As an illustration of opacity and political control, when Ong Teng Cheong wanted a complete account of what of fiscal reserves he was to protect, he proved himself a difficult but independently elected president.He challenged the less-than-transparent, closed-ranked PAP political culture and developmental state. The government may be honest, account-able and efficient, but transparency was not its strong suit. There was no clue to the value and composition of assets in Singapore Inc. It seemed the government blocked information on official reserves when Ong made the request in 1993 on assuming office and was given a White Paper only three years later (Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 March 2000, pp. 26–9;24 March 2000, pp. 6, 8). Before conceding not to seek re-election owing to his poor health in 1999, he raised the issue of valuing all government properties whenever the government changed to make a distinction between what constituted past and current reserves. However, the PAP government claimed the tedious and unproductive exercise would take fifty-six man-years to complete. Ong counted his duty done when he announced he was not seeking a second term only after the release of a White Paper which satisfied the principles for determining and safe-guarding accumulated reserves for the first time. From: The Singapore development state in the new economy and polity by Linda Low
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 05:18:38 +0000
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