SINGAPORE (Dec 27): This past year, Singapore was in high gear for political renewal. Heng Swee Keat was appointed deputy prime minister and is seen as the prime minister in waiting — Lee Hsien Loong has long announced his intention to step down after the next general election.
In the meantime, the country is continuing with major infrastructure projects. For example, the ground-breaking of the Tuas megaport was held, and Changi Airport’s fancy new mall Jewel was opened. The two integrated resorts, more than a decade old already, announced multibillion-dollar rejuvenation and expansion plans — all these are meant to help Singapore’s economy remain competitive in the post-Lee era.
The stock market continued to deal with old issues. The trial of John Soh and Quah Su-Ling, alleged masterminds of the 2013 penny stock saga, is set to continue into 2020, even though criminal proceedings started in November 2016. Earlier this year, Goh Hin Calm, the so-called “treasurer” to Soh and Quah, pleaded guilty and presumably will become a prosecution witness.
Across the Causeway, the Pakatan Harapan government, led by 94-year-old Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is trying to clean up the 1MDB mess left behind by former prime minister Najib Razak, while alleged mastermind Jho Low remains at large. At the very least, Najib’s trial is ongoing and proceedings have started against other non-Malaysian entities and individuals involved, such as the former Goldman Sachs bankers as well as the alleged accomplices from Abu Dhabi.
In addition, close neighbours Singapore and Malaysia continue to learn new ways to deal with the other, or unlearn the playbook. For both countries, 2020 will be a year of unfinished business.
“Officially, Tuas is designed to handle 65 million TEUs, but I am sure PSA can squeeze a little more out of it if we work hard”
— Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Tuas Megaport on Oct 3
“I’m a kiasu Singaporean. Being first in line for this is a privilege that will never happen again.”
— Justin Zheng, who was the first to eat at US burger chain Shake Shack at Jewel Changi Airport on its April 16 opening day. He started queueing at 4.30am.
“Let the data speak for itself. Minister Siti Nurbaya should not be in denial.”
— Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysian Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, refuting her Indonesian counterpart’s claims that Malaysia had been hiding facts regarding the current haze situation
“Take an interest in the world around you. Read the newspapers. You must have an interest in the world. And you must understand how we fit in.”
— Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to students at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, on what it takes to be a leader
“The accused is no back-room boy”
— Deputy public prosecutor Nicholas Tan, referring to Goh Hin Calm’s role in the 2013 penny stock crash. Goh, who pleaded guilty, was handling as much as $2 million in funds to trade shares.
“MAS does not and cannot use the exchange rate to gain an export advantage or achieve a current account surplus”
— The Monetary Authority of Singapore, responding to the US’ inclusion of Singapore into a watch list for exchange rate and macroeconomic policies
“Being obsessed with the movement of some money and people to Singapore — and ignoring the movement of people and money elsewhere to USA, Canada, Australia, UK, especially for their professional talents — just misses the point”
— Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching, on reports of Hong Kong funds fleeing to Singapore
“What Elon Musk wants to produce is a lifestyle. We are not interested in a lifestyle. We are interested in proper solutions that will address climate problems.”
— Masagos Zulkifli, Singapore’s minister for environment and water resources, rebutting Tesla boss Musk’s criticisms that Singapore was slow to adopt electric vehicles
“The state government must make their voices heard”
— Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, urging the Johor government and Johoreans to speak up against what he sees as a ‘morally wrong’ water agreement with Singapore
“To my understanding, OP was a term — Optimus Prime, I don’t know — to refer to the Prime Minister”
— AmBank relationship liaison manager Joanna Yu, referring to the alias used by Jho Low on former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots, the good guys in the animated alien robot series Transformers.
“I’m a thief of hearts who has many supporters”
— Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. He was responding to Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali, who had called him a ‘thief’.
“I did this deal but I did it on behalf of the government of Abu Dhabi. Now, they are putting everything on my back.”
— Khadem Al Qubaisi, former aide to United Arab Emirate’s deputy prime minister Sheikh Mansour Zayed Al Nahyan. Detained in Abu Dhabi since 2016, Khadem is an alleged co-conspirator in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal.
