SINGAPORE - As Finance Minister, he has never once interfered in investment decisions taken by the national sovereign wealth funds, Temasek Holdings and GIC, as doing so would lose him the authority of holding them accountable for their performance, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said in an interview with a Swiss newspaper published Friday .
"If the Board and CEO are not doing a good job, I have the duty to remove them and to change, but I do not micro-manage how they do it." The interview with NZZ covered a broad range of topics, from Singapore's housing system and the 99-year lease policy, to the similarities in Singapore and Switzerland's development models.
The government has held regular elections - the law states that each term of government cannot last over five years - which are always competitive, free and fair, said Mr Heng. "In fact, many of us, myself included, have been on record saying that the government cannot possibly have all the answers to all of the problems and that is why we have to mobilise our society to resolve many of these issues," he said.
"If we sell land as freehold and that the moment you own it, you own in perpetuity, what it means is that children who are born in the future will never have any home or be able to buy anything," said Mr Heng.
But government continues to refuse to disclose the financial and salary paid out.
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