When Singapore's forefathers cleared the swamps of Jurong and attracted foreign investors to open factories the main intention was to create jobs for Singaporeans and build a future.
To build expertise and knowledge and to reduce dependency on foreigners, they also seeded SIA in aviation, DBS in banking, NOL in shipping, Chartered Industries in defence and a whole host of companies which began life within the bosom of Temasek and Sheng Li Holdings, wholly owned by the Minister of Finance. The focus was not on Temasek and Sheng Li to generate money but to consolidate all over homespun investment and to provide governance over these assets and to continue to focus on employments for Singaporeans, Defence of the country and to facilitate transfer of technology to the locals.
It was not to be and these are key dates and events which changed our course of history and our trajectory moved in a direction that our founding fathers had not anticipated.
28th October 1982 - the 1st wife of Singapore's heir and future Prime Minister dies. This is the sad day for Singapore when its fortune began to take a turn.
17th December 1985 - The heir marries Ho Ching, an engineer and Deputy Director with Defence Science Organisation.
1987 - She is posted to Singapore Technologies, the successor to Sheng Li Holdings
1997 - She becomes CEO of Singapore Technologies and first signs of mismanagement and poor judgements surfaces. Micropolis crashes spectacularly within a short span of acquisition with losses exceeding $600m, the highest loss incurred by any company in Singapore's history. This is followed by continued and sustained losses incurred by Chartered Semiconductor leading to its sale to a much smaller foreign company.
1st January 2002 - Ho Ching is appointed Exec Director of Temasek. To some it was a relief as she would not longer run a company to the ground or make bad acquisitions. It was not to be.
1st January 2004 - She becomes CEO and reports directly to her husband who is the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.
12 years later, under her watch, the list of failed acquisitions from Barclays to ABC Learning, an Australian Child Care company with its office in a condominium with losses running into the billions is staggering.
Temasek is no longer a holding company for the suite of government companies to generate jobs for Singaporeans and lead to transfer of technology to locals it had become a fund management company with a singular focus of generating financial returns. Its books would be washed in red if not for the regular injections of assets from the Government.
NOL, once the icon of our shipping links is no more. If only Dr Wong Ming Yang had not died I wonder how this country would have evolved. I am sure as a Medical Doctor her career path would not have dragged this country to where it is. Thats life I suppose.
To build expertise and knowledge and to reduce dependency on foreigners, they also seeded SIA in aviation, DBS in banking, NOL in shipping, Chartered Industries in defence and a whole host of companies which began life within the bosom of Temasek and Sheng Li Holdings, wholly owned by the Minister of Finance. The focus was not on Temasek and Sheng Li to generate money but to consolidate all over homespun investment and to provide governance over these assets and to continue to focus on employments for Singaporeans, Defence of the country and to facilitate transfer of technology to the locals.
It was not to be and these are key dates and events which changed our course of history and our trajectory moved in a direction that our founding fathers had not anticipated.
28th October 1982 - the 1st wife of Singapore's heir and future Prime Minister dies. This is the sad day for Singapore when its fortune began to take a turn.
17th December 1985 - The heir marries Ho Ching, an engineer and Deputy Director with Defence Science Organisation.
1987 - She is posted to Singapore Technologies, the successor to Sheng Li Holdings
1997 - She becomes CEO of Singapore Technologies and first signs of mismanagement and poor judgements surfaces. Micropolis crashes spectacularly within a short span of acquisition with losses exceeding $600m, the highest loss incurred by any company in Singapore's history. This is followed by continued and sustained losses incurred by Chartered Semiconductor leading to its sale to a much smaller foreign company.
1st January 2002 - Ho Ching is appointed Exec Director of Temasek. To some it was a relief as she would not longer run a company to the ground or make bad acquisitions. It was not to be.
1st January 2004 - She becomes CEO and reports directly to her husband who is the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.
12 years later, under her watch, the list of failed acquisitions from Barclays to ABC Learning, an Australian Child Care company with its office in a condominium with losses running into the billions is staggering.
Temasek is no longer a holding company for the suite of government companies to generate jobs for Singaporeans and lead to transfer of technology to locals it had become a fund management company with a singular focus of generating financial returns. Its books would be washed in red if not for the regular injections of assets from the Government.
NOL, once the icon of our shipping links is no more. If only Dr Wong Ming Yang had not died I wonder how this country would have evolved. I am sure as a Medical Doctor her career path would not have dragged this country to where it is. Thats life I suppose.
