Straits Times deleted Bloomberg TV’s interview with Tharman after publishing it
By Eugene Yeo
In the afternoon at 5pm, the Straits Times online published a Bloomberg TV’s interview with Finance Minister Tharman as its TOP STORY. However half an hour later, the article has mysteriously disappeared and is nowhere to be found.
The Straits Times “Breaking News” usually keeps its “top studies” and recycle them to other categories after a while. I have checked all categories and was unable to find the article.
The interview was actually published by Bloomberg on 29 January 2009 in which Mr Tharman revealed that Temasek and GIC have invested a total of about $24 billion in UBS AG, Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. in the past 14 months.
This amount is more than the $20.5 billion “Resilience Package” unveiled by the Budget lately which was financed by dipping into our precious reserves.
The Straits Times editors must have thought of this as a sensitive topic and censor the article almost immediately after it was published. Unfortunately in this modern era, it is becoming harder for the mainstream media to conceal information as the news is already available on the internet.
Doesn’t the Straits Times think that this is an important national issue which ought to be made known to the public ? Shouldn’t Singaporeans know that our SWFs have ploughed in more than $24 billion last year to “invest” in U.S. banks ? Are the authorities afraid that they may have to answer embarrassing questions from the public if this was revealed ?
You can read the original article here
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xiaoming82 on Sun, 1st Feb 2009 11:48 pm
oic, so all the great things they said in the parliament is all about saving their investment.uniquely singapore!
NissanViP on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 3:11 am
Singaporean love Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and his government to screw them “singaporean” who always believe too much in the government.
Serve Singaporean right!!
I encourage LEE KUAN YEW to continue to screw every Singaporean CPF including more taxes, increase everything regardless economy situation and teach LEE HSIEN LOONG as much as he can, bring in more foreigners (Stop quotas if any) and provide them free lodging through singaporean CPF or whatever money govt can squeeze out from singaporean and encourage employers to offer higher salary than singaporean, in times like this, terminate singaporean first.
I hate Singapore government “LEE KUAN YEW” as much as I hate Singaporeans gutless.
Long lives Emperor LEE KUAN YEW!!!!!!!!!
Sgcynic on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 5:24 am
“I am surprised no MPs have brought up the question of our failed investments in U.S. banks in Parliament two weeks ago. Don’t Singaporeans deserve to know what is happening to their CPF savings ?”
A favourite phrase of someone I know: “No point talking about it. It’s water under the bridge” (in this case, it’s dust under the carpet”.
mon on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 8:38 am
On Sgcynic:
You consider 24 billion USD as “dust under the carpet”.
You must be damn rich.
I am not and I want to know why.
But the current system doesn’t allow me to ask.
sicktothebones on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 5:29 pm
THIS IS exactly what i despise about the main stream media
X on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 7:11 pm
Whoever had put that thing up in the first place is probably fired by the upper echelons.
cy on Mon, 2nd Feb 2009 9:25 pm
this is a chinese proverb called” covering up your ears when stealing a bell”.
You can fool some ppl all the time,all the ppl some of the time,but not all the ppl all the time.
Truth will prevail in the end. PAP will have to answer some tough questions at the elections if they dare to hold it in a year’s time.
ronin on Tue, 3rd Feb 2009 9:31 pm
Here is the Bloomberg article.
====================================
Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — Singapore, whose state-owned funds invested about $24 billion in UBS AG, Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. in the past 14 months, said the worst of the credit crunch is yet to come.
The world’s biggest banks still have toxic assets on their balance sheets, which are clogging up their ability to lend, Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday. The finance ministry oversees Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and Temasek Holdings Pte, each managing more than $100 billion.
Banks are still focusing on replenishing capital “and estimates of the extent of bad assets on their books are still on the upswing,” he said. “We haven’t seen the worst yet.”
Bank losses worldwide from U.S.-originated bad assets may reach $2.2 trillion, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday, more than the $1.4 trillion it predicted in October. U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration and federal regulators are considering setting up a “bad bank” that would absorb illiquid assets from otherwise healthy financial firms.
Governments across Europe have injected capital into banks to ensure that lending to companies and consumers doesn’t freeze up. European Union regulators yesterday approved France’s plan to increase its funding for recapitalization of banks including BNP Paribas SA and Societe Generale SA to 11 billion euros ($14.5 billion), from an initial proposal for 10.5 billion euros.
Ireland’s government last month said it would invest 2 billion euros in Allied Irish and Bank of Ireland, the country’s biggest lenders.
‘Foot the Bill’
“It’s right that governments are focusing on recapitalization in the West and they’re trying their best to incentivize new lending,” Shanmugaratnam said. “It’s too early to say how successful this will be. Governments have to take more risk, and that means taxpayers have to be willing to foot part of the bill.”
The IMF report released yesterday signaled that writedowns and losses at banks totaling $1.1 trillion so far are only half of what’s to come. Losses on that scale would leave banks needing at least $500 billion in fresh capital to restore confidence in their balance sheets, the fund said.
Singapore’s leaders have defended the performance of the city’s state-owned investment companies after a plunge in the value of their stakes in Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and other global banks.
GIC, which manages the country’s reserves, invested about $18 billion in UBS and Citigroup since December 2007. Temasek, which has a $130 billion portfolio, increased investments in Merrill Lynch and Barclays Plc as the credit market collapsed in 2007 and 2008.
‘Well Diversified’
Temasek was the biggest shareholder in Merrill Lynch before the securities firm was taken over by Bank of America Corp. It is also the largest shareholder of banks including London-based Standard Chartered Plc and Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd., and has holdings in India’s ICICI Bank and other lenders in Indonesia, South Korea and Pakistan.
Temasek and GIC remain “well diversified” enough in their portfolios to offer the long-term returns the government seeks, Shanmugaratnam said.
“We would be very worried if global banks comprise a large proportion of the portfolios of GIC or Temasek, or for that matter, any of the highly vulnerable industries globally,” the minister said. “But these are diversified portfolios.”
Performed ‘Credibly’
Temasek and GIC have performed “credibly by international standards,” he said. Temasek had an average 18 percent annual return on investment since its inception in 1974. GIC said in September that annual returns in the past 20 years averaged 7.8 percent in U.S. dollar terms, compared with about 6 percent for the MSCI World Index.
GIC last year also said it’s boosting investments in emerging markets, private equity and other asset classes to raise returns after cutting back stocks and holdings in developed nations.
“I’m comfortable with the actions both Temasek and GIC have taken early in this crisis to reduce risk, to move into more liquid asset allocation and to prepare for opportunities in this downturn,” Shanmugaratnam said. “We’ve got to make sure we maintain that record of prudent investments for the portfolio as a whole, diversifying risks, and being prepared for crises from time to time.”
Jonathan King on Wed, 4th Feb 2009 1:44 pm
ST has no independent editorial policy period
So, it is not surprsing the article was thrashed at the behest of someone powerful to avoid embarrassment.
Making over 18% returns with an average of 7.8% over last 20 years on investment is more than creditable. Even “sepuloh dua” cannot achieve that! But, have we forgotten to mention inflation and equate the returns to losses suffered especially, the substantial amount of 26B invested in UBS AG, Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. in the past 14 months?
What was the accumulated amount earned over that period vis-a-vis losses suffered on the investment?
It’s typical of ST reports. It would help to publizise new job creation without corresponding report of job losses over that same period and how many of the new jobs were those from the unemployed or those who lost their jobs.
Our champions in Parliament are also not very polished in asking these questions. But we can’t really blame them as they are doing their best!
AR on Thu, 5th Feb 2009 3:07 am
Wasn’t the original article published on 29 Jan?
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_331752.html
The article on 1 Feb looks like it’s just a duplicate, with some rearranging of the paragraphs.
T on Fri, 6th Feb 2009 10:39 am
The comparison is even more stark if you consider the investment in the tanked financial institutions is US$24 billion (S$36 billion), and the Resilient Package is only S$20.5 billion.