Chinese people loves gambling. Every Chinese knows that. bbqchickenwings used to gamble too. And during Chinese New Year, other than visiting relatives, it also became a time for Chinese to indulge in gambling which is 'permitted' during the 1st 15 days. Long queues are common in Singapore Pools outlets, especially on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Some people have no qualms throwing hundreds or thousands of dollars betting with bookies Singapore Pools on football. But everyone has to know a limit, especially with our 2 integrated resorts coming up. We don't want people going to the casinos thinking they can earn a fortune. Unfortunately, Ho Ching went over the limit.
It is reported that Temasek Holdings has lost a whooping S$58 BILLION from Apr 2008 to Nov 2008. The losses will probably be even more as they might have taken into accounts gains from selling our power companies for a combined $18.2 billion and a fund injection by MOF of $10 billion. Without disputing whether the losses are greater, lets proudly announce Ho Ching as number ONE. The number 1 person in the world to lose money at such a rapid rate.
Last time when she was CEO of Singapore Technologies, she took a bet and lost about $630 million in Micropolis in almost 2 years. That equates to about $1 million a day. The signs of her talent were already emerging. Even then, Dhanabalan defended her in IHT's article titled - Temasek's Chief, Ho Ching, likes to take risks:
Dhanabalan even referred to ST's purchase of disk drive maker Micropolis, which was liquidated soon afterwards with debts of 630 million Singapore dollars, saying Ho had had the courage to cut the losses.
Now as CEO soon-to-be-ex CEO of Temasek Holdings, her achievements were even better. 58 billion in 8 months. That equates to about $240 million a day, a 240 fold improvement. Surely she can lay claim to be number 1 in the world at losing money. (correct me if I am wrong because bbqchickenwings is too lazy to find out) She does not cut losses this time round, but steps down leaving a mess behind once again.
Some say its not her fault. All due to external factors, extraordinary circumstances. But the fact remains that she is the one who makes the calls and this is public money we are talking about. She took a bet and the bet lost. Only in Uniquely Singapore can someone lose $240 million of public money a day for 8 months and there is no public demonstration. She doesn't have to be answerable for the losses. No public statements from her, no apologies. No apologies needed because no mistakes were made, all these were long-term investments.
What to do? It has already happened. Let's move on.
Ho Ching will be stepping down in October. Can we just put her in charge of some small SME? This may just be the boost Singapore's fledging SMEs need. A high-profile personality as their symbol. Singapore cannot afford her to set another new personal best.
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Update
And why do Chinese like to gamble so much? It is in the genes, according to BBC, based on findings by researchers in Northwestern University.
Excerpts: The Northwestern University team found two genes that regulate the hormones dopamine and serotonin could predict whether a person would gamble.
Specifically, people with the short serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR were far more cautious than those with the long version.
Similarly, people with the 7-repeat allele of the dopamine DRD4 gene took more risks than those with other versions of the same gene.
Take some Chinese and test for the genes! If true, maybe we can't blame Ho Ching after all.
Uhm, I stand to be corrected but you have not considered Singkapore's bigger sovereign fund, GIC. As I understand it, GIC's assets was in the region of $500Billion? If it's lost about 30% (assuming same as Temasick), that would equate to $150billion? In eight months? That would make it uhm...$625 million a day, or $18.75 billion a month? Hmm.. the equivalent of a Resilience Package every month for almost a year if you include Temasick.
ReplyDeleteWho's the head of GIC? At least Singapore will still hold the record as lumber one in the world for losing money. As a comparison, I read in Today that one of the middle east SWOs lost about 10% of its portfolio of US$300 million.
Er ... i think ho ching shud go for some counseling leh. I think her gambling streak has become addictive and compulsive.
ReplyDeleteActually, the accounts only up to Nov 08 ... if we look at Dec 08 figures ... should be even more interesting.
That's when the real shit hit the fan and got splattered all over.
Like father like son,
ReplyDeletelike husband like wife.
Apology ? You must be kidding ! She even said she has no regret.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/02/06/afx6017559.html
"Asked on Friday if she had any regrets as her departure was announced, Ho replied: 'No. I think if you want to run life with regret, you will end up doing very little.'"
Losing world-record billions and still no regret, you just have to give in to the Lee Family !
Hi Anon 12:56,
ReplyDeleteI did consider GIC's losses but it is much less transparent and we can only pluck numbers here and there to make estimates. At least Temasek gave an official number. So we can say that Ho Ching has an official world record while you-know-who holds the unofficial one.
Hi Anon 1:22,
ReplyDeleteI think Ho Ching got a bit too over-confident. And in terms of risk profiling, she became an 'aggressive' investor instead of being a 'balanced' or 'conservative' investor of our reserves. Whether its an addiction? Greed is a human nature, so its more a natural instinct. When you see that the financial institutions were so 'cheap' then, you think that its once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go in. Nothing is wrong except that hello, this is the people's money from generations of hard work.
Well, the plan backfired badly and she got burnt on the fingers. She threaded on too thin a line and the line broke.
Hi Anon 2.28,
ReplyDeleteAs part of the elite ruling family of the country, she can't say sorry.
If I am Ho Ching, I won't say sorry too. I cannot show remorse or signs of weakness. It isn't just about me alone, saying sorry will mean that there is fault with my husband and father-in-law too since surely the public will think that any decision I made will have pre-consultation with the two of them.
The bigger question will be why the ruling elite cannot admit to any mistakes and must always portray themselves as greater mortals who know it all. Why not humble? Why cannot apologise like Obama did?
I don't think they actually feel they did anything wrong.
ReplyDeleteSo, what mistake is there to admit?!
To them, these were honest mistakes and Singapore belongs to them, they can do anything they want. Period.
Hi Anon 6.50,
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether they feel guilty or did they do anything wrong. I don't know nuts about mind-reading.
The fact that people, such as you think that they think Singapore belongs to them and they can screw it up however they like, shows the weakness of a one-party rule.
Nobody is accountable for mistakes. Nobody asks questions. Having LTK and Siew Kum Hong only are not enough. Unfortunately we only like to seat and talk while eating chicken wings. And there are even more people who aren't interested to talk about this. Too many people are apathetic, just like I was once upon a time.
George says:
ReplyDeleteCan someone compare the attributes of HC with Warren Buffet, ie, everything that she is and he is not, and vice versa.
It would be an eye opener!