Tuesday, February 21, 2012

An Open Challenge to PM Lee Hsien Loong

In the light of the recent events surrounding PM Lee's lawsuit threat against TR Emeritus, I would like to issue a challenge to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Board of Directors of Temasek Holdings, to put to rest, once and for all, the doubts and rumours surrounding Ho Ching's appointment as CEO of Temasek Holdings.

Instead of wasting time and money on unleashing lawsuit threats against hapless bloggers, the Prime Minister and the Government of Singapore should practice the highest standards of transparency and accountability with regards to the corporate governance of Temasek Holdings, for the benefit of its ultimate beneficiary owners, the citizens of Singapore.

I demand that the Prime Minister provide complete, incontrovertible, exhaustive documentary evidence demonstrating beyond a shadow of doubt that the selection process that ended in the appointment of Ho Ching as CEO of Temasek was made "on merit and through proper process".

Such documentary evidence should:

1. Detail clearly, precisely and exhaustively what are the roles and responsibilities of the CEO of Temasek Holdings.

2. Detail clearly, precisely and exhaustively what are the qualifications, skills, experience and other requirements for a candidate to be considered for the position of CEO of Temasek Holdings.

3. Provide a complete list of the candidates that were being considered and a detailed comparison of their candidacy, and demonstrate clearly why it is that Ho Ching was the most qualified person of all the candidates that were being considered at the time for the post of CEO of Temasek Holdings.

4. This list of candidates that was being considered should be open to public scrutiny as to whether there was indeed no other candidate available of comparable or superior caliber to Ho Ching for the post of CEO of Temasek Holdings, at the time when the selection process was being conducted.

Such documentary evidence should also:

5. Include an exhaustive list of the standards and benchmarks used in the performance evaluation of the CEO of Temasek Holdings. It should state clearly what constitutes acceptable performance, superior performance and subpar performance. This includes the performance criteria that Ho Ching would have been expected to be evaluated by, when she was in the process of being appointed, and not just the performance criteria as it stands today.

6. Explain clearly why Ho Ching was, of all the available candidates at the time, deemed to be the person most capable of achieving the performance expectations detailed in (5.)

7. Analyse and detail Ho Ching's actual performance vis a vis the standards and benchmarks detailed in (5.) and compare it to the performance of the other candidates listed in (3) so that we can see if indeed, the Board of Directors of Temasek Holdings and the Ministry of Finance made the correct decision to hire Ho Ching for the position of CEO of Temasek.

The above list is certainly not exhaustive, and is only meant to be a starting point towards improving the transparency and accountability of the Government of Singapore to the citizens of Singapore. Instead of resorting to lawsuit threats, which only serve to regress the state of democratic discourse in Singapore, all the Prime Minister needs to do is to impose the highest standards of transparency and accountability on his Government and its agents, so as to expunge all doubt regarding the integrity of government-related appointments, not the least that of his wife to the position of CEO of Temasek Holdings.

Despite PM's promises to make this country a more open, inclusive society, and to promise 'light-touch' regulation, this lawsuit incident has revealed the PM's true colors and runs the risk of moving this country backwards rather than forwards. I personally am disappointed and fed-up with the [censored]-like behavior of the PAP and hereby challenge the PM to come clean with the people!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

K, I can sense you are angry. Anger leads to hatred and hatred leads to suffering K. I understand. I understand completely K.

But what does this accomplish K?

K do you like to fish? What about a river boat ride in a virgin mangrove swamp? What abt a tour of a village forgotten by time? A spot of hunting? What about meeting up with Harphoon again? I am sure both of you have so much to talk about?

Is this really worthwhile K?

What about sitting beneath the night sky and watching meteors trace across the heavens like diamond dust in a place where nothing except pure darkness lurks like ebony moonlit waters?

What are you doing K?

K you need to calm down. You need to gather your senses about you in the way a man picks up loose change and puts it all back into his pocket.

K you need to take a walk. You need some air K.

K, I am Darkness 2012....Darkness of the Brotherhood.

Gintai_昇泰 said...

Datuk,
You must be pipe dreaming? Forget it! Don't waste your time here by asking the impossible. I'm amused rather than shock by your naively. Lol!

Anonymous said...

I think the PM won't bother to reply to you. If he does he may ask you to join a political party or form one if you want to engage in politics, otherwise you have no right to challenge. There are $millions in salaries at stake here.

Saycheese

Anonymous said...

How will we get what belongs to us if we do not even dare to ask for it. Nobody realistically expects the PM to reply to an anonymous blogger. But if this post somehow lands on the desk of the PM, its job would have been accomplished.

Anonymous said...

may i also add that if this post is read and digested by 60% Singaporeans, its job would have been accomplished.

i am sure many singaporeans who were drafted for NS in 1971 are still alive today and many like myself laugh our balls off the day he became a one star general, and more so when he became our so called "goondu" PM....LOL

Anonymous said...

Great, very good effort. Good try. I support you in whatever way I can, even this comment, hope you take it positively.

There are those of some of them who commented, these are the fence sitters, boring people, looking after only their surrounding and backsides. I surmised only when they are directly affected, like (I pray) their house got burnt down, their loved ones killed or died tragically say cancers or what for eg.or they loose their ricebowls, then they will inevitably, frantically sit up and do something..I state I am not being cruel here - I cherish every human life.. Its just that when others are trying to do something based on some strong conviction or beliefs, they deserve my support, against these who are, dont do anything but somehow when anything good come out of good of others, these are the mother fuckers who will predictably, not hesitate to join in.

Never mind you dont receive any response. Good thing is YOU TRIED, NEVER regret better than Not writing.. Dont forget William Hung may be a flop to somepeople, BUT he MANAGED to cut some recording deals. What did he said to Simon Cowell, "I tried my best, I have no regrets".

God bless you.

Terence

PS Someone said you are dreaming. Yes, he is right, thank you. You are the same as the GREAT Dr Martin Luther King, he started with this, "I have a dream". To the uninformed and uneducated even with a string of PhDs, MADs, etc. Martin Luther king ended the slave trade or something like He fought for the rights of the blacks in USA, and HE Won.

Anonymous said...

Excellent! You should send a copy directly to LHL and the Dhanabalan fella. Before doing that, make sure you downgrade to a 3 room HDB flat , sell your Merc if you own one!. Never know if you will wake up and find big Legal Cannon aimd at your door1

FeedMeToTheFish said...

I'm with you. I do not read it as a challenge to PM Lee. Your request for Lee Hsien Loong to come clean is, in fact, a grand opportunity for him to act on what he preaches on transparency, accountability and inclusive society.

I have taken the liberty to quote and link you to my post.

Thank you.

feedmetothefish

Varma Junior said...

Every Singaporean is aware that the appointment of Ho Ching as the head of Temasek Holdings is against the grain of corporate governance.
Maybe as LHL says we have given him a reservoir of trust to govern. Likewise he too should reciprocate when certain section of the society is asking for transparency. The longer LHL delays, the greater and louder will be these questions.

Anonymous said...

We all feel the same anguish. The suing letters seemed too much when people are just asking for more openness and transparency. The leader seemed to tell the people to STFU - no ask no tell - just trust them.

Victor said...

When there is conflict of interest, it really just means the original interest is not the people anyway.

Anonymous said...

I just wonder if any CEO is ever appointed, would anyone consult his/spouse first ?

The controversy will not just end with the PM's clarification that it was Dhanabalan or the Board who selected & appointed her.

If indeed the Board was as independent as clarified, then why was there a need in the first place for Dhanabalan to consult the PM about appointing his wife, isn't it?

The clarification is just not good enough, I think. And now that she is appointed, who would dare to fire her if she underperforms ?

Anonymous said...

The very appointment act itself of PM's wife is the beginning of courting trouble.

Why open the door to court trouble when there's no need to (or was there one, intentionally to 'fcck' Singaporeans, after all tons of idling CPF to play with??

Hsieh Fu Hua's and Chip Goodyear's resignations spoke volumes even thought THERE was utmost 'deafening silence'.

Lets pray and hope Julian Assange has some leaks for us..

"We are the 99%"