Lim Swee Say to share his “upturn the downturn†experience a
-
Lim Swee Say to share his “upturn the downturn” experience at international meeting
TEMASEK REVIEW
PAP ministers who have a penchant for indulging in shameless self-praise have taken their “art” to new heights this time by trumpeting their “accomplishments” to the international community.
NTUC Secretary-General and PAP minister without portfolio Lim Swee Say will be sharing his unique “upturn the downturn” experience at the International Labour Organization’s annual meeting in Geneva next month.
Mr Lim coined the term in the midst of Singapore’s recession as an “encouragement” to Singapore workers to accept pay cuts in order to help the economy tide through the difficult period of time.
PAP leaders even sang an “upturn the downturn” song during a NTUC conference last year to spur Singapore workers on:
While Mr Lim did not reveal that if he would be singing the song at the ILO meeting, he has expressed his intention to share Singapore’s experience in coping with the downturn:
”This year, three countries have been invited to hold a special session for the International Labour Congress and these countries will represent Asia, Europe and Africa. From Asia, Singapore will be invited to share its experience in coping with the downturn. In other words, what we have done in Singapore not only benefited workers, at the same time it has attracted attention from all over the world,” he was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia.
PAP MP and NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Halimah Yacob is equally proud of Singapore’s experience:
“We wanted to make sure that the experiences such as these could be shared as there would always be new people coming on stream – human resource practitioners, union leaders, and also new staff. It will also be useful material for overseas institutions. For the union leaders and others in the IR community, it is an important reference material of how they could look at other ways of resolving disputes.”
It is unlikely that the Singapore experience will be applicable elsewhere as no other government in the world has the “fortune” of the PAP in having the trade unions completely under its control.
There are no independent trade unions in Singapore to fight for the interests and rights of Singapore workers. The only trade union, NTUC is a pseudo-PAP organization which is always led by a PAP minister.
As such, there is really no need for the PAP to step in to “resolve” any disputes between the employees and workers since the trade union movement is no more its own “labor” wing.
Furthermore, repressive laws are put in place to outlaw strikes, protests and rallies thereby curtailing the civil liberties of Singapore workers.
With the PAP calling all the shots, it is hardly surprising that Mr Lim is able to “upturn the downturn” at the expense of Singapore workers without sparking off massive strikes commonly seen in other developed countries.
-
GIC converts UBS notes, faces $5 bln paper loss
Singapore’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, GIC, said it converted its UBS (UBSN.VX) notes into ordinary shares, suffering a paper loss of about $5 billion.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corp [GIC.UL] had invested 11 billion Swiss francs ($10.22 billion) in mandatory convertible notes in UBS to support the Swiss bank during the financial crisis.
GIC did not provide more details, but a filing it made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission early last month showed the original conversion price would be 47.7 Swiss francs, two-thirds more than UBS’s last share price of 15.86 francs.
GIC had earned about 2 billion francs from a 9 percent coupon over the last two years, which partially compensated for the sharp erosion in UBS’ share price.
“GIC confirms the conversion,” a spokeswoman for the Singapore wealth fund said in response to Reuters’ queries.
The filing had said GIC would exchange the mandatory convertible notes for 230.7 million ordinary UBS shares on March 5. GIC would have a stake of 6.6 percent in UBS after conversion, making it the Swiss bank’s biggest shareholder.
GIC, led by Deputy Chairman Tony Tan, is becoming active again in global markets after its portfolio shrank by more than a fifth in its last financial year as it was hit by the financial crisis that drove down the value of its financial holdings.
A market recovery helped it recoup half its portfolio losses in March-September last year, and GIC recently profited from a well-timed sale of part of its Citigroup (C.N) stake after it converted its preferred shares into stock.
GIC’s recent investments have been diverse, ranging from the hotel industry and China property developer Longfor (0960.HK) to a videogaming firm, but are in line with a recent statement that it is not pursuing geographical targets.
Reuters
-
I really hope he doesn't start singing the "Upturn the Downturn" song during the meeting.
-
no no no...he will sing, but this time it will be a new hit..."Cheaper, better and faster", to be release soon