• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

Singapore public transport system should be run by government: Mahbubani

krafty

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
PRIVATISATION of Singapore's public transport system has gone "too far", and the system should be run by the government instead of private operators, a leading academic said on Thursday.

In doing so, Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, called on Singapore to not be "a prisoner of old economic ideas", and have the "political courage" to make changes to the idea of the role privatisation plays in the country's economy.

"Let us consider the possibility that we may have gone too far, and we have become a prisoner of old economic ideas," Prof Mahbubani said. "And to suggest one concrete area where we have gone too far is in the area of public transport."

Prof Mahbubani was speaking as a panellist at the Singapore Economy Policy Forum.

He said that public transport should be a public good, but Singapore has decided that it should be privatised.

This meant that the operators are more focused on quarterly results and less concerned with long-term maintenance, resulting in public transport woes.

Prof Mahbubani also talked about two other key challenges that Singapore faces in the future. One of them is the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, and the other is the strategic importance of Asean to Singapore's survival.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/gov...-system-should-be-run-by-government-mahbubani
 

yellowarse

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
This porlumpar finally said something that made sense.

Essential public services (water, utilities, public transport, education, healthcare) should be government run. It had always been that way from the '60s till the early '80s when the govt aped Thatcher and Reagan and started privatising everything in the name of profit.
 

xebay11

Alfrescian
Loyal
Profits are good but not at the expense of the people. Anyway 70% voted for this, so why complain?
 

Brightkid

Alfrescian
Loyal
Sounds so familiar. But am sure PAP gabrament will not implement it.

Why? Bcos oppositions been calling for it years ago.
 

superfreeek

New Member
sigh he's softening up the ground so that in the event they succeed in suckering the idiotic sinkies, the gabrament will have enough support to overpay to take those assets private. i wonder who are the biggest beneficiaries sitting on the share register...
 

borom

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I do not understand him-maybe my English is not good enough.
Eg the SMRT's annual report states that its biggest shareholder is Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited with 54.16% of its shares.
Is Temasek HPL a private or govt company?
As an example, if SMRT is run by private operator, how come so many military men are parachuted directly from the SAF into its top management?
Why no headhunting for the best in running rail systems from across the globe?
 

eatshitndie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I do not understand him-maybe my English is not good enough.
Eg the SMRT's annual report states that its biggest shareholder is Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited with 54.16% of its shares.
Is Temasek HPL a private or govt company?
As an example, if SMRT is run by private operator, how come so many military men are parachuted directly from the SAF into its top management?
Why no headhunting for the best in running rail systems from across the globe?

it's essentially gov-linked, but they need to "privatize" it to extract maximum value from its choice locations and strategic topology, and at the same time showcase a "profitable" enterprise as a pubic, oops, public-listed corporation. it's becoming one of many pillars of sg inc. due to heavy use and high visibility. :wink:
 

freedalas

Alfrescian
Loyal
This porlumpar finally said something that made sense.

Essential public services (water, utilities, public transport, education, healthcare) should be government run. It had always been that way from the '60s till the early '80s when the govt aped Thatcher and Reagan and started privatising everything in the name of profit.

He dared to say such things now because LKY is dead. The chief perpetrator of privatizing public goods services was LKY. When he was alive, no one would dare utter a single word to suggest that public good services should revert to the government. Even provision of bus services during MRT breakdowns, LKY did not agree that it should be free because he 100% believed profits must be made since they are private. Now, we see buses being free island wide during MRT's failure because there is no fear of being fucked by LKY if anyone was to even think about that, let alone implement it. The same for the lowering of public transport fares recently. Not much, people would say. But if the Old Fart was still alive today, we should already be grateful if the bus fares don't increase. LKY had publicly stated that privatized public transport must maintain a certain level of super profits. I dare say in the coming months or years, many of what used to be taboos will be reversed, all because the Old Fart is dead.
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Smrt is govt run wtf is he talking about?how the fuck do u parachute a paper general into the ceo chair if its not govt run and owned?wtf all major singapore corporations are owned by Temasek holdings,SIA,singtel,smrt,st log,st eng,starhub,singpost,sph,mapletree.and who owns temasek holdings????the govt!!!!

wtf is this asshole talking about?

remember this is not like england where they privatised everything and sold off national assets to private operators and foreign corporations.all sg companies have one and only one operator only.....temasek holdings!!!!temasek holdings owns more than 50 percent of the shares!!
 
Last edited:

hofmann

Alfrescian
Loyal
it's essentially gov-linked, but they need to "privatize" it to extract maximum value from its choice locations and strategic topology, and at the same time showcase a "profitable" enterprise

I disagree with your cynical view that profit extraction was their main aim.

Privatization had its perks, like depoliticizing fare increases and also to ensure economic efficiency (turning a cost center into a profitable one)

But as pointed out, they became beholden to quarterly results over reliability.

Rather than have the government spend even more money to re-nationalize it, the regulators should simply dictate maintenance and service standards and even capping profits and diverting excess income into an upgrading sinking fund.

A hybrid of free markets and strong government regulation is an obvious solution. All it needs is someone to push the button to make it happen.

The silence post elections has been deafening. What's crippling our government???
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
except theres one thing unique about singapore's privatisation.its never fully privatised per se,technically its still nationalized and owned "privately" by the government thru a subsidiary called Temasek Holdings,and in bad times,all these companies are still receiving government and taxpayer's monetary aid thru the same umbrella called "temasek holdings"!!!!

but of course by doing so,the government has stealthily and subtlely turned these national assets and companies into "privately owned" ones,used to maximise and extract the maximum profit out of the daft and stupid sinkie population.after all how can u have nationalise companies declaring record breaking profit year after year at the expense of the population?nonono,all these companies are "private"
 
Last edited:

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
another proof why singapore companies are still nationalised and not privatised.why do everyone of them in every industry operate as a monopoly?why is there no competition foreign or local whatsoever?i want to have virgin and at&t and verizon in my country,not just singtel and starhub.im sick and tired of taking comfort and smrt,i want yellow cabs,i want those funky taxi companies from australia.governments are supposed to play a neutral role in business and make sure there are anti trust laws so no one single company will ever grow too big and devour the other companies and become a monopoly.
 
Last edited:

eatshitndie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I disagree with your cynical view that profit extraction was their main aim.

Privatization had its perks, like depoliticizing fare increases and also to ensure economic efficiency (turning a cost center into a profitable one)

But as pointed out, they became beholden to quarterly results over reliability.

Rather than have the government spend even more money to re-nationalize it, the regulators should simply dictate maintenance and service standards and even capping profits and diverting excess income into an upgrading sinking fund.

A hybrid of free markets and strong government regulation is an obvious solution. All it needs is someone to push the button to make it happen.

The silence post elections has been deafening. What's crippling our government???

agree with the benefit of "depoliticizing fare increases." it relieves the gov from being blamed for an unpopular move yet places pressure on the outfit to run itself with a positive balance sheet. at the bottom of it all is still value extraction in many ways: modern infrastructure to move the economy along (especially workers to their places of work), expansion of space and access underground and surrounding above-ground communities and the micro-economy around it, distribution of population away from downtown and growth of new towns to spur construction and real estate opportunities, inter-connection of old and existing new towns to make them seamless rather than isolated (unlike hk) leading to movement of people and more economic activity, cutting down travel time for workers, shoppers and consumers, mass transport of workers, shoppers and consumers at all waking hours to as many workplaces, offices, eateries and retail outlets to increase traffic and economic activity. as a result of all these factors combined, the mrt hotspot has become the most sought-after real estate in the city. it's already too late to re-nationalize when its trajectory as a real estate entity is becoming highly profitable. its core competency of running the rail system is now a necessary evil, but it must not be embarrassingly faulty to derail (no pun intended) the higher value chain of the national strategic objective of extracting top economic value of every inch of sg and every sinkie plus foreign worker. :wink:
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I disagree with your cynical view that profit extraction was their main aim.

Privatization had its perks, like depoliticizing fare increases and also to ensure economic efficiency (turning a cost center into a profitable one)

But as pointed out, they became beholden to quarterly results over reliability.

Rather than have the government spend even more money to re-nationalize it, the regulators should simply dictate maintenance and service standards and even capping profits and diverting excess income into an upgrading sinking fund.

A hybrid of free markets and strong government regulation is an obvious solution. All it needs is someone to push the button to make it happen.

The silence post elections has been deafening. What's crippling our government???

70 percent has decided they wanted ownself check ownself.

if u think the government can regulate itself,and regulate its own profits and greed ur out of ur mind.or daft and stupid.

free market and strong government regulation.the government is the market,the government is the regulator,the government is unions and the government are the employers.i dunno how this mess started but this country is clearly doomed.
 

Papsmearer

Alfrescian (InfP) - Comp
Generous Asset
Kishore-PAP Privatization gone too far, public transportation must be run by govt.

SOme one should tell that idiot Kishore that if the company is majority owned and controlled by a 100% Govt owned entity, run by a long time govt employee, and have its board of directors full of govt staff, then it must be de facto run by the govt. Or is this too complicated for him to understand?

PRIVATISATION of Singapore's public transport system has gone "too far", and the system should be run by the government instead of private operators, a leading academic said on Thursday.

In doing so, Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, called on Singapore to not be "a prisoner of old economic ideas", and have the "political courage" to make changes to the idea of the role privatisation plays in the country's economy.

"Let us consider the possibility that we may have gone too far, and we have become a prisoner of old economic ideas," Prof Mahbubani said. "And to suggest one concrete area where we have gone too far is in the area of public transport."

Prof Mahbubani was speaking as a panellist at the Singapore Economy Policy Forum.

He said that public transport should be a public good, but Singapore has decided that it should be privatised.

This meant that the operators are more focused on quarterly results and less concerned with long-term maintenance, resulting in public transport woes.

Prof Mahbubani also talked about two other key challenges that Singapore faces in the future. One of them is the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, and the other is the strategic importance of Asean to Singapore's survival.
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Re: Kishore-PAP Privatization gone too far, public transportation must be run by govt

You have two PUBLIC LISTED companies, running the transportation services in Singapore & instead of the CEO's of the companies, taking rides on buses or trains to find out what ails the system, you have an elected politician to do that & its seems like that politician is the CEO of the two companies....so, what is a PUBLIC LISTED company?
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Re: Kishore-PAP Privatization gone too far, public transportation must be run by govt

ze most hilarious thing,the govt "privatise" the company in order to streamline it and make it cost effective,instead it ends up being run by govt officials and stat boards and being bogged down by incompetency.bring back saw piak hwa i say!!at least we get to eat nasi lemak and mee goreng when the train breaksdown.
 

Patriot

Alfrescian
Loyal
Re: Kishore-PAP Privatization gone too far, public transportation must be run by govt

kishore-mahbubani_1.jpg
 

HTOLAS

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Re: Kishore-PAP Privatization gone too far, public transportation must be run by govt

Don't be so hard on him; he's just following orders to say this.
 
Top