International reporters asking inconvenient questions have long been swatted angrily by the late Lee Kuan Yew and his successors. It is taboo to dare to ask questions beyond the staged theatre. But a Singaporean journalist from the regional broadcaster Channel News Asia (CNA) dared to ask. Her second question was if the various initiatives undertaken by SPH Group failed, who was responsible? Both questions were addressed to the chairman.
The second question triggered apoplexy in CEO Ng Yat Chung, the retired lieutenant-general whose tenure as group president and CEO of Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines from 2011-2017 saw the nation’s shipping icon sold to French shipping line CMA. He had announced in 2016 as CEO that “without the scale necessary to compete on costs, the best choice was to sell." In its first quarter 2017 after acquisition, CMA turned NOL into a net profit of S$26 million.
Ng turned into a fuming, pugnacious, parade-ground bully. “I take umbrage,” he shouted, berating the reporters present and the CNA reporter, in particular, pointing an accusatory finger at her. He challenged the reporters if in doing their jobs they ‘concede’ editorial to advertisers. How dare she impugn SPH titles? That was not her question. He evaded the real question that triggered his wrath.
Ng lost his cool badly in public, on live broadcast. “The chairman is a gentleman…I am not” he smirked. The irony of the nation’s premier media CEO being so inept at handling reporters was not lost on Singapore’s feisty social media commentators, who are having a field day.
A lot more at https://tinyurI.com/33ksmuxn
The second question triggered apoplexy in CEO Ng Yat Chung, the retired lieutenant-general whose tenure as group president and CEO of Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines from 2011-2017 saw the nation’s shipping icon sold to French shipping line CMA. He had announced in 2016 as CEO that “without the scale necessary to compete on costs, the best choice was to sell." In its first quarter 2017 after acquisition, CMA turned NOL into a net profit of S$26 million.
Ng turned into a fuming, pugnacious, parade-ground bully. “I take umbrage,” he shouted, berating the reporters present and the CNA reporter, in particular, pointing an accusatory finger at her. He challenged the reporters if in doing their jobs they ‘concede’ editorial to advertisers. How dare she impugn SPH titles? That was not her question. He evaded the real question that triggered his wrath.
Ng lost his cool badly in public, on live broadcast. “The chairman is a gentleman…I am not” he smirked. The irony of the nation’s premier media CEO being so inept at handling reporters was not lost on Singapore’s feisty social media commentators, who are having a field day.
A lot more at https://tinyurI.com/33ksmuxn
