Ruffled feathers over Singapore's Asian Idol win

Yippee, talkingcock published another piece of satire by Sophie's World. It's reproduced here for your reading pleasure:

by Sophie's World

Not just Malaysia, now other Asians across the region are up in arms over the unexpected victory of Singapore Idol Hady Mirza in the first-ever Asian Idol.

"This is unbelievable. Indonesia's Mike should have won. This is the result of how the Singapore Gahmen undermines Indonesia through a systematic cornering of our telecom market," fumed Indonesian government spokesman Cakap Ayam.

Other Asians who watched the contest and voted via a SMS system also cried fowl over the contest that was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, during the weekend.

"The Malaysian Indian girl was fantastic. Singapore and Malaysian governments must be working together to marginalise our Indian community further," said Indian activist Uthu Ayam Kumar, who added that he will organize another street protest to highlight 'ethnic cleansing' in Malaysia.

Central to the region's unhappiness was the SMS voting system, which they felt favoured Singapore.

Indonesia's Mr Ayam said Singapore Gahmen investment arm Temasek Business Group must have rigged the SMS contest through its control of two telcos – Telkomsel and Indosat.

"This shows our decision to force Temasek to sell one of the two Indonesian telcos is correct and necessary," Mr Ayam said, adding that Singapore must have conspired with the United States and staunch ally Israel to undermine predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

"Apa nama itu (What is the name of the) Temasek guy? Don't you think it's too coincidental that he's called Mr Israel? I rest my case," said Mr Ayam with a smirk.

Singapore Gahmen spokesman Ban Vanity was unruffled, when bombarded by intense media questions that were unseen since Temasek effectively triggered the Thai military coup in 2006.

"Their unwarranted questioning of the legitimacy of our Idol's win is tantamount to questioning of Singapore's sovereignty. We cannot allow that," Ms Vanity read from a prepared statement.

"We will defend our position vigourously and refer to the new Asean Charter to resolve the dispute and uphold our victory."

She added: "What's next if we don't defend our sovereignty over the Asian Idol issue?"

"They will claim Singapore's Idol is actually Malaysia's Idol since Singapore was part of Malaysia briefly, or it's Indonesia's Idol since Singapore's founder Sang Nila Utama was a Sumatran prince. How can like that?"

Temasek not guilty

As expected, Singapore government investment arm Temasek Holdings has been found guilty of unfairly dominating and manipulating Indonesia's telco market.

Temasek issued a terse but strong statement to say it is not guilty of the charges and will appeal the sentence.

Simon Israel, Temasek’s executive director, stated: “We are not guilty. The decision makes no sense. It ignores the facts. The charge against Temasek is groundless – Temasek has no shares in Indosat and Telkomsel, and we play no role in their business decisions and operations.

Telkomsel is controlled by the Indonesian Government which also has a golden share in Indosat. The telecommunications industry in Indonesia is regulated. It is inconceivable that the Indonesian government and the telecommunications regulator would allow the prices to be fixed or cause a loss to the consumer. Temasek will fight this decision.”

Sophie's World agrees that the Indonesian ruling doesn't quite make sense as the Indonesian government has a bigger say than Temasek in the two Indonesian telcos. The ruling will no doubt dent Indonesia's image among foreign investors. Will leave it to Indonesian experts to talk about this.

Temasek is technically correct though to say it doesn't own shares in the two telcos. The shares are held through two Temasek subsidiaries. Temasek owns 56 per cent of Singapore Telecommunications which in turn owns 35 per cent of Telkomsel, Indonesia's largest mobile phone carrier. Temasek owns all of Singapore Technologies Telemedia which, along with Qatar Telecom, owns a 41.9 per cent stake in Indosat, the second-largest telecommunications company in the country.

Although Temasek is probably sound on the technical and legal fronts, the ruling has wider implications on Temasek as a sovereign wealth fund. This is not the first time that Temasek has had missteps in the region.

Last year, Temasek caused an uproar in Thailand when it acquired Shin Corporation from the family of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. The Thai court ruled against a unit of Temasek-controlled Shin following the takeover by Temasek.

Thailand is still involved in the protracted review of its foreign ownership rules to ascertain whether Temasek did indeed breach the rule in the deal, which subsequently triggered a military coup that ousted Thaksin.

It seems that some quarters are determined to whack Temasek at all cost as it is seen as the vehicle of the Singapore government.

There is definitely no shortage of volcanic problems within the Asean family.