You so naive. Most MNCs do not need to be in Singapore or any other country overseas. They are parking > 1000% gross profits in some cases here with overseas operations. Employees here are tax money placeholders as are the perks offered. Pay needs to be secret because when they send their AM over, they will make more than the locals and even management for non-management executives. Locals here may be made to do a lot but the AMs do not as they are here as there is no way to hire them back home. Their fancy and elaborate project ideas are totally unworkable here as they either require lots of expensive equipment and expertise which was the first reason the MNCs did not want to do in their own countries in the first place - tie money down for nothing. When gross profits in % and absolute are doing bad, cut the number of placeholders. If it still does not work out, move to a poorer country to park whatever at the right numbers as the business will some how improve, as is believed. That is why the India and China operations shift is happening. India is a bad choice because they never get it right. But since they were never hired for much more than tax money sponging, their poor efficiency and horrendous operations design work is tolerated. China can do a much better job than India but, then too good is no good either as they will copy and adapt on the MNC operations, which we are witnessing now. Oh yes, the Japanese in foreign MNCs? Glorified useless units that are overpaid and used as actors in creating an impression that MNCs need global international talent to do well. The Jap units take up the most resources, waste the most time and deliver the least and get paid sometimes the most for claimed native linguistic skills which are of poor quality. They are typically the angst and disgust in overseas offices, but the MNCs know they serve 2 roles - high value tax money placeholders and create friction, envy and competition to keep everyone blind to the fact everyone except AM are expendable. You are witnessing it happening now.
That is why it is important to have own local companies as the foreign ones will spit you out overnight. There is no reason they need to be here besides taxes. The safety, logistics and transport conveniences are just factors on where to park the monies and justify to their tax agencies back home. But ultimately, when things go South, there is implicit understanding on what needs to be done.
What if the water is flavored?
