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Singapore economy grew 9.4% in H1, full-year forecast raised: PM Lee

08 August 2006 1925 hrs (SST)

The Singapore economy expanded by 9.4 percent in the first half of this year, and for the whole year, the Trade and Industry Ministry has raised the growth forecast to between 6.5 and 7.5 percent, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his National Day message.

When MTI released the first quarter growth figures, it had then revised the whole year forecast to between 5 and 7 percent growth.

Bringing the good news, Mr Lee also calls on Singaporeans to uphold the spirit of self reliance, openness to change and the determination to succeed as the nation builds a brighter future for all.

In his televised message to the nation on Tuesday, he notes that the global economic outlook remains positive.

But he cautions that Singapore must continue to track and anticipate developments around it, especially potential threats to growth and stability.

Mr Lee also notes that the Middle East is in upheaval and if the crisis worsens and disrupts world oil supplies, energy prices will shoot up even higher and trigger a global recession.

Other real concerns are bird flu and extremist terrorism.

On the economic front, Mr Lee says if the WTO trade talks fail, protectionism will grow and Singapore will be very vulnerable.

But he adds that the country's free trade agreements will protect and safeguard access to important markets.

PM Lee says: "To deal with these and other challenges, we need able and dedicated leaders in every sector. We need a good and effective government to lead the country. And we need Singaporeans to work together to take our nation forward."

And this will involve exploring new and risky approaches, instead of clinging to familiar arrangements and helping those less able to cope with rapid changes.

He says: "When oil prices rise, electricity costs more to produce, and buses, taxis and trains cost more to run. We cannot keep electricity tariffs and public transportation fares fixed. But we can and will directly help those in need."

One important strategy to cope with changes, says Prime Minister Lee, is to make Singaporeans more resilient and better able to tackle issues on their own instead of looking to the government to solve every problem.

This is all the more so as Singapore is building a more open society and encouraging freer debate.

Mr Lee says the internet is a tremendous tool changing the world, and Singaporeans should make full use of it to link up, engage one another and be a productive economy and vibrant society.

But it also creates new problems, hence the need to learn to live with and adapt to it.

Mr Lee says: "Singaporeans should express themselves freely but responsibly. We need to help solve problems and build our nation, not chip away at the pillars of our society. We will not always agree with one another, but we must stay cohesive and united in our common vision for Singapore."

This will be all the more important for the younger generation, who are growing up connected to the internet and the world.

"We must do more to engage our young and strengthen their roots in Singapore. We must imbue in them the conviction that Singapore is a special and unique place that belongs to them and that Singapore's future depends on them," Mr Lee says.

Prime Minister Lee says the people's votes in May settled the team to lead the country and the direction Singapore should take over the next five years.

The country should now focus on over­coming the problems ahead.

At the end of the term, the Government will put its record before the people, for voters to judge whether their lives have improved. - CNA/ch

National Day Message in 4 languages

Jeff,
If you notice, the M'sian flag is always printed wrongly in advertisement. Below the blue color, it should be red stripe instead of white.

In your photo, the newspaper printed wrongly!! Check it with the flag the veteran is holding :-)

According to the NST, Singapore will be displaying for all to see their total fire power. (Oh Guna, for your benefit, this is fire as in armaments and weaponry and not fire as in api, o.k.). I wonder if this is for the benefit of our Tun who is waxing his frustrations over them. Or is it in response to our keris weilding super heroes of UMNO Youth? If that is the case then we got to do something about this upmanship. Next time I want to stand next to our UMNO Youth leaders weilding my parang while they weild their keris. And I know at least one MCA/Gerakan friend who has volunteered his Kung Fu. So Singapore, just watch it o.k.! Surely our keris, parang and Kung Fu is a good enough deterent!

Hey bladder observer,u not so observing lah, why leave a minorty like me out of the show, the keris, parang and Kung Fu is a good enough deterent,but with my Kabaddi Kabaddi,more power mahhh,let me join in the circus also lah,and Bladder frogo, the country has be raped,plundered and pillaged to the MAX and you worry about a stripe ? God Bless Us.

Dear Observer,
Please la, u need to compare apples to apples. How can we compare ourselves to the red dot..After all they're Israeli trained with American hardware..
We can't even keep our jets in the air long enough. It's better if we compare ourselves to countries like Myanmmar, Zimbabwe or Namibia as it might make us look better.
Wonder if our military planners have any plans in place to fend off an attack in the south. Or...do we even have any military planners?

P/S: Singaporeans know kung-fu also, so our advantage cancels out!!
Better call for the "Buluh Sumpit"

DJ SINGAPORE PRESS: M'sia Scomi To Float KMC Oiltools On SGX

KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Malaysian oil and gas services-provider Scomi Group Bhd. (7158.KU) may float wholly-owned KMC Oiltools on the Singapore Exchange (S68.SG), the Singapore Business Times daily reported, quoting unnamed sources.

The plan will result in Scomi becoming a pure holding company as its other core businesses - engineering and shipping - are already listed on Bursa Malaysia, the report said. Scomi is controlled by businessman Shah Hakim and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah.

The report quoted unnamed executives as saying the listing of KMC will "unlock value" for the company and give a fillip to its share price.

Scomi halted its shares at MYR0.99 Tuesday, pending a corporate announcement later Wednesday.

The paper said about 30% of shares in KMC, which handles operations in about 30 countries, will be sold to the public.

Newspaper Web site: http://business-times.asiaone.com

-By Kuala Lumpur bureau; Dow Jones Newswires; 603-2692-5254; djnews.kl@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 08, 2006 20:22 ET (00:22 GMT)

[9 August 2006, 4.30pm] Scomi corporate exercise Announcement

About SCOMI

Like it or not, Singapore is a better run country than that of Malaysia. Hence I am not surprised at the economic growth being posted in Singapore as opposed to Bolehland. If we did not have oil, we would be far, far behind our tiny neighbour. Just look at the credentials of their Cabinet and juxtapose this next to our XXXL Cabinet. No comparison, IMO.

For a country with almost zero natural resource, it has come a long, long way. So can you imagine what Malaysia would be like had it been governed the Singaporean way? And no, I am not referring to their 'parental'-like rules and regulations, or some would say totalitarian/draconian styles. But more so from economical and financial perspectives. I hate to be blowing Singapore's trumpet, but this is a fact. As they say, reality bites.

Samarium,
Well said. My sentiments exactly.If we were governed by leaders of S'pore's calibre, quality, integrity etc with nation building as the vision, we could have been a UNITED NATION by now without bias of race and religion and seen each other as Malaysians.Not only that, we could have been a developed nation by now more develped than S'pre,considering the natural resources God blessed us with, not having to deny a single citizen his or her legitimate rights and aspirations.We could have been a exemplary nation to follow. Our politicians messed up our country, with no direction and focus, leading us to uncertainty.
The only aspect of life S'poreans can complain is that they did not and do not have "freedom" in its true sense like western democracies.I do not see S'preans complaining as the same Govt. is reelected again and again. The Mahatma will not agree but for Harry Lee, the ends justify the means. Why not if there is aGovt. like Lee's in place.
KSN

in 1965 singapore left the federation of malaysia due to ideological differences. PAP wanted a "malaysian malaysia" while UMNO believed in affirmative action for a select race. these 41 years have proved which policy actually benefits the nation as a whole. the results are quite obvious. singapore started out disadvantaged compared to malaysia yet today they are the only developed south east asian country. well, at least we have our developed state.

I am a student of Singapore Arm forces.

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SCOMI TO LIST ITS OILFIELD SERVICES DIVISION

The same announcement can also be found in Bursa Malaysia's website

Malaysian company Scomi may list unit on SGX: sources

Business Times - 09 Aug 2006

Malaysian company Scomi may list unit on SGX: sources

Group, controlled by M'sian PM's son, in political limelight

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR

OIL and gas firm Scomi Group - the Malaysian premier's son's vehicle that has come under political scrutiny in the country - may list one of its key foreign subsidiaries on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), sources say.

Scomi asked yesterday for a suspension of its shares, last quoted at 99 sen each, pending an announcement today. The company said it will unveil a material corporate exercise involving the group.

No other details were given, but financial executives familiar with Scomi said the move is related to a plan to list KMC Oiltools, a wholly owned subsidiary that handles much of the group's international business, on SGX.

The plan will result in the group becoming a pure holding company as its other core businesses - engineering and shipping - are already listed on Bursa Malaysia. The executives said the listing of KMC, which contributed more than 40 per cent of Scomi's RM1.1 billion (S$471.9 million) revenue last year, will 'unlock value' for the company and give a fillip to its share price.

It is not clear Singapore has been chosen as the listing venue, but the executives said it offers 'a faster way' to go public.

KMC handles operations in about 30 countries, which does not make it a Malaysian company as such, they said. The company was acquired in May, 2004. According to the executives, KMC will sell 30 per cent of its stock to the public.

The news will refocus attention on Scomi at a time when it has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

The company is controlled by businessmen Shah Hakim and Kamaluddin Abdullah, the only son of PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Mr Kamaluddin, 37, holds no executive position at Scomi - but that has not stopped former premier Mahathir Mohamad from attacking him for allegedly receiving favourable treatment from the government by way of contracts.

On Monday, Mr Abdullah finally broke his silence over Dr Mahathir's attacks and came out in stout defence of his son.

'Kamal (Mr Kamaluddin) never misused his relations with me,' Mr Abdullah said in an interview over national television. 'He was never involved in local companies or concessions. He has never asked for any help from the government, never in anything that needs a bailout.'

Scomi has become one of Malaysia's fastest-growing companies, expanding through acquisition to become one of the world's largest suppliers of oil-drilling fluids. And it is the region's largest marine shipper of commodities.

These facts are slowly being reflected in its financials. For the year ended Dec 31, 2005, group net profit jumped 146 per cent to RM152 million while revenue topped RM1 billion for the first time.

While almost 75 per cent of total sales come from contracts with international oil majors including Malaysia's national oil company Petronas, government- linked contracts have also begun to play a part.

In April, for example, Scomi's shipping unit won a three-year contract from state-owned power utility Tenaga Nasional to supply 500,000 tonnes of coal a year. This came after Scomi acquired the shipping assets of Singapore's Chuan Hup Holdings in February 2004.

Scomi's appetite is what is setting alarm bells ringing in Malaysia. In April the company acquired 51 per cent of monorail and bus manufacturer MTrans in a bid to become a major player in urban transport.

Hello folks,

I am a Malaysian Malay, educated in Malaysia and studied/trained in UK, Australia and USA; lived and worked in Singapore in the 60s and 70s and back to Malaysia in the early 70s. My personal experience and observations are as follows :-
1. We used to complain about the PAP Govt initially, but when we were well respected and looked up to, whereever we were when travelling overseas, as someone fom the clean, strict, diciplined soceity under Lee Kuan Yew, I then told myself .....Hey it was well worth our efforts to be disciplined, responsible and accountable
2.Lee Kuan Yew had all the PRE-QUALIFICATIONS as an ESTABLISHED PROFESSIONAL, proved to the citizens that He meant well for the nation, its economy, and quality life for its citizens.
3. The British established system had worked well for hundreds of years so we had to ENSURE we all ACHIEVE that MINIMUM standards in Education, Universities, Civic/work/professional accountability to your fellow citizens, professional work ethics, etc....in synergy with the Lee Kuan Yew govt's efforts. Only then the Nation can move forward in TANDEM to be an Industralised, productive nation.
4. TDM tried to have those VISIONS for MALAYSIA and DID put MALAYSIA in the GLOBAL MAP. (FYI, I have been in the Global travel industry for the last 42 years & am still !) Sad to say, his 22 years of vision,his efforts to make it a reality turned to disappointment, despair and tears unable to CHANGE our Malaysian Dilemma.
5. "Talk is cheap", you can have your difference in opinion BUT TDM has ACHIEVED Global recognition and CONTRIBUTED to Malaysia and its CITIZENS in many ways ....MORE than you and all of us put together, so please give him our due respects as you would your grand parents and parents.....
6. Why are we always wanting to REINVENT the WHEEL (for personal Glory !)and create redundancies when all it needs is to REFINE the Wheel that has worked for us all these years.
7. To create the NEW WHEEL and bring the standards/systems DOWN to the LOWEST denominator which is 30 steps BACK and want to compete GLOBALLY whose standards are 30 steps FORWARD ! As I often put it "To compare a Thoroughbred Racehorse and a DONKEY" mah !

5. For the younger Generation that have not experienced the rioting in Singapore in the 60s, in K.L in the 69 and the civil wars in the M.E....Please try to appreciate & NOT TAKE FORGRANTED the STRUGGLES, BLOOD,SWEAT & TEARS of the PEOPLE and the SINCERE,GENUINE EFFORTS of the then GOVT & the CABINET MINISTERS to achieve our INDEPENDENCE, SECURITY and STABILITY for the NATION and CITIZENS.
Don't watch the TVs & think it will never happen in K.L/Malaysia as We create the SCENARIO for such....!

Hello flyer168,
You seemed to have contradicted yourself from what you had said in your 1st 3 points with point 6 and 7. In your 1st 3 points, you mentioned you appreciate LKY's policies of strong discipline, high level of responsibility and accountability and in point 6 and 7, you said Msians should not try to reinvent the wheel of the racial based policies which Msia has been governed with all these while. As long as Msia continues on racial based policies, there are always easy justifications to compromise on accountablity in the name of affirmative policies. Since Msian Malays form the majority and the Chinese have no say anyway on these policies, you guys will have to decide if you want to trade real progress (economic, education, influence etc etc) over affirmative policies in the wave of globalisation. If Msia were to be governed the Spore way, everyone including the Malays, would have been better off, look at RM vs SGD. A Spore governed Msia could have been a Japan or Korea or at least a Taiwan. The jury is out there.

Dear syeow,

Correct me if I am wrong. My statements referred to MALAYSIANS as a whole and and not "wheel of the racial based policies which Msia has been governed with all these while". It is sad when everyone and everything is turned into a racial or religious issue - Where will all these lead us to....the destruction of the very fabric of our Malaysia !

"Talk is cheap", and if every Malaysian can learn to motivate themselves on what they can contribute constructively in their own field of expertise towards our nation and move forward as an individual, maybe they can be a leader that can walk the talk ! I have done my share to serve the nation in my field and be a somebody in my field enjoying the fruits of my blood, sweat & tears such that I am able to reposition myself above the local scenario. Jeff Ooi has also walked his talk to EARN the recognition locally, regionally and is Global player in his field.

You took the words from my mouth when you said "you guys will have to decide if you want to trade real progress (economic, education, influence etc etc) over affirmative policies in the wave of globalisation. If Msia were to be governed the Spore way, everyone including the Malays, would have been better off, look at RM vs SGD. A Spore governed Msia could have been a Japan or Korea or at least a Taiwan. The jury is out there" unquote. Yes All of us Malaysians irrespective of cultural background, race, religious believe, should NOW start thinking about "What we can do for Malaysia and not What Malaysia can do for us" and move forward as individuals.