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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Week of December 1, 1995
ANTI-DOMINO
Amid calls for tighter international regulation of financial dealings, Singapore has beefed up controls to lessen risk in derivatives trading. Although a lack of internal company controls caused the Barings fiasco, the market rules already in place managed to halt a wider financial collapse. The new rules will further strengthen the system.Other news from Singapore this week:
- APEC: Will Osaka's compromise open a new approach?
Week of November 24, 1995
CASH IN CHIPS
Government-backed Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing plans to double its investment to $7.1 billion in wafer-making plants. CSM makes chips used in almost every type of electronic device. Its 5th and 6th plants will cost $2.5 billion each when built by the year 2000. Singapore accounts for about half of the world's chip production.Other news from Singapore this week:
- Singapore: Privatization can be straightforward
Week of November 17, 1995
PAPER DEAL
The last independent newspaper in Singapore Tamil Murasu, has been bought by Singapore Press Holdings for $350,000. SPH publishes the Lion City's seven other dailies in English, Chinese and Malay. The paper, founded in 1935, has a circulation of 10,000. Increased operating costs forced the sale, said chief editor V.T. Arasu.Week of November 10, 1995
MONEY TRAIL
Police in Singapore uncovered a multimillion-dollar global money laundering operation run by a North American drug syndicate. The island's high-tech banking system apparently helped the heroin traffickers to quickly move the money around the world. The deposits seized in Singapore could be just a fraction of the total fortune.Week of November 3, 1995
AIRLINE STALLS
Region Air, which took off less than a year ago as Singapore's third airline, grounded carrier operations. After a poor response to its scheduled services, the airline probably decided to focus on charter flights and aircraft leasing, the Straits Times reported. Officials from Region Air, owned by hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng, didn't comment.Week of October 27, 1995
DJ SHOT DEAD
A Singapore disc jockey working in Cambodia was killed under mysterious circumstances while testing the power of a talisman. Police said Chiang Hock Goan, aka radio and nightclub star DJ Suave, was hit in the stomach when a shot was fired at the $1,500 charm he was wearing. Some reports said Chiang was tricked into the test. killer escaped.KILLING ADMITTED
A former British convict admitted in a Singapore court that he killed a South African tourist whose dismembered remains were found in the sea. But John Martin Scripps claimed the killing was accidental. He said he hit Gerard Lowe with a hammer after the South African made a homosexual pass at him in the hotel room they shared.Other news from Singapore this week:
- Cover: Singapore's investigators charge foul in the scandal that brought down a venerable British institution
Week of October 20, 1995
STAKE SOLD
Singapore International Media Ventures sold its 10% stake in the Asia Business News satellite broadcaster to the two other principal shareholders -- publisher Dow Jones and Tele-Communications, the U.S. cable company. They now equally control 98.5% of the news company, with the balance held by Hong Kong's Business News Network.Week of October 13, 1995
FOR THE CHOP?
A British convict, who fled Britain while on parole last year, went on trial for the grisly murder of a South African tourist, whose carved-up body was found in garbage bags in Singapore. John Martin, 35, described as a skilled butcher, faces execution if found guilty. He is also suspected in the murder of two Canadians whose bodies were found in Thailand in March.Week of September 29, 1995
SIMEX WARNING
The head of the Singapore International Monetary Exchange, where trader Nick Leeson lost $1 billion, warned that firms like Barings cannot be protected from their own bad management. "A regulator would take on an impossible obligation if it were to appropriate" that role, said Elizabeth Sam. Singapore awaits a German court's ruling on its request for Leeson's extradition.Week of September 22, 1995
COLLARED
A listed firm led by a high-profile local family is under investigation by Singapore's white-collar crime team. Rafiq Jumabhoy was ousted as CEO of Scotts Holdings by its directors the day before news broke of the enquiry. The Business Times quoted sources saying he had urged a fraud probe into a $15.5 million deal in India. In a report, Scotts' auditors found no evidence of fraud.Week of September 8, 1995
MONEY FOR ALL
A report issued Aug. 24 by Singapore says the average monthly household income has risen from $575 in 1980 to $2,060 in 1994. The poorest homes enjoyed the largest income increase of 13%. The gap between rich and poor narrowed somewhat. The bottom 80% of households gained 3.1% of the total wealth, while the richest 20% saw their share decrease.
Other news from Singapore this week
Week of September 1, 1995
DEVELOPED IN NAME
PM Goh Chok Tong warned against "popping champagne" to celebrate Singapore's accession to developed-country status next year. He pointed out only 10% of the country's workers have a college education compared to 17% in Japan and 25% in the U.S. And locals are less than half as productive as Japanese. "We have no safety margin for mistakes," he said.
Other news from Singapore this week
- 21 Powerful Women
- Phone calls: Callbacks can save you money
Week of August 25, 1995
GROWING PAINS
In U.S. dollar terms, Singapore's workers enjoyed a pay rise of almost 20% last year. That was the highest rate in the world - and makes Singaporeans the most highly paid production workers in Asia outside Japan. Trade union leaders fear foreign investors could start to balk. But Labor Minister Lee Boon Yang urges higher productivity to offset the costs of higher wages.
Other news from Singapore this week
- Barings: Despite London's report, nagging questions
Week of August 18, 1995
LINES DRAWN
After 15 years of negotiations, Singapore and Malaysia agreed Aug. 7 on the permanent boundary of their territorial waters. A 1927 treaty drew an imaginary line down the center of the Johor Strait, which separates the republic from the mainland. But the shifting of the deep water channel and land reclamation on both sides made a new agreement necessary.
Other news from Singapore this week:
- Cover: High-tech advances render the office obsolete
- ASEAN: In Brunei, the grouping attains global stature
Week of August 11, 1995
FOOD FIGHT
The expected bidding war in Singapore for control of Pepsi bottler and food retailer Yeo Hiap Seng has begun as property tycoon Ng Teng Fong recently bid S$5 a share, valuing the company at more than $710 million. Ng now owns 27% of Yeo Hiap Seng; rival Quek Leng Chan owns 30%. Quek opened the bidding at S$4.70 a share. "I don't think it ends here," said an analyst.
Other news from Singapore this week
- Cover: Singapore's ruling party faces the challenge of meeting a new generation's rising expectations
- Debate: A U.S. gadfly challenges the PM
- The PAP: The ruling party is true to its past
- Families: Not everyone can get what they want
Week of July 28, 1995
CHALLENGE
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong invited New York Times columnist William Safire to Singapore for a debate on democracy, law and human rights. Safire has criticized the republic often on such matters as the caning of Michael Fay. Most recently his column, "Honoring Repression,'" blasted Williams College for planning to confer an honorary degree on alumnus Goh this fall.
Week of July 14, 1995
THE E ZONE
Casino king Stanley Ho has some different entertainment in mind for Singapore. His Hong Kong-listed Grande Holdings is teaming up with Japanese game giant Sega and Singapore Technologies Industrial Corp. to build a virtual reality theme park, "E-Zone Sega," on the island late this year. The center will feature shops and restaurants as well as games.
Other news from Singapore this week
- Cover: A welcome pause in the New Asian Economy
- Outlook: What's in store for twelve key countries
- Strategies: How investments have performed so far -- and their outlook for the rest of the year
- Courtship: Malaysia woos fund managers
Week of July 07, 1995
PIRATES
Piracy seems to have returned to the South China Sea. A Singapore shipper sought help from the Chinese government to catch hijackers of a vessel carrying $2 million worth of cigarettes and photographic supplies bound for Cambodia. An official at HM Shipping and Trading said the boat was seen steaming toward China. Shortly after, Chinese authorities arrested nine alleged pirates in an unrelated incident. A China news service reported that the Guangzhou Maritime Transport Co. had been victimized 10 times in the last four months. One shipper said it was "just like the monkey business last year."
SLOWER IS BETTER
More signs that Singapore's economy is slowing after two years of double-digit growth were greeted happily by the government. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said he would be glad to see the economy average 4% to 6% increases as long as unemployment stayed low. Manufacturing growth slowed in the first quarter to 7.3%, down from 12% in 1994's last quarter.
Other news from Singapore this week
Week of June 30, 1995
SINGAPORE TRADE
A firm Singapore dollar can be expected to put pressure on exporters to raise productivity and cut costs, says a brokerage report. Recent trade figures, however, are encouraging. Exports grew 11.8% in May compared with a year earlier, well above April's 3.2% year-on-year increase. In total, a strong currency helps since Singapore must import much of what it consumes.
Other news from Singapore this week
Week of June 23, 1995
LIBEL HEARING
The libel hearing in Singapore involving allegations that the International Herald Tribune defamed three of the nation's most prominent politicians shows foreign media what they should already have known: be careful. An apology from the IHT failed to neutralize the bitter taste of "arsenic" the article left for Premier Goh Chok Tong.
Other news from Singapore this week
- Cover: A cultural war is being fought over sexual openness throughout Asia
- Numbers: Sex surveys from around the region
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