By calling out the lawyers on a website to remove an offending post on alleged cronyism in the appointment of his wife, Mdm Ho Ching as head of Temasek Holdings, is the PM signalling a shift in the government stance on greater openess in public discourse?
An earlier heavy handed approach towards a blogger's racist comments had the unintended consequence of heightening instead of lowering intolerance which came to a head when one of the ruling party's own was caught making an 'insensitive' posting on his Facebook account.
More to the point, does this latest legal action actually change any public perception on the matter? Surely, the PM was well aware of the optics on the issue of his wife's appointment given his initial reluctance to accede to it. That he finally agreed showed that he had weighed the options/consequences and decided that it was an acceptable risk. So why the apparent umbrage now especially since he himself had said that there are many other issues on the national agenda right now (when commenting on the by-election issue in Hougang)?
This is an old issue that the current legal action will only serve to re-awaken. Most Singaporeans likely didn't even know of the website in question until this action caused it to be splashed on the front page of the local newspapers. Leaving it alone and it would have quietly faded away as mere rantings of some rabid blogger with a bone to pick before moving on to the next topic du jour.
But now that it has been brought forward and center again, perhaps it would be best to settle it rationally once and for all. Perhaps Mr Dhanabalan could explain his decision to appoint Mdm Ho Ching. What was in her background (academic and work experience at that point in time) that made him feel that she was the best person for the post? Did she have an outstanding verifiable track record in the banking/investment industry? Would Goldman Sachs/Lehman Bros/Morgan Stanley etc... have headhunted her for a similar top level post in their company? Would Temasek consider hiring someone else with similar qualifications/experience she had at that time for the same post TODAY?
It is early days yet but I wonder what the unintended consequences for this action will be.
No comments:
Post a Comment