S’pore govt steers clear of Western privatisation model

I refer to the debate about privatising public transport during the Singapore Economic Policy Forum (“Govt should run public transport system: Kishore”; Oct 30).

Mr Ho Kwon Ping was right in the sense that the Hong Kong MTR Corp is viable because it owns the real estate sitting above the MTR stations. In short, the government was willing to give the private corporation some goodies to make it viable. This is a form of government subsidy indirectly paid for by the citizens.

In the West, the political lobby groups are able to push for conditions that make privatisation viable for private operators. The corporate world is able to secure a sweetheart deal. There may be some degree of competition among the various corporate operators, but it does not mean the citizens are getting a good deal.

As a Singaporean, I am proud that our Government is honest. Our Government would not bundle benefits into a privatisation package.

For instance, the Government tenders out the land above the stations to accrue maximum benefit for the nation. This is also why our public-private partnerships never work out. The Government does not collude with the corporate world to short-change citizens.

We must understand privatisation in the West often involves collusion among the governments, the political lobby groups and the corporate players. This is not what we want to emulate. And I agree with Professor Kishore Mahbubani that in Singapore, we must know how to “U-turn” from our current system.