Only 4 countries in the World have GLCs being Russia, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Only Malaysia is democratic whilst the others are authoritarian. No Western democracy has GLCs because of the firm belief that the business of making money should be left to the private sector and the avoidance of corruption. Here is the genesis of the G…
Only 4 countries in the World have GLCs being Russia, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Only Malaysia is democratic whilst the others are authoritarian. No Western democracy has GLCs because of the firm belief that the business of making money should be left to the private sector and the avoidance of corruption. Here is the genesis of the GLCs. I was there. After the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, the Adviser to the Singapore Government, UN economics expert Dr Alfred Winsemius advised the establishment of the Jurong Industrial Park. By 1970, Starlite Ceramics, Fair Lady, Regency Hair Wigs, Eupoc, and many others failed because the Singapore traders were different from industrailists. . Many Malay workers were employed there. To fill the void, the Singapore Government turned its monopolies into businesses like NOL, SIA, DBS, Keppel, Sembawang, Far East Levingston etc. Being monopolies, all were profitable by the early 1980s. Lee Kuan Yew coined these businesses Government linked companies or GLCs -the only such enterprise in the World. In 1982, Deng Xiao Peng thought he had found the answer in the GLCs in turning Communism into Capitalism. So did Russia.. Both found out to their cost that corruption affecting the GLCs in Russia and China were rampant. With 100 Chinese on the run ! Unlike tidy Singapore where a phone call by Lee Kuan Yew will reveal all, Russia and China are vast lands which are difficult to control. In Malaysia, unwittingly, my 1972 Concept to capture Sime Darby PLC for the Malays to fast track into big business without impinging on Chinese business, was supported by the Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. The Concept was to own more British light engineering companies and move Malaysia upwards. Unfortunately, Tun Abdul Razak died. The World's first GLC, Sime Darby reverted to a trading company selling goods for others to this day. Sime Darby was bankrupted twice by the same Management at RM 1.20 billion in 1997 and RM 2.10 billion in 2010. No one was charged. No one was jailed. The shenanigans in Sime Darby set a bad example to the over 300+ GLCs to come. All have no owners, off Government Budget and most losing money. An ex Minister of Finance told me he closed down 1,800 GLCs in the 1980s ! The official debt of Malaysia is RM 1.3 trillion without the GLCS debts. The GLCs will kill us all.
Only 4 countries in the World have GLCs being Russia, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Only Malaysia is democratic whilst the others are authoritarian. No Western democracy has GLCs because of the firm belief that the business of making money should be left to the private sector and the avoidance of corruption. Here is the genesis of the GLCs. I was there. After the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, the Adviser to the Singapore Government, UN economics expert Dr Alfred Winsemius advised the establishment of the Jurong Industrial Park. By 1970, Starlite Ceramics, Fair Lady, Regency Hair Wigs, Eupoc, and many others failed because the Singapore traders were different from industrailists. . Many Malay workers were employed there. To fill the void, the Singapore Government turned its monopolies into businesses like NOL, SIA, DBS, Keppel, Sembawang, Far East Levingston etc. Being monopolies, all were profitable by the early 1980s. Lee Kuan Yew coined these businesses Government linked companies or GLCs -the only such enterprise in the World. In 1982, Deng Xiao Peng thought he had found the answer in the GLCs in turning Communism into Capitalism. So did Russia.. Both found out to their cost that corruption affecting the GLCs in Russia and China were rampant. With 100 Chinese on the run ! Unlike tidy Singapore where a phone call by Lee Kuan Yew will reveal all, Russia and China are vast lands which are difficult to control. In Malaysia, unwittingly, my 1972 Concept to capture Sime Darby PLC for the Malays to fast track into big business without impinging on Chinese business, was supported by the Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. The Concept was to own more British light engineering companies and move Malaysia upwards. Unfortunately, Tun Abdul Razak died. The World's first GLC, Sime Darby reverted to a trading company selling goods for others to this day. Sime Darby was bankrupted twice by the same Management at RM 1.20 billion in 1997 and RM 2.10 billion in 2010. No one was charged. No one was jailed. The shenanigans in Sime Darby set a bad example to the over 300+ GLCs to come. All have no owners, off Government Budget and most losing money. An ex Minister of Finance told me he closed down 1,800 GLCs in the 1980s ! The official debt of Malaysia is RM 1.3 trillion without the GLCS debts. The GLCs will kill us all.
More on Sime Darby. Vide. NST 2010 'True Story Of Sime Darby.'