by Joy Fang

TEMASEK Holdings' chief executive officer should ideally be Singaporean, Minister of Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in Parliament yesterday.

"Everything else being equal, when you look at two candidates who are equally suitable for the job, I think we should prefer to have the Singaporean."

He was responding to a query from MP Lim Biow Chuan (Marine Parade GRC), which had been prompted by last month's surprise resignation of American Charles Goodyear as Temasek's CEO-designate.

Whether the CEO is Singaporean is not a trivial question, and has been debated very carefully by the Cabinet, Mr Tharman said. But other factors besides nationality have to be considered, he explained.

As Temasek is a large and complex company with businesses in many sectors and many countries, it requires a CEO with "direct experience managing global operations", he said.

This leaves very few choices among Singaporeans and foreigners, who have to be willing to come here and work for a government-linked group, he said.

"What is critical is that the board remains in the control of Singaporeans," he added. This means that the chairman, deputy chairman, and most board members should be citizens.

The Government will leave it to the board to pick the best candidate, so as not to send the wrong signal to countries that Temasek invests in, "that there is an element of political decision-making in the way Temasek is run", he said.

Temasek has no deadline by which to find a new CEO, as its leadership is still strong.

"The Government is confident that it will make its decision to appoint a successor CEO in the best interests of Temasek, when a suitable CEO is available and ready," he said.

For more my paper stories click here.