Beware of the moves of Singapore’s cronies

Crush Singapore! If Bung Karno was alive today, he would come up with the slogan of “Crush Singapore” instead of “Crush Malaysia” as it was in the 1960s. He would be devastated to see his motherland was slowly taken over by Singapore. This neighboring country has never been a good friendly neighbor as evidenced by many things.

Everybody knows that Singapore is the most ideal place for corruptors escaping from Indonesia. Many Indonesian high-profile corruptors can live convenient lives with the help of Singapore. The assets they stole and took away from this country are used for the development of Singapore. The sands they use all come from Riau Islands. Many small islands around the borders of Indonesia-Singapore were all dredged for the purpose of expanding the land areas of the small country.

That is not nearly enough for the Singaporeans. Through its SOE Temasek, Singapore is trying to infiltrate Indonesia through banking and telecommunication sectors. Temasek has now owned the majority of shares in Indosat and Telkomsel. They have also become the owners of eight banks in Indonesia.

Temasek’s infiltrations in the telecommunication and banking sectors need to be watched closely. By controlling Indosat, Singapore not only has control over cellular operator, but also over satellites and other communication infrastructures. All Indonesian communication lines and financial transactions will easily be tapped by the Singaporean.

The take-over processes of telecommunication companies’ and national banks by Temasek are the most debasing transactions throughout the history of the republic. These transactions were the result of dirty conspiracy and under-the-table deals between Singaporean officials and businessmen with their cronies in this country.

It is not difficult to find the cronies of Singapore and Temasek in Indonesia; simply because they are everywhere. They are usually positioned in the circle of higher bureaucracies, starting from the ministerial level to the civilian first echelons level in several state departments. There are also several businessmen and members of the House of Representatives (DPR) whose lives and deaths depend on the generosity of Singapore. They are no more than slaves to the Singaporeans.
Does the administration of SBY have the courage to uphold the sovereignty of the nation that has been robbed by Singapore? It is now the time to stop the robbery of the nation’s assets and Singapore’s infiltration in Indonesia.


History of Temasek

Temasek’s history is closely linked to Singapore’s economic development since Independence. An economic backwater back in 1965, Singapore lacked a strong private sector to support growth. The government therefore had to play the role of entrepreneur to kickstart the economy. One key strategy for this was to create Government-linked companies (GLCs) to provide services critical to the growth of the economy, such as in banking, aviation, telecommunications, the port and power. These equity investments were initially held by the Ministry of Finance and later transferred to the newly created Temasek Holdings in 1974, including some 35 companies worth S$350 million. Founded by former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the original rationale for Temasek was to add a layer between the government and its investments to separate the role of government as an owner and shareholder, from its responsibility as policy-maker and market regulator. In so doing, a tacit mandate was also given to the GLCs to operate as commercial entities. From 1974 to the late 1990s, Temasek acted as a passive investment holding firm, overseeing and monitoring its stable of companies, then largely limited to Singapore. Many of them grew into leading Singapore corporations including Neptune Orient Lines, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Keppel Corporation, SembCorp Industries and PSA International. By 2002, these GLCs collectively contributed about 13% of Singapore’s GDP, according to government data.
Keeping in mind Singapore’s corporatist political structure where most organizations are co-opted by the state to execute an overarching strategy, Temasek was already carefully positioned in this 2002 economic blueprint to refocus its goal toward helping to accelerate the growth of Singapore’s external economy. Indeed, in one of her major addresses as Temasek chief, Ho Ching outlined this new strategic theme, saying Temasek will “work to transform transform its portfolio from a proxy for the Singapore GDP to a balanced GNP portfolio leveraging on the growth of Singapore, Asean, Asia and the world.” The political economy surrounding Temasek has implications for how we should analyze its investment moves. While commercial considerations certainly play a big role at the company level, Temasek also has the obligation of keeping the bigger strategic chessboard in mind when managing its portfolio. Other than leading the development of an external economy, other critical objectives would include promoting identified growth industries and protecting strategic assets. The fact that Temasek’s investment proposals have to be approved by its owner, the Finance Ministry, means that Temasek cannot stray far from national objectives, even if it is unfashionable to say so in public.


Temasek Charter

Temasek’s Executive Director, A brief document, the Charter served to formalize the state investment agency’s mission and outline its future direction. What emerged was a shift of Temasek’s strategic focus from holding and managing the Singapore government’s investments for the long-term benefit of the country, to helping to build and nurture internationally competitive businesses as well. In other words, it now aims to be a long-term strategic investor Group A and Group B Businesses In this document, Temasek, for the first time, divided its stable of companies into “Group A” and “Group B” businesses. Group A businesses are those that the government still need to own and control for strategic reasons, such as public policy objectives and the use of resources critical to Singapore’s economic and security well-being. Such businesses would include those in water, power and gas grids, airport and seaport in terms of critical resources, and gaming, public broadcasting, subsidized services in healthcare, education and housing and various public amenities like the zoo in terms of public policy objectives. Though not specified, companies such as MediaCorp, Singapore Power and ST Engineering would likely be deemed as strategic assets that Temasek would want to maintain majority control over. More interestingly, businesses falling under Group B are deemed those “with the potential to grow beyond the domestic market, into the regional or international markets". They include GLCs such as SingTel, DBS and PSA which have already made inroads in overseas markets. For these companies, Temasek stated that it is “prepared to dilute its stake through the issuance of new shares, or merger and acquisitions in order to support the long-term success of these companies as regional or international play.


Positioning Itself as Asian Investment House
At the same time, Temasek was also deliberately positioning itself as an Asian investment holding company, rather than the Singapore government’s investment arm. To dispel the perception that Temasek and its stable of companies are government-directed, Temasek even took to relabelling the GLCs as Temasek-linked companies.