last week….blah blah stay tuned for more losses…
GDP includes these losses calculations, thus it can not be used. General Elections coming you know, i nearly lost Ang Mo Kio GRC to those young punks from Workers’ Party last election.
solution?
use GNP lah!
very smart of PM Lee indeed.
vote for Change, vote the PAP out
for Singapore for Singaporeans
Singapore Democratic Alliance
Singaporeans should not complain as we also get 300bucks GST Credit.
I was told Minister get up to 6 months in Performance Bonus.
[inclusive of Superscale officers]
I guess GDP Bonus should be 6 months also.
ANYONE CAN VERIFY THE 2 X 6 MONTHS BONUSES.
//Singaporeans should not complain
Just check out the wasline of these pigs and you can tell.
IF you are not convinced, just search for a photo of GOh KS and the likes and compare.
The extra wasline came from the huge salaries we are giving them.
Someone forgot to mention that there is a 3rd way to increase GNP – converting our foreign talents into PRs or new citizens. In fact, it is the easiest way out.
Goinh forward, GDP numbers not important, even if it is going to be negative… that’s what our PM meant.
Buay lu su mai…. another smoke screen
10) cat on January 17th, 2010 5.17 am
Honesty?
Where is that with LHL?
examples of honesty (though some called it something else):
-he blatantly said that he will “fix” opposition.
-not knowing how to lie, he keep quiet for a long time after MSJ escaped
-More recently, he say outright he will massage the statistic to present positive side.
They are suppose to be honest, that’s why they need such huge paycheck, as it helps to prevent them from becoming dishonest by reducing the need to be corrupted….
that is honesty….yah right
This is wayang show at its best! Short and sweet!
Don’t you all agree?