Foo Cexiang (left), Kenneth Tiong (right)
PAP MP Foo Ceixang on Kenneth Tiong's questions on SIA: MPs should create greater clarity, not confusion
SINGAPORE: In a social media post on Tuesday (Sept 15), Tanjong Pagar Member of Parliament Foo Ceixang pushed back against the arguments from Workers’ Party MP Kenneth Tiong regarding Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) finances and Parliament’s role in overseeing it.
Mr Tiong wrote last month that he would file questions after Reuters reported that Air India would ask Tata Sons and SIA, which own the carrier, for an additional US$1.5 billion (S$1.9 billion) amid large losses.
Mr Foo acknowledged that difficult questions should be asked by MPs. However, he added, “Our aim should be to create greater clarity, not confusion; to improve outcomes, not make them worse.”
The MP was referring to the exchange in Parliament last week between Mr Tiong and Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow, and his first point was: “Net debt does not mean financial distress.”
Mr Tiong had said SIA is in net debt, with S$10.5 billion in cash and S$10.7 billion in debt. Mr Foo countered this by saying that these figures should not be taken in isolation, but what needs to be considered is SIA’s ability to pay that debt, and since much of the debt is long-term, it does not mean the airline needs to come up with more cash than it has right away.
“Debt is not automatically a sign of financial weakness. In SIA’s case… its liabilities within the next 12 months are well within its cash reserves,” he said.
For him, the WP MP had painted a narrative that was more alarming than warranted, although, in fairness, Mr Tiong did not say during his exchange with the Transport Minister that SIA was in immediate trouble, but had asked what could happen if Air India received more funding.
Secondly, Mr Foo took exception to Mr Tiong having said that “Parliament is the risk function for the reserves and SIA's Board is the investment team,” and argued that “Parliament cannot be SIA’s risk committee.
As SIA already has a Board of Directors to oversee management and risk, if Parliament were to take on this function of deciding how much commercial risk SIA should take, then it would fall to politicians to make business decisions not just for SIA but also for other Temasek-linked companies, including DBS and Singtel.
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Mr Tiong, however, had stated on Sept 8 that he supports SIA’s ability to make its own decisions, but added, “I do not support further cash infusions from Temasek to stand behind a decision that, on these facts, reasonable members of the public are questioning.”
He also underlined how Singaporeans are the carrier’s “stakeholder of last resort” and added that as such, the stakeholder of last resort needs to know where the line is. /TISG