The news that Mr Lim Boon Heng has been appointed as the new Chairman of Temasek Holdings will have no doubt surprised many.
Having obtained a degree in naval architecture from the UK, Mr Lim has a near total lack of experience in finance. Even in politics, his biggest role was as PAP Chairman and he dealt mostly with labour issues, serving as NTUC Secretary-General for 13 years.
Temasek Holdings' Chief Executive Ms Ho Ching also faces similar issues. An engineer by training, she hold's a bachelor's degree from NUS and a MSc (Electrical) from Stanford University. Again, no background in finance, business or economics.
So now we have both a Chairman and a Chief Executive of our sovereign wealth fund who have little relevant experience to carry out their duties. This is cause for great concern, considering the various losses that have been reported in the international media but downplayed locally.
The murky circumstances under which the intended successor to Ho Ching, Charles Goodyear left have also never been explained satisfactorily. One moment he was in, the next he had departed due to "differences".
Considering that Temasek (together with GIC) is the custodian for a large chunk of our national wealth, greater transparency must be introduced to the selection of leadership candidates. One way is to require Parliament to vote on leadership changes before they can take effect.
The candidate should appear before a Parliamentary committee and be questioned on his experience and vision for the organisation. And the committee's report should be made publicly available to prove clearly that the candidate can be trusted to take stewardship of hundreds of billions of dollars in Singaporeans' money.
Such a process is much better that sitting around the dining table and picking any name they like.
SgDino
*The writer blogs at http://singaporedino.blogspot.sg/