July 5, 2007
Ex-defence chief Ng Yat Chung joins Temasek
By Bryan Lee
FORMER defence chief Ng Yat Chung has joined the senior management of Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings.
Lieutenant-General Ng, 46, took up the position of portfolio management managing director on Sunday - a newly created role, The Straits Times understands.
Temasek confirmed the appointment on Tuesday but declined to provide further details.
The appointment comes less than four months after Lt-Gen Ng stepped down as Chief of Defence Force and handed the baton to then Major-General Desmond Kuek.
It mirrors similar movements of other military leaders to civilian positions. Lt-Gen Ng's predecessor, Lt-Gen Lim Chuan Poh, for example, is the chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
A career soldier since 1979, Lt-Gen Ng was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Overseas Scholarship in 1980 and has since held many key command and staff positions.
Before taking the helm of the SAF in 2003, he was Chief of Army. He has also served as director for joint operations and planning and Chief of Staff (Joint Staff).
During his four years at the head of the SAF, Lt-Gen Ng was credited with improving the SAF's operational readiness and steering it into the next generation.
Outside the military, he is a member of the board of trustees at the National University of Singapore, chairing its campus planning and development committee.
Lt-Gen Ng is a Cambridge University graduate, has an MBA from Stanford University and recently completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University.
What is this?!! An ex-army guy with zero war experience is now appointed portfolio management managing director. Oh well, from Temasek/GIC's long list of investment fiascos (in companies such as Citi Group, Merrill Lynch, UBS, ABC Learning, Shin Corp...etc), I already get the impression that they are mickey mouse investment fund houses. This news article confirms that they do hire senior management staff w/o relevant experience.
Here's a joke that I found from the ChannelNewsAsia forum:
During the interview...
hojin : show us the return of your investment for the past 3 years..
general : sure... *take out a stack of paper from his bag*.... nah.. this is my dbs fd, ocbc fd, uob fd... total returns for the past 3 years is about 2 + 2 + 2 = 6%
hojin : *turn to her secretary and whisper* how much we make for the past 3 years?
secretary : -35% and going down summore
hojin : *smile* very good - you are hired.
I should really brush up my resume and look for a job with our dear Temasek/GIC. If I get the job, I forsee many years of good returns... for my wallet... :D
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