S'pore consul rebuts HK official's attack

SINGAPORE'S consul general in Hong Kong Chan Heng Wing has rebutted yet another attack on Singapore by a Hong Kong government official, saying the comments were "inaccurate and misinformed", and showed a "lack of understanding of how Singapore works".

It is the second time in the past four months that he has replied to such comments on Singapore by Hong Kong government officials.

This time, the allegations were made by Hong Kong's Secretary for Trade and Industry Chau Tak Hay, who told a Legislative Council (Legco) panel meeting on Monday that Singapore could implement unpopular policies like wage cuts because it had complete control over Parliament, the media, trade unions and the people.

He told Legco members that Hong Kong could not follow Singapore's example because it lacked these "advantages" of total control.

However, he added, Hong Kong had advantages over Singapore, such as imagination and creativity -- qualities lacking in the republic.

Replying, Mr Chan said: "Secretary Chau's statements about Singapore are inaccurate and misinformed. His assertions of compulsion and control show a lack of understanding of how Singapore works."

No government could force workers to accept its will on a "sensitive personal matter" like a pay cut, he said.

"In a totally open society like Singapore, either the government would lose support, or Singaporeans would vote with their feet and emigrate.

"The Singapore government has to face the discipline of the ballot box every five years. If it cannot muster support for its policies, it will be thrown out of office."

The real reason that Singapore could implement a wage cut, he added, was that the government had "painstakingly" explained the situation and the necessity to unions and workers for more than six months beforehand.

"So when the decision was finally made, there was wide consensus and support for this painful measure."

In fact, he noted, this was not the work of a few months but "the result of a long-term relationship of mutual trust and confidence built up between the government and the people in successive crises over many years".

Mr Chau's comments were made in response to legislators who felt that the Hong Kong government, unlike Singapore's, was not doing enough to boost the territory's economic competitiveness.

The remarks came after an apparent truce in a war of words waged by Hong Kong officials and media against what they saw as Singapore's attempts to compete with the territory.

The last time Mr Chan replied to aspersions cast on Singapore by a Hong Kong official was when Financial Secretary Donald Tsang launched a veiled attack on the republic after a Washington-based think-tank, the Heritage Foundation, said that Singapore had effectively taken over Hong Kong's place as the freest economy in the world.

Mr Tsang had told reporters then that the foundation should consider if "other economies" dictated wages, or held undisclosed stocks and shares in companies.

He also said that the think-tank should consider criteria like political freedom and "how free is the press".

In his reply then, Mr Chan had said that the aspersions were "unwarranted".

The Singapore government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings, held just S$320 million worth of shares in private sector companies. The other shares were in government-linked companies.

The S$320 million worth of shares was a far cry from the Hong Kong government's holding of HK$118 billion (S$26.37 billion) bought during a two-week foray into the stock market last August.