I am not sure who is the KIA you mentioned, but you seem like you know some of the Arab SWFs. Is it KIO that you mean? The Arab SWFs are fronted by which ever local royal family is given that job, but the Arab SWF that I am familiar with are run by Brits. The Arabs are smart enough to hire the best, pay them well and than keep out of their way. You don't see any royals meddling in and making investment decisions, unlike Temasek and Ho Ching. They have had some losses, but general speaking, they do very well as the senior management bonuses are dependent on that. If any Arab SWF suffered even a $100 million loss, much less the multi billions dollar losses that Temasek suffers, you can be assured there would be nothing left of the senior management. Contrast this with Temasek where no one ever losses their job, or their reputation.
The SWF I am familiar with (which I shall not name), makes investments on all levels. They have put in as little as $5 million, to as much as $100s millions. And they are low key. You never see Temasek doing these small investments as all their investments are big splashy ones, over several hundreds million $ in size. SOmetimes over $billiions too. There business brokers and middle men that are in direct contact with Ho Ching, bringing her deals to look at. If she likes the middlemen, and gets swayed by his business case, no one in Temasek dares to point out the flaws in the investment, and any due diligence done is disguised to support Ho Ching's decision.
The SWFs are very active investing in SE Asia and muslim countries here. But they are selective in what they buy, which is usually energy companies, resource and agricultural businesses, etc. BUT NOT INDONESIAN BANKS AND THAI BANKS. These seem to be the specialty of temasek. No one in the banking world wants to touch one of these jokes and private piggy bank of which ever chinese businessman started it. Temasek really is the joke of the SWF world. The irony is that the if an Arab SWF loses money, they just pump more oil the next year. Temasek's losses are Singapore's sweat and tears and these loses are irreplaceable.