These People are Running Singapore into the Ground

I read this piece news recently, that Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), had been sold to French container shipping firm CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container shipping company, and will be delisted from the Singapore stock exchange. NOL was once ranked among the five largest carriers in the world.

The current CEO of NOL is Ng Yat Chung, who was a career soldier and former army general. As you can see, he has no practical knowledge of finance or shipping prior to his leadership appointments in Temasek Holdings and NOL.

Among the reasons that Mr Ng had given for NOL’s sale, one of them was especially interesting, he said that NOL was "a bit slow and reluctant to change". So since he knew that NOL needed some changes, and quickly, in order to survive, why didn’t he make them happen instead of just going with the flow? As the CEO, he would certainly have had the power and authority to do so.

Despite his failure, it is noteworthy that he had received millions in remuneration in his few short years at NOL.

Actually, his failure comes as of no surprise at all. Singapore has a practice of putting its scholars (who had received scholarships from the Singapore Armed Forces or the Civil Service) and other individuals it wants to groom into leadership positions in government ministries, government linked companies, and organisations in the civil service, even though they often do not have the relevant knowledge or experience needed for their jobs.

For example, here is a list of former leaders in the Singapore Armed Forces and where they ended up after their retirement:

Chiefs of the Singapore Air Force

Chiefs of the Singapore Navy

Chiefs of the Singapore Army

Chiefs of Defence Force - Singapore

There are many more of such examples in the Civil Service as well as in Parliament. In these days where a person is required to have relevant experience before they will be accepted for an entry level position or even a part-time job, it is scary to think that there are individuals such as these, who do not have the relevant knowledge and experience needed for a job, but are yet parachuted into management positions and are in charge of making policies that affect the lives of countless people and their families. As such, it is of no surprise that many fail, screw up the organisations they were asked to helm, and screw up millions of the lives in the process.

And, judging by the take up rate, these people are obviously not shy or embarrassed about getting on the gravy train (often at taxpayers expense) and get paid so much for doing so little (or for screwing up).