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Singapore Public Enterprises
Apart from the statutory boards, which met general
development
and infrastructure goals, the government owned or held
equity in
many businesses that operated in the private sector. The
government
asserted that such businesses received no special
subsidies and
would be liquidated if they proved unprofitable. The
wholly
government-owned Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited was
the
country's largest corporation. Operated as an investment
and
holding corporation, its offices were in the Ministry of
Finance,
which provided the corporation with free accounting and
secretarial
services. Some government enterprises included former
government
departments, such as the Government Printing Office, which
in 1973
became the Singapore National Printers Limited and offered
its
services to the private sector at market rates. Most
government
enterprises either provided key and potentially
monopolistic
services, such as Singapore International Airline or
Neptune Orient
Line, an ocean shipping firm, or they met strategic and
defense
needs. The Ministry of Defence wholly owned or had large
equity
shares in a range of companies engaged in weapons
production,
electronics, computer software, and even food production.
In some
cases the government banks, holding companies, or
corporations were
partners or had shares in local operations of
multinational
corporations. In such cases, the goal was both to attract
the
corporations to Singapore by offering investment funds and
the
promise of cooperation from government departments and to
ensure
that the corporations transferred proprietary technology
and
training to Singapore. The strategic nature of much
government
enterprise was acknowledged by the January 20, 1984,
passage of the
Statutory Bodies and Government Companies (Protection of
Secrecy)
Act. The law barred the unauthorized disclosure of
confidential
information by anyone associated with a statutory board or
government enterprise and was considered necessary because
the
Official Secrets Act did not cover those bodies.
Data as of December 1989
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