<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>On foreigners and confidential information
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SENIOR Minister of State (Finance) Lim Hwee Hua yesterday debunked the notion that confidential information must be restricted to Singaporeans only.
Non-citizens have been hired by the Government even for sensitive work and projects, she told Parliament yesterday.
The condition: These persons must be assessed to have the requisite expertise, and have been security-cleared.
In all cases, access to sensitive information is governed by the Official Secrets Act (OSA), she added.
She was replying to a question from Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim, who asked why 'the civil service's hiring practice of restricting access to state secrets to Singaporeans' was not applied to Temasek Holdings.
Temasek has a multinational staff and recently named American Charles Goodyear as its first foreign CEO-designate.
Mrs Lim pointed out that Temasek was not part of the civil service, but a commercial company wholly owned by the Government.
She acknowledged that as Temasek's CEO, Mr Goodyear will be privy to information about the company's operations.
'Although Temasek publishes all key information about the company and the value of its assets, some information about its operations is proprietary and restricted to those who need it for proper management of the company,' she noted.
The Government had taken this into account before endorsing Temasek's proposal to appoint Mr Goodyear, she said.
It had assessed the implications, as well as broader considerations such as the role of Temasek, and concluded that 'it was not necessary or desirable to require the position of CEO Temasek to always be held by a Singaporean'.
She pointed out that Temasek engages many foreigners, including at senior management levels.
'These practices are part of an open and meritocratic approach to building the organisation, so that Temasek can perform and continue to maximise the long-term value of its assets,' she added.
'However, if Ms Sylvia Lim is asking whether Temasek employees have access in the course of their work to information on the size of the Government's total reserves, the answer is no.'
The Workers' Party chairman also asked what there was to stop Mr Goodyear from working for Temasek's competitors overseas.
Replying, Mrs Lim said that he would be bound by the OSA, which applies even after he leaves Singapore. His own employment contract with Temasek would also contain provisions barring him from divulging information after leaving the company, she added.
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SENIOR Minister of State (Finance) Lim Hwee Hua yesterday debunked the notion that confidential information must be restricted to Singaporeans only.
Non-citizens have been hired by the Government even for sensitive work and projects, she told Parliament yesterday.
The condition: These persons must be assessed to have the requisite expertise, and have been security-cleared.
In all cases, access to sensitive information is governed by the Official Secrets Act (OSA), she added.
She was replying to a question from Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim, who asked why 'the civil service's hiring practice of restricting access to state secrets to Singaporeans' was not applied to Temasek Holdings.
Temasek has a multinational staff and recently named American Charles Goodyear as its first foreign CEO-designate.
Mrs Lim pointed out that Temasek was not part of the civil service, but a commercial company wholly owned by the Government.
She acknowledged that as Temasek's CEO, Mr Goodyear will be privy to information about the company's operations.
'Although Temasek publishes all key information about the company and the value of its assets, some information about its operations is proprietary and restricted to those who need it for proper management of the company,' she noted.
The Government had taken this into account before endorsing Temasek's proposal to appoint Mr Goodyear, she said.
It had assessed the implications, as well as broader considerations such as the role of Temasek, and concluded that 'it was not necessary or desirable to require the position of CEO Temasek to always be held by a Singaporean'.
She pointed out that Temasek engages many foreigners, including at senior management levels.
'These practices are part of an open and meritocratic approach to building the organisation, so that Temasek can perform and continue to maximise the long-term value of its assets,' she added.
'However, if Ms Sylvia Lim is asking whether Temasek employees have access in the course of their work to information on the size of the Government's total reserves, the answer is no.'
The Workers' Party chairman also asked what there was to stop Mr Goodyear from working for Temasek's competitors overseas.
Replying, Mrs Lim said that he would be bound by the OSA, which applies even after he leaves Singapore. His own employment contract with Temasek would also contain provisions barring him from divulging information after leaving the company, she added.
