What Singapore newspapers don’t say

The Sunday Times — sister to the Straits Times, which greeted the Singapore recession with the memorable headline, “Oh, what a week” — takes the rich Western nations to task for the economic mess. “Talk but where’s the action from G-7?” the Sunday Times asks today.

Excuse me, the Group of Seven (G-7) — the USA, Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Canada — has adopted a five-point plan. And the question in Singapore should be: Will the Singapore government adopt the plan? It looks good for depositors.

Here are the five points, which the Sunday Times failed to spell out, just as the Straits Times didn’t mention that Singapore is the first Asian country to be hit by recession. According to the Guardian, G-7 has pledged to:

Save key banks from collapse
Free up credit and money markets by providing ample amounts of liquidity from central banks
Support part-nationalisation of banks and other institutions by the taxpayer purchase of shares
Beef up deposit protection schemes to reassure savers their money is safe
Force banks to disclose the true state of their losses

Singapore banks are safe, the government has said. So is the plan unnecessary in Singapore?

Singapore banks’ customers have also lost money in the economic mess. AFP reports:

About 600 angry investors who lost their savings because of the global financial turmoil gathered in Singapore on Saturday, urging the central bank to help them recover their money.
The crowd included those who invested in "Lehman Minibonds" and "Merrill Lynch Jubilee Notes". There were also those who invested in "high notes" with Singapore's DBS Bank and Morgan Stanley "pinnacle notes."

DBS is a Singapore bank 28 percent of whose shares are held by the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings. Temasek also has a 9 percent stake in Merrill Lynch.

Hmm, why weren’t the banks named in the Sunday Times front-page report on the investors’ rally?

It can pose questions to the West, but it can’t fully report what’s happening at home?

Here’s DBS’ assurance given to customers last month.

As for the shortcomings of the G7 plan, it’s best to read the Wall Street Journal.