Singapore Wealth Fund Says Investments Fell 20% in Year - NYTimes.com

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By REUTERS

SINGAPORE — G.I.C., a sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, said Tuesday that its investments fell more than 20 percent in the year that ended in March, but recovered more than half that loss during the rally on financial markets since then.

G.L.C., or the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., the larger of the city-state’s two wealth funds, said it had increased exposure to alternative investments like real estate and natural resources but was bearish on bonds. The fund said its managers were optimistic about emerging markets and Asia.

The fund’s portfolio shrank by more than a fifth in the year that ended March 31, but it has ridden the financial meltdown better than its sister fund Temasek by paring its exposure to equities before the crisis and through a well-timed sale of part of its Citigroup holding.

G.I.C., headed by Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister, is the largest sovereign fund in the world after those of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Norway, according to Deutsche Bank.

The fund says it manages more than $100 billion; analysts estimate the figure at $200 billion to $300 billion.

It said in the annual report that cash represented 8 percent of its holdings at the end of March, up from 7 percent a year earlier. The fund appears eager to put that money to use soon.

“In normal circumstances, we should not be holding cash, particularly now when cash earns you close to zero interest,” the fund’s chief investment officer, Ng Kok Song, said in a statement accompanying the report.

Mr. Ng also said bonds had become riskier because of the threat of rising inflation, as Western governments and central banks faced political constraints in an environment of high unemployment that could prevent them from unwinding stimulus measures.

“Global economic growth will be higher in the emerging than the developed economies,” he said. “The developed economies will undergo further deleveraging, while the emerging economies will be compelled to engender domestic demand.”

Sovereign wealth funds, like most investors, were badly hit by the meltdown in global financial markets. The funds, which together manage an estimated $3 trillion, were big investors in Western banks at the start of the financial crisis but many have since pared their stakes.

G.I.C. said its investment in UBS was still showing a loss. This month, it said it had made a $1.6 billion profit from halving its stake in Citigroup.

G.I.C.’s annual performance and subsequent recovery resemble that of Temasek, which said this month that its portfolio slumped by 55 billion Singaporean dollars, or $38.8 billion, in the year that ended in March, a 30 percent decline, before recouping most of its losses.

Singapore’s art groups decline to be propaganda mouthpiece for National Integration Council - The Temasek Review

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From our Correspondent

The key players in the Singapore art scene have declined an overture by the government to become their propaganda mouthpiece to help promote integration between locals and foreigners, a call made by the National Integration Council on Friday.

The Council, led by Minister for Community, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan had earlier recommended the government allocate an eye-popping $10 million dollars to organize events for immigrants to make them feel welcome in Singapore.

The government is becoming increasingly worried at the rising social tensions on the ground due to relentless influx of foreigners in recent years.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a dialogue with NTU students lately that the government’s immigration policy will remain though it will “tweak” it to slow the intake of foreigners.

When interviewed by the state-controlled media, many key leaders in Singapore’s art scene expressed their doubts and scepticism of being involved in helping foreigners “integrate” into Singapore society.

Tay Tong, managing director of TheatreWorks, said:

“It’s really more about that, rather than say, ‘Oh, let’s do a play and please, integrate!’. I don’t think that’s going to work. I’m kind of curious what it means by integration. I think when we’re dealing with cultural differences, it should primarily be more about the celebration of differences, rather than trying to be homogeneous.”

NMP Audrey Wong, who is also the co-director of Substation was more direct:

“The thing is, we don’t want to do propaganda art. In fact, the public cannot be duped. They are suspicious of anything that smacks of propaganda. So there needs to be an understanding of how art works and how art functions in society, in order for the initiative to be successful.”

Shaun Teo, president of Migrant Voices, added:

“We are not talking about issues in a hypothetical or ideal situation. The characters act out certain situations that will happen at home, so the solutions that they’ll find from forum theatre are the solutions that they are most probably able to apply at home.”

The lukewarm response from the arts community in Singapore must have disappointed the government who is sparing more efforts to ensure that their new citizens are well integrated into society without incurring the wrath of the locals.

It is strange that the NIC would recommend “outsourcing” this noble task of promoting integration to outsiders when the government already has the most ideal candidate within its ranks to spearhead its latest pro-foreigner initiative – Acting Minister for Information, Communication and Arts Rear-Admiral Lui Tuck Yew.

Singapore's Red-Light District Is a Hotbed of Good Food - washingtonpost.com

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By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, September 27, 2009

In the dark, I wended my way through a thicket of hungry-eyed men, brushing off leering looks as I focused on reaching my goal: a fluorescent white beacon coming from a slender alley behind a scruffy-looking motel.

My family and I had come to Geylang, Singapore's best-known red-light district, in search of a good time, but probably of a different sort from what the men around us were after. In the alley, we perched on greasy plastic stools, taking in the smells of wok-fried seafood and tempura eggplant as we waited for our meal to surface at J.B. Ah Meng, a little hawker-stand-style restaurant with tables set up in a grimy passageway.

Soon enough, the sounds of hawkers' flip-flops signaled the arrivals: a bed of slightly crispy glass noodles tossed with bits of cuttlefish, egg and pork, stir-fried in a sweet dark soy sauce; and a platter of crispy, deep-fried fish skins topped with a tart fresh papaya salad. But the truly unusual star of the meal was a dish of shrimp and clusters of corn kernels slathered with a thick coating of salted egg and then deep-fried. The slightly grainy salted egg crust was an intriguing and delicious juxtaposition with the plump, juicy bits of shrimp and corn. Our entire meal of four big platters (including an order of tempura eggplant) cost just under $40. Not a bad price for a few well-conceived and perfectly executed dishes that we'd remember for some time to come.

When people think of Singapore, a few things tend to come to mind: squeaky-clean malls, an iron-fisted government, a ban on chewing gum. There is a seamier side to the country, however, and the pockets where this underbelly flourishes are increasingly where you'll find some of the best meals.

Along Keong Saik Road, in a neighborhood that has housed brothels for more than a century, narrow lanes are dotted with old Chinese coffee shops known as "tze char" places, which are basic stalls that offer a variety of stir-fried dishes such as crab noodles and har jeong gai, a dish of chicken coated with prawn paste and then deep-fried. Near the east coast, Joo Chiat Road is a growing hub of cheap Vietnamese eateries selling pho and shredded duck soup that have popped up to cater to the Vietnamese prostitutes who walk the streets after dark. And in downtown Singapore's Orchard Towers, a shopping center filled with seedy bars and massage parlors whose dank corridors are heavy even at noon with the scent of furtively smoked cigarettes, there is standout Thai food to be had at places that increasingly cater both to food lovers who can afford to order a lemon grass whole fish for $10 and to the young Thai girls in fishnets looking for cheaper sustenance.

Singapore has had red-light districts since its birth: The British established them in the early 19th century to cater to the waves of young businessmen and laborers who came to the country from China, Malaysia, India and Europe, leaving their families behind, according to Mark Emmanuel, an associate professor of history at the National University of Singapore. He notes that prostitution became such a thriving industry that in the 1930s, Singapore earned the nickname "Sin galore" in the region.

In Geylang, a neighborhood that has been a well-known red-light district for decades, Singaporeans have always known that the even-numbered lorongs (which means "small roads" in Malay) are where you'll find the red-lanterned houses, while the odd-numbered ones are for unrelated enterprises. Along those roads, there's been a boom since the 1990s of late-night eating stalls that serve up a variety of fare, from noodles topped with melt-in-your-mouth-tender beef to dishes not for the faint of heart: chopped duck's necks and pig's ears that are cheap, savory and meant to go well with an ice-cold beer sipped while watching the girls walk up and down the road.

"These are the two greatest sins in the world; they go hand in hand," said KF Seetoh, a Singapore-based TV food-show host and author of a guide to the country's hawker food. "These guys who go and hunt down hookers, when they're in that mode, they don't scrimp on food and drinks. It's about eating well and living well."

On a trip to Singapore two years ago, Seetoh took me to Geylang Clay Pot Rice. We called 30 minutes ahead to order the signature dish of piping-hot clay pot rice, filled with waxy Chinese pork sausage, chicken and salted fish, then doused with vegetable oil and sweet, molasses-like soy sauce and tossed bibimbap style. But the dish that I would wax lyrical about for months afterward was the soft-shell crab, which was chopped into pieces, breaded with a mixture of spices, deep-fried and topped with a generous sprinkling of chilli padi, a tiny, flaming-hot, fire-engine-red pepper.

Remembering that meal with great hunger, I asked Seetoh on a recent trip back, "Where to now?" And we drove to Rochor Beancurd House, a place that makes a deliciously comforting dessert of silky-smooth warm bean curd. The Portuguese egg tarts -- which differ from those in most Chinatowns because of their sweet, caramelized topping -- also were a must-try.

The next day, I trekked to Joo Chiat Road for a late lunch. In midafternoon, the food stalls along the several-blocks-long street were slowly waking up. After prowling some somnolent coffee shops, my family and I stopped at the Beef House, a little place whose house-made, springy beef balls have made it a draw. The balls are served with noodles done in the style of the Hakka Chinese who first immigrated to Singapore from Southeastern China in the 19th century. The soup version is similar to Vietnamese pho, while the dry version features noodles and beef balls drenched in a gummy gravy that's both sweet and beefy but also thick with the flavor of spices such as star anise.

Though the noodles were delicious, it was a neighboring food stall, Kway Guan Huat, that stole the show with its popiah, a Chinese summer roll filled with a host of ingredients including crab, sauteed turnip, fish paste, lettuce and chili sauce. The stall has been selling popiah since 1938 and remains a place Singaporeans from all parts of the island are willing to drive to just for a summer roll.

There are drawbacks to dining in such establishments: If you are a woman and you're wearing heels or anything fairly dressy, you're likely to be given the hairy eyeball and perhaps even propositioned. There are dangers for men, too.

Chef Willin Low, who owns the upscale Wild Rocket restaurant in Singapore, said he often eats in Geylang on nights when he's not cooking. On a recent trip, he parked along a particularly dark and seedy road because he couldn't find a space anywhere else. "As I was walking from my car to the main road, this car full of friends from church stopped and said, 'Um, Willin, what are you doing here?' " he said.

Not all stalls are cheap: Sin Huat Eating House, which Anthony Bourdain recently included on his list of "13 Places to Eat Before You Die" for Men's Health magazine, serves up heavenly crab noodles that come with massive claws and legs that will keep you busy for quite a while. But those crab noodles, a main dish that would probably serve a family of three at the most, will set you back nearly $80. The place also has an especially bare-bones setting, even by coffee-shop standards: On the night we went in June, the restaurant's lights would periodically flicker and go dark for several long seconds before coming back on. Our table by the grimy, greenish fish tanks also offered us front-row seats to the sweaty cooks reaching into the tanks up to their armpits to scoop out shellfish whenever a customer placed an order.

It can be hard not to be affected by the plight of your fellow customers. On a recent trip to Cafe Supunsa in Orchard Towers, my friends Jeanette and Eudon and I ravenously attacked garlicky chicken wings, basil chicken, a massive hotpot of deliciously sour tom yum soup and a spicy salad of julienned papaya topped with crackling dried shrimp and roasted peanuts. As the hunger subsided, we suddenly became aware of our surroundings.

The waves of weary young girls wearing too little clothing and too much makeup were ceaseless. Purposefully, they would stop in for a quick meal, a respite in their nightly onslaught. Suddenly we felt a bit guilty about our relative good fortune, and our food euphoria began to wear off.

Avoiding one another's eyes, we quietly paid our bill and left.

Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is a freelance writer whose food memoir, "A Tiger in the Kitchen," will be published in 2011. She blogs at http://www.atigerinthekitchen.com.

J.B. Ah Meng, No. 2, Lorong 23, 011-65-6741-2677. Open 5 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. Prices $4.25 to $14.

Geylang Clay Pot Rice, 639 Lorong 33, 011-65-6744-4574 or 011-65-6744-3619. Open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. to midnight. Prices $6 to $21.

Rochor Beancurd House, 745 Geylang Rd., 011-65-6748-3989. Open 24 hours. Drinks and desserts 65 cents to $2.15.

The Beef House, 97 Joo Chiat Rd., 011-65-9472-2601. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Bowls $2.50 to $4.25, depending on size.

Kway Guan Huat, 95 Joo Chiat Rd., 011-65-6344-2875. Open 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Rolls $1.40 or $2.50, depending on filling.

Sin Huat Eating House, 659/661 Geylang Rd., 011-65-6744-9755. Open 6:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Prices $35 to $85.

Cafe Supunsa, 400 Orchard Rd., #02-36; 011-65-6737-0223. Open 11 a.m. to 6 a.m. Prices $3.50 to $14.

-- C.L.T.

Hazed and confused - Bangkok Post

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Southeast Asia's greatest menace makes an unwanted return

Writer: Luke Hunt

Published: 27/09/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: Spectrum

As Singapore geared up for its annual Formula One outing today, the thoughts of race organisers were dominated by three issues. There was the cheating Renault team, which made headlines around the world for rigging a crash on the same course a year earlier. And there's the prospect that ticket sales will be down at least 10 per cent from the 100,000 capacity that crammed into the street circuit stands last year.

Lastly, and making a most unwelcome return, has been the dreaded haze, which potentially will have the dirtiest and biggest impact on the Grand Prix. Health officials in the pristine city-state fear pollution could reach dangerous levels.

The haze has choked Southeast Asia on and off for more than a decade. If Singapore is wincing from an overdose of carbon monoxide, then so too is the entire Indonesian archipelago along with Malaysia, from the tip of north Borneo to southern Thailand and beyond.

"The unplanned or uncontrolled conversion of forest land to non-forest agricultural uses will continue throughout the region for the foreseeable future," said Jack Hurd, the Bangkok-based director of the Nature Conservancy's Forest Trade programme.

He said this was consistent with the economic development paradigm that most countries have followed, and would continue to follow. "Neighbouring nations - most notably Singapore - have very little leverage over the situation because there are not, as of yet, any international norms for controlling air pollution of this nature."

It's a situation that could also get much worse as Southeast Asia is bracing itself for stronger El Nino weather conditions over the next few months.

El Nino is a recurring weather system that results in an abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This can prove disruptive to weather patterns and is often blamed for droughts in Australia.

Typically this will result in worsening dry conditions and increased hotspots in Indonesia, traditionally the chief source of the haze. Peat fires in Indonesia are associated with land clearing for short-term agricultural purposes and logging. In turn, the land is dried and susceptible to fires that can race out of control.

Oscar Venter, a conservationist biologist with the University of Queensland, said the haze from these fires would have a strong impact on people's lives, and their life expectancies - and clearly not enough was being done to prevent them, particularly in light of the global ramifications caused by the fires.

"These fires also have an enormous impact on climate change," he added. "Twenty-five per cent of the carbon released into the atmosphere in 1997 came from peat swamp fires in Indonesia - that's phenomenal."

Malaysia has offered water-dumping aircraft to douse the fires, and Singapore will host a regional ministers' meeting next month to help co-ordinate a strategy to battle the fires and the haze.

One issue that remains unresolved is that both Indonesia and the Philippines have yet to ratify the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which was signed in 2002.

Singapore's environment minister Yaacob Ibrahim said that international media scrutiny of the haze was inevitable during the Grand Prix and the November Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings.

"Even though Indonesia has not ratified [the agreement], we have moved forward because we realise that we have other challenges which cannot wait. When the haze outbreak in 2006 came about, we felt it was important for the five Asean countries to come together and deal with it collectively.

"Thus far, Singapore and Malaysia have made progress by collaborating with some of the local provinces. We acknowledge that Indonesia has been trying to implement measures to bring down the hotspots.

"As to whether or not their plan of action is on target will be up to Indonesia to review, but we believe that the Indonesian government remains sincere in combating haze, as it affects the health and quality of life of their citizens as well," Mr Ibrahim said.

Mr Hurd said bilateral discussions would allow a diplomatic expression of concern, and even a commitment of resources and an attempt to regulate and control the burning.

"But my expectation is that this will have a marginal effect on the overall level of haze that materialises from the practice."

He said the real solution was a comprehensive effort on the part of governments to bring land conversion under control and regulate, more forcefully, that which is legal.

This could mean the use of different methods of clearing that do not result in so much air pollution, as the low costs associated with burning-off were derived from the fact that the cost of pollution is passed on to others to absorb.

"For those wood products destined for international markets, emerging requirements for legal or certified forest products, and the changing government structures set up to deal with this, may reduce the amount of illegal forestry activity, including conversion, in places such as Indonesia."

But the costs in enforcing such a code could prove significant.

"The best chance that exists for reducing haze will probably be a global agreement - including policy commitments and market mechanisms - to generate funds for verifiable reductions in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

"The financial flows that may become available might be just the incentive required for countries to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and the associated haze from burning. In the absence of such an agreement, haze will continue to be a problem, specifically in El Nino years," Mr Hurd concluded.

Such issues are expected to be raised at the Copenhagen conference on climate change in December when the UN will attempt to broker an international successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

However, Mr Venter is adamant that governments must do more at the national level and ensure fires are no longer used to clear land in Indonesia. In return, Jakarta could see a capital return on the forests that are saved.

"Providing incentives, such as small grants, to help make mechanical clearing of land with bulldozers more affordable, would probably go a long way to reducing fires and haze.

"If successful, it would also help Indonesia reduce unnecessary forest loss from burning, which would help capture carbon payments."

Sam's thoughts - Good News Malay!

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I had a glance at the headlines on the Sunday Times today.

Well, it is not at the sensational headline of the murder of Singaporean-born porn star Felicia Tang, who has perhaps been erroneously tagged as a porn star, even though she has done a few topless shoots. But for Singaporeans, we go the easy route and conflate nudity into pornography. Hey, if you're George Lim Heng Chye, littering will probably be similar to the leprosy of desire that is masturbation and unethical medical practices. So let us just call it porn.

I had a glance at the headlines.

I saw the "good news" reporting of the Muslim community. Conflation. Conflation. Immediately, I thought about the Malay Muslim community in Singapore. Very natural. And I thought to myself, "OMG, yet another good news reporting for the appeasement of our ethnic minority friends."

As my brain processed the image of me palm-smacking my forehead. I realised, amidst the Hougang Taoist smoke lingering in the air, that it was Hari Raya Puasa!

Nevertheless, looking at the headline, I remember a conversation I had with a Malay bunkmate during my reservist training (I'm still in the middle of reservist training by the way).

I told him my impression of Malay politics in Singapore, or rather the PAP government's policy and attitude towards Singaporean Malays. Deep down inside, I had wanted to see to what extent is my view on Singaporean Malays blinkered and shallow (hey, at least I want to know more, right?).

I told him how I, as a non-Malay, rather than a Singaporean Chinese (I seldom think of myself as Chinese until I am reminded of my skin colour or when people speak to me in Mandarin or conjure up the Level 3 Sino Dragon Crusher on my skull), genuinely felt that, in point form:

1) Our government has a "don't piss off the Malays" policy/approach.
2) And as a result of that policy/approach, we get stuff (releases, policies, reports) where Singaporean Malays appear to come first.
3) And that is why I get the impression that the government, for the sake of wanting to stay in power, appears to treat Singaporean Malays better.
4) On a sidenote, I also mentioned that Singaporean Malays are the swing voters. And the PAP is smart enough to secure their vote.

My mate, a diploma holder, now pursuing a part-time degree while working for a regional business, agreed with my observation, but disagreed with my analysis. On the outside, we both saw the same thing. But he told me, "Your perspective is your perspective. You need to see it from our perspective."

And he gave me a lesson on subjectivity!

But first, I'd like to point out that I find it a little more difficult to address me and my "fellow Singaporean ethnic Chinese folks" as a collective, "our". I feel the Chinese community, or rather a collection of yellow-skinned folk, are too fragmented, along the faultlines of language and class.

Any how, he told me he feels that while he believes that there is a "don't piss off the Malays" approach to appeasement adopted by the government, the circumstance is somewhat different from my analysis.

He said that he feels that the government gives too much attention to the Chinese, and it has allowed systems in place that benefit the Chinese more, at the expense of Malays.

Therefore, in his opinion, he believes that the "don't piss off the Malays" approach to appeasement is to make the Malays less sad or angry.

I guess we will never know, unless we knew what is the percentage of Malay vote for the PAP every election. Of course, only the government knows. When they say "your vote is secret", it means that it is only secret to you, but that perhaps does not mean it is secret to others (in positions of power).

To sum up that point, my bunkmate and I agree with the statement that the PAP government has a "don't piss off the Malays" approach to appeasement". I'm repeating this so as to make the point clear any way.

But we are different in our analysis of the circumstance, based on our different positions:
Sam: The government gives special attention to the Malays.
Bunkmate: The government does not give enough attention to the Malays.

He told me more about job applications and stated how it really sucked that the bilingual requirement is a mere euphemism for English and Mandarin language proficiency. Of course, being a racial majority, it is too easy for my Chinese privilege to blind me to these things.

Any way, appeasement does not necessarily mean a minority group will be able to be "part of the team" or "play catch up with the majority". I was thinking, after what my bunkmate said, that there will always be culture-influenced infrastructure and institutions that will impede the integration of ethnic minorities.

When we speak of a multiculturalism and a pluralism, we might get different interpretations, impressions and reactions toward it, depending on our status as a majority or a minority. And when we look at it from a position we live in, or are comfortable with, we take certain things for granted.

For instance, my introspection and degree of reflexivity is somewhat limited, to the point I am (only) able to imagine how a Chinese elite politics of pluralism is merely a means to Chinese elite economic prosperity and continued political stranglehold.

The biggest irony in this Malay-Chinese exchange we had in the bunk was that we totally invisibilise the ethnic Indians! It's quite funny, to put it in a cynical way. When we debate Malay politics/policy in Singapore, we usually engage the Chinese (elite) and of course the Malay folks. We seldom if never invite ethnic Indian Singaporean discourse on Malay policy. Heck, for most Singaporean Chinese, Indian is Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Sikh, all Indian. Very sad. But then again, knowing all these has little influence on how we achieve Chinese elite economic prosperity and continued political stranglehold in Singapore, right?

I told my bunkmate that I, as a sandwich class (slightly below middle-class) ethnic Chinese Singaporean, feel left out by the government.

My bunkmate told me, that he as a Malay, and probably in the same income range as my household I believe, feels left out by the government.

Win already, right?

If both of us, as Chinese and Malay respectively, feel left out by the government, what on earth is happening?

It is very important to note that we do not at all represent our respective ethnic communities, as again they are different class and (to some extent) cultural divides within these communities.

I related to him about the time when I spoke to a Malay graduate colleague, who felt that the government should stop giving special attention to the Malays. That colleague provided the analogy "if you give $5 to a beggar, you make him a beggar", somewhere along the lines.

Then my bunkmate said, "Educated Malay, right?" We both laughed, probably aware of the stereotype-fed oxymoron he just spewed out.

He proceeded to explain that not all Malays are the same. And that some Malays really need help, like the poorer ones.

I challenged that point, saying "A poor Chinese is the same as a poor Malay, no?"

He disagreed, and explained something I can't recall. But I realise that a poor Malay and a poor Chinese may live in the same place, but the circumstances they face is different. They may share the lack of literacy in English, for instance, and thus speak their own language. But they live in an economic space dominated by Chinese culture and politics.

Even I, with my education and all, require some reminding of this cultural reality. The reason why I am sometimes unable to immediate think of this is because of the very fact that I live in my Chinese privilege, whether or not I consciously see myself as Chinese. It is a privilege I enjoy, unknowingly or not, for the colour of my skin, access to ethnic Chinese-releated cultural capital and resources and so on, resultant attitudes around me arising from these circumstances, that give me such perspectives, bundled with blinkers blocking out the possibilities for any critical amount of introspection.

I mean, it is like using two mirrors to see what is at the back of your head. We do not do it all the time. At the most, we are able to use one mirror and reflect on the things we see. But we forget about the things we do not see without two mirrors (triple negative, sial!)

I think my fascination with ethnic minority politics (or minority politics and representation in general) stems from several realities I experience as a majority in many aspects. I may qualify as a numerical majority in many instances, but I feel like a minority most of the time. At the same time, knowing more about the realities that minorities face will help me understand my position as a "majority" and the things I take for granted.

Knowing about the things you take for granted is not an end on its own, or for you to feel grateful, so that you can continue voting for the PAP (right?). But at least, when you are in the position to make decisions, influence another person or just develop relationships of any kind with others, you can create stronger bonds and minimise suffering for everyone on the whole.

Any how, I feel there is generally nothing taboo about race or religion so long as we want to find out more. Of course, having extra institutional affiliations, stemming from the institutionalisation (or tribification) of race and religion, gives people an extra reason to be offended. I mean, it's like having a flag, and an extra reason to die for (sorry, I just hate conscription and reservist, especially one that doesn't tolerate conscientious objection).

My bunkmate told me that he feels quite cynical about all these "good news" being featured about the Malay (and Muslim) community. He explained that there are so many Malays in trouble and in need, and they have to feature only the nice, good and happy stories.

Our conversation drifted to the representation of Malaysian politics (simply because my mind keeps drifting). I was telling him how I feel about the representation of Malaysian politics, saying that I observe in the past few years, the Straits Times have been presenting Malaysian politics as something that is vibrant and "very happening", in a very negative sense. I gave him my analysis, that I believe that the local press presents a shitty image of our neighbours just to make us Singaporeans feel lucky we have our PAP government and our PAP government-led stability.

I asked him how is it like in the local Malay papers. His impression is that the Malays papers do not portray Malaysian politics as too "vibrant", because a decent proportion of Singaporean Malays have relatives all across Malaysia, and it is a potentially sensitive thing.

It is really interesting. I am no expert at all in these affairs but I really enjoyed my conversation with my bunkmate. While his and my perspectives are only two of numerous positions on Singapore and Malay politics, I am probably reminded of the certain things I have taken for granted, more so than him.

Both of us were equally surprised at each other, when each of us claimed that we feel forgotten and that it was the ethnic other who got better attention from the government. Of course, to be more specific, while I agree that Chinese folks in general get more attention from the government (simply because they are a numerical majority), 1) there are certain segments of Chinese folks who get proportionately more attention than others, and 2) I still have the impression that Singaporean Malays get proportionately more attention than other ethnic communities.

Our exchange was never an angry one, nor did we feel angry at our positions. It was, for me, more like a "what to do?" position, a bordering-on-sad kind of a feeling, coupled with healthy doses of disempowering helplessness. You know, the kind of disempowering helplessness when you are part of SAF, doing your reservist, cannot get your deferment even though you are on a full-time graduate studies course and when you write to feedback to Teo Chee Hean, the perm sec thinks you still want to defer even though you just want to feedback, indicating that the government only reads what they want to see and not what you actually want to say, so fuck off.

Our exchange offered a sharing of perspectives, and although problems were identified, we didn't and couldn't think of the solutions. Nevertheless, I feel that we should have more of such conversations, at different levels, so that we can make better informed decisions to ensure that "no Singaporean is left behind" is not merely a Chinese elite rhetoric, as are the notions of multiculturalism, pluralism, prosperity, progress, racial harmony, etc. (like how "Asian values", "mainstream values" rhetoric should neither be spearheaded nor monopolised by the Christian right).

And of course, let us involve the ethnic Indian Singaporeans next time okay!

High costs and low wages in Singapore - geraldgiam.sg

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A comprehensive survey released by UBS has confirmed what economists, academics, opposition politicians and ordinary Singaporeans have known all along: That the Singaporean worker’s wages has decreased over the past 3 years, while the cost of living has shot up.

The Prices and Earnings 2009 survey by the Swiss bank, which the Straits Times did an Insight article on, offers a detailed look at prices for goods and services, and wages and working hours in 73 major cities worldwide. The survey found that:

offers a detailed look

at prices for goods and services, and wages and working

hours for 14 professions in 73 cities worldwide

• Singapore’s wages after taxes and social security contributions rank us at 41 out of 73;
• Singapore ranks as the 15th most expensive city, after factoring in the cost of rent (a major expenditure for Singaporeans);
• Our workers’ purchasing power is ranked 50 out of 73;
• Three years ago a Singaporean worker had to work 22 minutes to earn enough to afford a Big Mac. Today that same worker has to work for 36 minutes, because his wages have decreased and the cost of living has increased.

The contrast between the ranking of our cost of living (15) and our wages (41) couldn’t be more stark. Yet when asked for their views on these unfavourable survey results, two MPs were dismissive about it.

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) said: “The figures may be right, but the conclusion could be wrong.”

As quoted by the Straits Times, he said that rather than look at prices and wages in isolation, the key considerations should be: Do Singaporeans lead a better life than they did in the past, and are the poor taken care of? If the answer to both is yes, then moving up or down two notches becomes mere semantics.

Mere semantics, Mr Seah?

Tell that to the worker who has had to suffer wage cuts or retrenchment just to keep his company afloat during the recession. Perhaps he needs to teach “semantics” to the housewife who has seen the prices of basic necessities shoot up over the past three years, even though she makes the best effort to purchase the “house brands” from Mr Seah’s supermarkets. (He is the Managing Director of NTUC Fairprice.)

I would have expected a so-called “labour MP” to be calling on the government to take this survey seriously, and look into ways to raise the wages of our workers, and lower the cost of living for the average Singaporean. But I suppose he was speaking with his PAP hat on, not his unionist hat. (I’ve met Mr Seah before. He is a very nice man. But his defence of the indefensible only highlights the lack of value add of ruling party MPs when the debate shifts to fundamental issues of national importance.)

Isn’t it amazing that when there are global surveys that rank Singapore highly, like the corruption or competitiveness indices, the government loves to claim credit for it, but when surveys like this UBS survey put the government’s policies in a bad light, they are dismissed as “mere semantics”?

To rub salt on the wound, we are told to look at the big picture: Compare your life now to 44 years ago. Is it better now than before? If yes, then shut up and stop complaining.

Well if the government wants us to look at things from such a general perspective, then I can also point out that the Taiwanese, South Koreans, Ghanaians and Chileans also have a better life now than 44 years ago. What’s the big deal? We have just been riding on a wave of global prosperity since the 1960s, no?

Another “labour MP” Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC) questioned the validity of the survey, which has been published every three years for the past 38 years. She wondered whether the indicators include government aid. She claimed that Workfare Income Supplement, rebates and subsidies in health care, education and housing are “significant and help people to cope better”.

I’m not sure if Mdm Halimah really knows what she is asking for. If government aid like a comprehensive social safety net, unemployment benefits, free health care and free education are included, most cities in developed countries would even further outrank Singapore, which provides none of the above.

Causes of the current situation

The current state of affairs of high costs and low wages is not just a by-product of globalization which the government has no control over. This is a cop out and a convenient excuse that this government likes to make.

There is wide agreement among economists and analysts that our low wages, particularly at the bottom rungs, are caused by the flooding of cheap foreign labour into our country. The easy availability of foreign blue collar workers has given our employers little incentive to invest in technology and increase productivity. It has also lowered the bargaining power of local workers who have to compete with them for jobs.

High inflation and high costs too are not just accidental occurrences.

For example, the cost of public housing is directly controlled by the government, which can choose to build more new HDB flats (increase supply) and sell new flats at cost-plus, instead of making such huge profits out of home buyers. This will in turn bring down the prices in the resale market.

The introduction and hikes in the rate of GST has served as a regressive tax on consumers — hitting the low income harder than the wealthy. To date the government has refused opposition MPs’ calls for a GST freeze or reversal.

University tuition fees have risen rapidly in the past decade, yet the government continues to subsidize foreigners’ tertiary education to the tune of $105,600 over a 4-year course, instead of making higher education truly affordable to all Singaporeans.

Instead of just dismissing this survey or nitpicking at its flaws, our government leaders should seriously examine the policies that are causing this dismal state of affairs. They should start listening to the people who really know what’s going on on the ground, instead of brown-nosing “grassroots leaders” or scholar-bureaucrats who rely on charts and statistics to decide which policies will be tolerable for the “median” Singaporean.

Alternatively, they can choose to ignore it at their own peril at the next elections. Ordinary Singaporeans may be paying for the flawed policies now, but come the next election, someone else may be paying.

New Reform Party leaders - Straits Times

Image by vapourtrails via Flickr

By Kor Kian Beng & Jeremy Au Yong

THE opposition Reform Party unveiled a new central executive committee at a dinner on Friday night which marked the party's birth just over a year ago.

It also released its manifesto and outlined its plans to attract more members and to contest the next election which is due by early 2012.

The seven-member central executive committee is led by secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, 50. The hedge fund manager took over the reins in April.

He is the elder son of the late opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam who registered the party in April last year but died last September.

Other key office holders named at a press conference ahead of its first anniversary dinner were chairman Edmund Ng, 36, and treasurer James Teo, 50.

Mr Jeyaretnam told reporters that the 30-strong Reform Party aims to recruit 60 more over the next year. It plans to do this through twice-weekly open house meetings at its Chinatown office and by boosting its online presence through new media tools like social networking websites, he said.

The party is also awaiting approval from the Media Development Authority to publish a regular newsletter, added Mr Jeyaretnam.

The party, which also has plans for weekly walkabouts in constituencies islandwide, held its first one in Geylang Serai last weekend.

As for whether it is ready for the next election, he said: 'It's been only four months since I took over. We've recruited credible candidates.

'It is just a matter of focusing either on Group Representative Constituencies or single member constituencies.'

Singapore's All Wet - Time

Image via Wikipedia

By Neel Chowdhury

In Singapore, there is water everywhere and, belying the old adage, almost every drop can be drunk. Much of Singapore's water falls from the sky. Stand outside in the afternoon, when dark thunderclouds usually roll by, and you will probably get drenched. An average of 7.9 ft. of rain falls on Singapore annually, nearly 2½ times the global average. Moreover, this small, chestnut-shaped, 268-sq.-mi. island is surrounded by water, albeit the salty kind.

Hot, equatorial, but with limited groundwater, Singapore has made itself a global paragon of water conservation by harvesting--and reusing--the aqueous bounty of its skies and, to a lesser extent, its surrounding seas. "It is an exemplary model of integrated water management," said Lars Gunnarsson of the Stockholm International Water Institute in the citation given to Singapore's national water agency when it won the 2007 Stockholm Water Industry Award. "The story would fit well as a study example in the education of water managers."

Water is chronically in short supply in the world's megacities. In the arid Western U.S., cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix are in constant legal scrapes over access to the stuff, and there are strict rules for homeowners about usage. By 2025, 1 in 2 Africans could face water scarcity, leading to potential water wars between countries. Chronic shortages are also expected in Asia. And groundwater supplies in three of India's most productive agrarian states are rapidly shrinking.

Singapore's success story, like many happy ones, began in struggle. "When you have your back against the wall, you come out fighting," says Sam Ong, deputy CEO of Hyflux, a Singapore-based water-treatment company. "That's how Singapore is with water." The fight dates back to several old water agreements with Malaysia, the country Singapore acrimoniously broke away from in 1965--which ensured that as of Singapore's independence, 80% of its freshwater supply came from Malaysia through fat steel pipes across a causeway. Yet soon after Singapore signed the agreements over the course of 1961 and 1962, it began formulating Plan B. Fearing that its erstwhile master would use water as a "lever of pressure," as Singapore's first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, put it in his memoirs, the country has searched for more than 40 years for ways to wean itself off foreign water.

It has succeeded. Even though roughly 40% of the country's freshwater still comes from Malaysia, by building a sophisticated network of rivulets, storm drains and canals, Singapore has made itself into a vast catchment area for the thundershowers that regularly soak it. "We are a large-scale urban storm harvester" is how Khoo Teng Chye, chief executive of Singapore's PUB (formerly known as Public Utilities Board), puts it. "We do not have any groundwater, but we do get a lot of rain," Khoo says. "That was the starting point of our efforts."

And Singapore purifies and recycles what it captures, including sewage. Here's how it works: More than half the island is crisscrossed by a grid of drains that not only prevent flooding, to which low-lying Singapore is prone, but more important, capture rainwater. That rainwater eventually flows into canals. From the canals, the water runs to one of several reservoirs and then to a treatment plant, where it is purified for home use. The wastewater, meanwhile, runs into a gigantic underground pipe, nearly as wide as a subway tunnel, that traverses the length of Singapore. To speed the water flow, this giant pipe tilts progressively downward, reaching a depth of 230 ft. By that point, hundreds of millions of gallons of water have arrived below a lip of reclaimed land on the easternmost edge of Singapore. There, a newly opened $2.5 billion water plant pumps the water back to the surface and treats it, discharging some of it out to sea and treating some of it further for use in factories. Not only are rainwater and wastewater efficiently "harvested" in this way, officials point out, but the system also makes every Singaporean water-conscious. "We want to promote the idea that the water that falls on your roof, patio or car park is eventually used," says the PUB's Khoo. "This ensures the environment is kept clean."

The government's enlightened policies have developed an expertise in water management that has spawned a host of profitable companies. Chief among them is Hyflux, a water-treatment company that purifies waste-, salt- and rainwater. Hyflux was started in 1989 by a chemistry graduate named Olivia Lum, who grew up so poor in a Malaysian village that rains regularly flooded her grandmother's small wooden house.

The company struggled for nearly half a decade. Then came the penguins. "To convince Singapore [that it could treat water], we tried our first project in a bird park with the penguin tank," explains Hyflux's Ong. Because penguins are used to pristine arctic water, the water in their tank needed to be continuously cleaned. The penguins were pleased enough by Hyflux that the company was allowed to recycle part of Singapore's wastewater into drinking water, which has in turn propelled Hyflux from a start-up into a global player in water treatment. Its systems are now used in cities such as Tianjin, China, and Magtaa, Algeria.

Hyflux's membrane technology shows that even the dirtiest water can be cleaned. Seawater in Singapore, for instance, is first dosed with acids to adjust alkaline levels and then cleaned of contaminants like oil and grease. The water passes through a sieve of sand that removes silt. Then it is shot through a stringy honeycomb of plastic membranes at high pressure, which "polishes" the water, Ong says. In the case of desalination in Singapore, Ong adds, the water becomes so clean that minerals have to be restored for it to be consumed. In 2008, Hyflux reported net profits of $40 million, a 79% increase over the previous year, on revenues of roughly $382 million. Hyflux's stock has jumped almost twentyfold since its public listing in 2001.

Not all of Singapore's water babies harbor such commercial promise. To highlight its prowess at converting wastewater into drinking water, the government created a drink called NEWater and packaged it in colorful plastic bottles. Although it's copiously drunk by Singaporean government ministers, often at media-saturated events like the country's National Day celebrations, brands like Evian and Perrier have little to fear. Singapore's officials are more interested in making a point than a dollar, the point being that water is a valuable, renewable resource.

The country's painstaking efforts to become self-sufficient in water have worked. The first of the water agreements with Malaysia, which expires in 2011, is not likely to be renewed, according to a book sponsored by the Singapore government. Equally important, by using so much of its land to capture rainwater, Singapore has made its citizens environmental stewards who take responsibility for conserving resources. "It's a passion," says Albert Phee, a 49-year-old IT expert who has persuaded his family to turn off the shower while shampooing and reuse the water he washes his car with for flushing the toilet. "Once I've started, I can't stop."

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Singapore Airlines Earns First Place Among Singapore Companies in the Asia 200 Survey - WSJ.com

By CRIS PRYSTAY

It's been one of the toughest years yet for Singapore Airlines. The company reported a net loss of 307.1 million Singapore dollars (US$212.5 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with a net profit of S$358.6 million a year earlier -- the airline's first quarterly loss in six years. Singapore Airlines carried 19% fewer passengers in June 2009 compared with the same month last year; it also carried 19% less freight. Flight schedules have been cut and some routes have been axed. The hours and pay of staff and management have been trimmed.

"This particular recession is a more severe test than any other downturn I can recall in the last 25 years," says Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng.

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• Methodology: How did we go about identifying Asia's top 200 companies?

All that bad news, however, hasn't fazed the public one bit. Singapore Airlines, the world's largest airline by market capitalization, once again landed in first place as the most-admired Singapore company in the Asia 200 survey of subscribers of The Wall Street Journal Asia and other businesspeople.

The airline has been voted Singapore's top company every year since 1993, when the Asia 200 survey began. It's the only company in Asia to win its country's first-place ranking every single year. Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's investment fund, owns 54% of Singapore Airlines

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest telephone company by market capitalization, was ranked second in the survey, and United Overseas Bank placed third. This year, Singapore Airlines ranked first in most subcategories, including reputation, quality of service and products, innovation in responding to customer needs and long-term management vision. It ranked fourth, however, in the category of financial reputation, reflecting concerns about the tough environment faced by airlines world-wide.

Singapore Airlines dominates the survey each year because the company consistently delivers on its brand promise: the airline boasts top-tier service, the latest in-flight entertainment and amenities, and one of the youngest fleets in the sky. The company, meanwhile, has continued to invest in new planes and staff training throughout the global economic crisis. Singapore Airlines has 10 more A380s, 11 more A330s, 20 Boeing 787s and 20 Airbus A350s on order today. There have been no cuts in core areas of service and fleet renewal, despite continued pressure on the bottom line, says Mr. Chew.

"That's kept us in good stead," he says. "It shows we are committed to staying true to our core values, our market positioning and the identity of the company."

The average age of Singapore's fleet right now is 6 years old, which puts it way ahead of the pack. The average fleet age of airlines world-wide is 14 or 15 years, according to Corrine Png, head of regional transportation research at J.P. Morgan. "This generates customer appeal," she says. "People are excited about traveling on the newest aircraft with the best technology."

Asian airlines are widely perceived to have among the best service in the world, and within Asia, Singapore Airlines sits at the apex. "Customer service is the cornerstone of our business strategy," says Mr. Chew. Any airline can buy the same aircraft with the latest gadgets, he says. It's the operating systems and the people that set SIA apart. The airline makes optimal use of its customer-relationship management software, so staff can tell what meals, drinks or extras its regular customers prefer. Staff members receive continuing training on both technical matters and customer-service skills. "We've managed, over the years, to inculcate that into our corporate DNA," Mr. Chew says. "We've honed it so it's not just one or two flights that you get good service on; it's all flights."

Employees buy into the service mantra when they join the airline. Last year, a flight attendant named Caroline Chou noticed an Indian passenger, who suffered from sclerosis, had fallen ill on a flight from Los Angeles to Coimbatore. The plane landed for a stopover in Taipei, where Ms. Chou was due a few days off. She escorted the man and his family to a hospital, and stepped in to translate for the Mandarin-speaking doctors. Although she wasn't required to, Ms. Chou visited the family on her days off. When the family was informed the man could continue his journey only on a flight equipped with specialized medical equipment, Ms. Chou helped source the equipment and get authorization from various authorities to take the gear on board.

Providing the latest technology and attentive staff has helped make SIA the airline of choice for many business travelers. Singapore Airlines earns 60% of its revenue from business and first class; other Asian airlines earn, on average, 20% of their revenue from premium seats, according to Ms. Png.

To be sure, there is continued turbulence ahead. Mr. Chew, who has worked for the airline since 1972 and served as the CEO for six years, reckons this is the worst environment in decades, and doesn't anticipate a quick economic recovery. Past periods of economic turmoil, like the 1998 Asian economic crisis, the 2003 outbreak of SARS and even the dotcom crash, were largely regional in nature, so falling demand from one part of the world was largely offset by other regions, says Mr. Chew. This time the impact is global. The rest of the year will remain tough, and the prospect of a recovery in 2010 depends entirely on how governments around the world manage their economies and how consumers respond, says Mr. Chew.

There are some signs that while things have yet to get better, it's at least stopped getting worse. The decline in SIA's forward bookings has leveled off, which is good news. But the situation has yet to improve. The airline warned that it could post its first-ever annual loss if conditions didn't improve.

The company has moved to stem costs. Capacity has been cut by 11% for the current fiscal year by trimming routes and grounding planes. In June, the airline announced management would take a 10% pay cut, and the CEO and board pay would be cut by 20%. Pilots agreed to take one day unpaid leave a month and a salary cut equivalent to 65% of one day's salary per month. Agreements negotiated with staff unions, meanwhile, include a large variable component that links pay to the company's performance. When the company announced its quarterly loss last month, it also said that pay for 12,000 staff based in Singapore would be cut by 10% for at least three months starting Aug. 1

"Right now, our challenge is to manage our costs so we can keep our noses above water, and put us in a position to ride the upturn when things pick up," says Mr. Chew. "We also need to manage resources so we can uphold the values and the business strategy of the company."

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Singapore faces 'silver tsunami' - SDP

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In a departure from the usual state-sponsored message urging Singaporean couples to have more children, this year's National Day rally addressed the island state's rapidly graying population. As rising health and living costs emerge as a threat to social stability and economic growth, a dramatic demographic shift is driving the government to re-examine its past anti-welfare stance.

Singapore has one of the fastest aging populations in the world, with over 65-year-olds estimated by 2030 to represent 23% of the population, the second highest percentage in Asia lagging behind only Japan.

If current demographic trends hold, the island state's median age will rise from 36 presently to 41 by 2030. By 2050, the island state's median age will rise to 54, leaving only Japan, South Korea and Macau with more elderly populations.

Singapore's demographic shift has been accentuated by the country's low fertility rate, which fell to a low of 1.24 in 2004 before rising last year to 1.29. Fewer offspring translates into an increased burden on the young population to provide for their elderly forebears. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan earlier this year described the changing demographics as a "silver tsunami".

The government has long enforced individual savings through the mandatory Central Provident Fund (CPF), which mandates that the population saves for old age. More recently the government announced plans to pass a so-called Re-employment Act, which will take effect in 2012 and extend the standard retirement age from 62 to 65.

Nonetheless, a recent survey found that less than 5% of the current elderly population relies on CPF disbursements for their livelihood. Rather, the majority of respondents said they depend mainly on their children. That dependence, however, is straining family ties as average health-care costs rise.

The government has emphasized the role of the family in caring for the elderly, including through the passage of the 2005 Maintenance of Parents Act, which allows parents to sue their children for financial support. Applications at the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents hit a nine-year high last year.

Over the past 12 months, some 172 senior citizens have filed applications against their children, up substantially from the previous annual rate of around 100. Still, Geylang East Home for the Aged, a shelter for elderly people abandoned by their family, said that its 37-bed home is always full. Abandoned parents who can no longer fend for themselves are often recommended by social workers.

The generational conflict is being driven in part by spiraling health costs. In 1984, Singapore's government covered about three-quarters of national health costs. That burden shifted when the government introduced medical saving accounts which required individuals pay their own way.

Health care now accounts for 4.5% of Singapore's gross national expenditure, one of the lowest such percentages in the world. A research report by Nanyang Technological University's David Reisman showed that 36% of health-care expenditure was government financed in Singapore in 2007, comparable to the percentages of much poorer Indonesia and economic basket case Zimbabwe.

With the growing number of senior citizens and cash-strapped children who are unwilling or unable to shoulder the burden, the Singapore government will find it difficult not to bear more of the costs, according to Reisman.

In Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, around 80% of health care expenses are covered by public spending, mostly through subsidies to public hospitals. That figure stands at 85% in Sweden and the United Kingdom, 81% in Japan and 45% in the United States, which is now grappling with a controversial reform plan to provide universal healthcare coverage.

Member of parliament Paulin Tay-Straughan was quoted in the local media saying that spiraling healthcare costs could potentially be a major strain on the Singapore government's resources. "If [individuals] don't have adequate coverage, there will be a tremendous strain on subsidized care which will drain revenues from the state," she said.

Singaporeans are hospitalized on average 11 times through their lives, with eight of those visits occurring after the age of 55. Older persons suffering from chronic degenerative diseases and non-communicable disabilities are more likely to be "bed-blockers".

Even when individuals can pay, there is a chronic shortage of beds in hospitals, with average waiting times of four to eight hours before patients are admitted, say sources. The government is encouraging more home care, but there is a shortage of doctors willing and able to do emergency house calls, industry experts say.

The mounting crisis has spurred some creative - and controversial - thinking. The government in recent years launched a national elderly long-term care severe disability insurance (LTCDI) scheme, known as Eldershield, to protect its citizens against severe disability. Although not overtly referred to as welfare, new government support measures have quietly been implemented to assist the elderly, including the Workfare Income Supplement and other healthcare subsidies.

In February, Health Minister Khaw drew flak when he suggested Singapore consider moving its elderly residents across the causeway to the neighboring Malaysian city of Johor Bahru. He estimated that for the cost of establishing a polyclinic in Singapore a 200-bed full service nursing home could be built in Johor Bahru.

"Of course many [family members] visit [their parents] daily, but quite a significant number visit only during the weekends. So what is the difference in putting them in Johor Bahru?"

Moving patients to Malaysia would also address the island state's acute shortage of health-care specialists in palliative care and geriatric-related fields, which in recent years has compelled hospitals to import nurses from China, the Philippines and even impoverished Myanmar. Some say Singapore's health-care crisis comes down to culture and changing generational priorities.

In the Philippines and Thailand, children, particularly women, are expected to care for their parents when they reach old age out of a debt of gratitude.

"We cannot legislate love," Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan recently told parliament. "But we know that a small minority will need help and we will ensure that help is available... Those contemplating abdicating responsibilities will know that the system will catch up with you."

Singapore's Ideal: A Singaporean CEO for Temasek

By P.R. VENKAT

SINGAPORE -- Singapore's finance minister said state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd.'s chief executive would ideally be Singaporean, but the government won't interfere in nor restrict Temasek's decision in the selection process.

"The question of whether the CEO of Temasek should be a Singaporean is not a trivial one; it is one which cabinet considered very carefully and debated on before arriving at a decision," Tharman Shanmugaratnam told lawmakers in Parliament.

"Ideally, we should have a Singaporean as the CEO; that's the ideal and everything else being equal and you look at two candidates who are equally suitable for the job, I think we should prefer to have a Singaporean," he said. "The ideal is not always possible. What is critical is that the board remains in the control of Singaporeans."

Mr. Tharman stressed that the investment company is independent from government interference and that the government prefers not to put restrictions on Temasek in its CEO search.

"The government does not directly manage the process of chief executive succession. To do so would make the appointment of the chief executive a political decision, which it must never be," Mr. Tharman said.

In July, Temasek said it and former CEO-designate Charles "Chip" Goodyear, a U.S.-born executive who was formerly chief of mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd., mutually agreed to part ways, citing differences on "certain strategic issues."

A person familiar with the situation said at the time that Mr. Goodyear's proposals for the firm's new strategic direction were considered too risky by some, and that he also planned some changes to the senior management that weren't well-received by Temasek's board.

Temasek CEO Ho Ching said in July that Mr. Goodyear's departure was "mutual and amicable."

The finance minister said Temasek's leadership remains strong, at both the CEO and board level. "They have enabled Temasek to sustain its generally superior overall investment performance over the years," he said.

Temasek suffered losses on its investments due to the global slowdown and financial crisis. Ms. Ho said late last month that Temasek's portfolio fell more than S$40 billion (US$27.54 billion) at the end of March from a year earlier. The company manages a portfolio valued at S$127 billion.

Mr. Tharman said Temasek had done "rather well" compared with other companies and that there was no "push factor" for the current CEO to step down. "As shareholder of Temasek, the government has a clear interest in Temasek continuing to have strong leadership," he said.

Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@dowjones.com