And btw i am singaporean too

I think that blockage link to TemasekReview was ‘temporary’. Its back to business as usual. Interesting 2 hours of “lost time” I would say. I wondered what transpired in cyberspace during that window period.

Just a couple of days ago, I posted some critical questions on TemasekReview (a site having quite a critical stand on LKY government). and guess what ? today that website is inaccessible ! Maybe they (the powers that be) put a block on my pc’s accessibility to the site or it could be a blanket wash out on them.

The issue I raised ? Its about Temasek’s purchase of Shincorp from Thaksin a few years back. My query was : I wanted to know which member in Parliament raised the issue in the house regarding the $1.4bn tax liability which was in Shincorp’s books prior to Temasek’s purchase. Immediately subsequent to Temasek’s $1.88bn changing hands and Thaksin’s 49.6 % shareholding transfered to Ho Ching, the Thai tax authorities wasted no time to pressing and collecting the unpaid and overdue tax ‘lien’, threatening revocation of Shincorp’s licence. This was either gloss negligence on the part of Temasek’s big boys (or should I say, Ho Ching’s supercharged brain) or there was a hidden agenda involved.

My intonation suggested that this episode was related to the Thaksin government’s cancellation of their proposed Kra of Isthmus Canal (something akin to the Panama Canal) whereby ships travelling from Indian Ocean to South China Seas, i.e. west to east, and vice versa, would bypass the port of Singapore. The project was withdrawn AFTER TEMASEK PURCHASED THAKSIN’S CONTROLLING STAKE IN SHINCORP, WHICH HAD AN IMPENDING OUTFLOW OF $1.4BN DUE TO BE PAID AS OVERDUE TAXES.

TemasekReview’s site being taken off the air (or my accessibility to the site being cut off to prevent further disclosures of this nature) certainly conveyed the picture that I hit bulls-eye !

Maybe it’s an area of subject you might want to put your investigative journalistic skills to further work.

And, also regarding my earlier rant about the misinformation policy of our government, contrary to official eports that Singapore only started operating submarines (conventional diesel ones) from the late 90’s onwards, I aready knew that some of our midshipmen, especially the first batch that was sent to Portsmouth Naval School (UK) in 1970, had specific training on board submarines – including internship on British submarines in Meditarranean waters. If submarine training was already a specific area of expertise to be accquired by our naval forces, it is very likely ro assume that the hardware would also have been accquired subsequent to proficiency being attained. And these subs would have been stationed outfield (off balance sheet items) to form our ’stealth’ force, unknown and unseen by our potential enemiesm and even by our neighbours.

And why not? Such a policy had aready been in force. While the official version of our order-of-battle lists the the liightweight AMX-13 (15 tons) as our front line tanks they have maintained total silence on the fact that we had 60 Centurion Main Battle Tanks (55 tons) stationed in Taiwan. These heavyweights were and still are part of our ’stealth’ force, including some F-15E Strike Eagles accquired in early 90’s after the 1991 Gulf War which were later stationed in Western Australia. The F-15’s, of course, have lost their stealth status following the much publicised and official purchase of another series of blocks totalling 24 new F-15SG versions in recent years.

We have so many secrets….

Thanks for the extra feeds (I have not read ‘Escape From Paradise’).

All these intrigue you mention, round about the time of Nugan Hand’s operative days, immediately conjured up my vivid memories regarding another very interesting and ‘mysterious’ group – the Carrian Group.

Carrian Group was headed by a, hitherto, unknown Singaporean by the name of George Tan. The group made its appearance on the corporate scene in the South-East & East Asian region rather suddenly, and became a big time market player in no time. While the people behind this group remained obscure, Carrian & its subsidiaries were courted by bankers in the region with a fervour never seen before.

There were rumours that ministers from the various countries were the beneficial owners with shareholdings held by proxies. That could invariably explain why its subsidiaries could obtain the necessary licence(s) needed for conducting those businesses requiring governmental permits in those countries with the greatest of ease. In some instances, they did not even meet the necessary requirments, as in the case of Carrian Travel which got their permit from the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board even though it did not satisfy some, if not, all the criteria.

Subsequently, the intricacy that was woven into the web of the group’s business dealings soon took on the element of fraud (not surprisingly since the bankers were writing loans to the group on the back of references from other bankers !) and they were brought to bear before the courts.

And then there was also the element of intrique which was provided by two unfortunate incidents. An auditor from Malaysia’s Bank Bumiputra Group (one of Carrian’s main bankers) who was on an audit trail in Hong Kong regarding some financial irregularities, was murdered, and his body found in a fruit plantation. A few months later, the body of the English legal consultant of the group was found at the bottom of his swimming pool, just before he was about to give his testimony to the court. And during the period of George Tan’s incarceration, a representative from the Immigration of Singapore flew to Hong Kong to have his expired Singapore passport duly renewed while he was in court custody. It seems George Tan’s Singapore political connections were strong enough to warrant the government’s special attention. Very interesting and unprecedented act of hospitality by the state.

It makes me wonder. Who indeed was this George Tan ?