This just came into my mailbox.
That day happened to be the day when the budget for Ministry of Finance was debated. Many MPs, including Ms Sylvia Lim, filed ‘cuts’ asking the Ministry of Finance to disclose how much reserve Singapore still has, and how much losses have the 2 SWFs - GIC and Temasek incurred.
Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, SMS (Senior Minister of State, and yes, they used this acronym there) for Finance, read her reply from her file, and gave a fluent answer (re-hashing) of the Government’s stand on why we should not disclose the amount of reserves we have, and that the SWFs did not do as badly as the various indices tracking the similar markets.
She also added that Temasek Holding’s portfolio fell 31%. When it was time for clarification questions, Ms Sylvia Lim rose to ask about the exact figure for losses incurred by GIC, since no specific number was quoted, while the 31% was disclosed for Temasek. Mrs Lim Hwee Hua was stumped for words for a few seconds, stammered a little, mumbled something about “it was reported during the budget debate last week”, while frantically flipping her file in front of her to look for an answer. Sylvia Lim spread her hands in a gesture asking “what number”, and Lim Hwee Hua, after not being able to give a specific number, suddenly succumbed and threw out a number, “41%”. The Speaker was nice to Lim Hwee Hua, seeing that she was not very sure of the number herself, and asked if she wants to clarify the number later. She took the opportunity, and since it was also time for the recess at 1520hrs, the Speaker declared that the Parliament go into recess.
http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/12/watch-it-live
That day happened to be the day when the budget for Ministry of Finance was debated. Many MPs, including Ms Sylvia Lim, filed ‘cuts’ asking the Ministry of Finance to disclose how much reserve Singapore still has, and how much losses have the 2 SWFs - GIC and Temasek incurred.
Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, SMS (Senior Minister of State, and yes, they used this acronym there) for Finance, read her reply from her file, and gave a fluent answer (re-hashing) of the Government’s stand on why we should not disclose the amount of reserves we have, and that the SWFs did not do as badly as the various indices tracking the similar markets.
She also added that Temasek Holding’s portfolio fell 31%. When it was time for clarification questions, Ms Sylvia Lim rose to ask about the exact figure for losses incurred by GIC, since no specific number was quoted, while the 31% was disclosed for Temasek. Mrs Lim Hwee Hua was stumped for words for a few seconds, stammered a little, mumbled something about “it was reported during the budget debate last week”, while frantically flipping her file in front of her to look for an answer. Sylvia Lim spread her hands in a gesture asking “what number”, and Lim Hwee Hua, after not being able to give a specific number, suddenly succumbed and threw out a number, “41%”. The Speaker was nice to Lim Hwee Hua, seeing that she was not very sure of the number herself, and asked if she wants to clarify the number later. She took the opportunity, and since it was also time for the recess at 1520hrs, the Speaker declared that the Parliament go into recess.
http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/12/watch-it-live
