HIRING PRACTICE AT TEMASEK HOLDINGS

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HIRING PRACTICE AT TEMASEK HOLDINGS: 7.

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Finance why the Civil Service's hiring practice of restricting access to state secrets to Singaporeans is not applied to Temasek Holdings.

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua: Mr Speaker, Sir, Ms Sylvia Lim has asked why the Civil Service's hiring practice of restricting access to state secrets to Singaporeans is not applied to Temasek Holdings.

Let me first clarify that Temasek is not part of the Civil Service or the public sector. It is a commercial company that is wholly-owned by Government.

However, even in the public sector, the Government has not taken a view that all confidential information must be restricted to Singaporeans only. Government employees handle a whole range of confidential information, with varying degrees of sensitivity. The Government has engaged non-citizens, even for sensitive work and projects, where such persons are assessed to have the requisite expertise and have been cleared.

Ms Sylvia Lim's question may have been prompted by the appointment of Mr Charles Goodyear as CEO-designate of Temasek. As Temasek CEO, Mr Goodyear would be privy to information about the company's operations. Although Temasek

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publishes all key information about the company and the value of its assets, some information about its operations is proprietary and restricted to those who need to know it for proper management of the company. In all instances, however, access to any information the Government considers to be confidential is bound by the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Before endorsing the Temasek Board's proposal to appoint Mr Goodyear, the Government had carefully assessed these implications as well as broader considerations such as the role of Temasek, and concluded that it was not necessary or desirable to require the position of the CEO of Temasek to always be held by a Singaporean. Indeed Temasek engages many foreigners, including at senior management levels. Temasek also has some foreign Board members, although the Board remains in the effective control of Singaporeans. These practices are part of an open and meritocratic approach to building the organisation, so that Temasek can perform and continue to maximise the long-term value of its assets.

However, if Ms Sylvia Lim is asking whether Temasek employees have access, in the course of their work, to information on the size of the Government's total reserves, the answer is "no".

Ms Sylvia Lim (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, three supplementary questions for the Senior Minister of State. First, I am well aware that the Civil Service does have foreigners in its employment. But does the Senior Minister of State not agree that for the key office holders in the sensitive Ministries such as MINDEF, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs and even MTI, these are restricted to Singapore citizens?

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Second question is that given that the past reserves under Temasek's charge are a strategic national asset, does the Government not feel worried that our national interests might be somehow jeopardised by having a foreign CEO with a complete overview of Temasek's strategy and operations?

And third question is that although the Senior Minister of State mentioned that Mr Goodyear is on the permanent employment of Temasek, as we know, Temasek goes for succession planning, so I assume that after a certain period of time, he will relinquish his CEO post.

With nothing to hold him back to Singapore, what is to stop him from working for Temasek's competitors overseas? And given the fact that he may not come back to Singapore, does the OSA really help us?

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua: Sir, to Ms Sylvia Lim's first question, the answer is "yes". But, if I may reiterate, Temasek is not part of the Civil Service. So as and when there is a need for anyone to be in receipt of sensitive information, that will be treated separately from the employment as a Temasek employee.

The second question is regarding the access to information on past reserves. As CEO of Temasek, he will obviously be in possession of information that is proprietary to Temasek and that will include the size of specific company's assets and so on. That itself will only form part of the overall size, so the CEO will not have full information on the overall size of Singapore's reserves.

As to whether there is any purpose that, as a foreigner, he would be bound, well, the OSA covers all situations. Besides that, his own employment contract with Temasek would have certain provisions. These are the same provisions that employees with all companies would have regarding the privilege that they have in terms of

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possession of information, which they cannot subsequently divulge after they have left the employment of the company. So on both fronts, if he were covered by OSA, that would have been catered for or otherwise, his own employment contract would cover all these provisions as well.