Temasek Holdings will remain true to three core principles as it navigates its way forward, said new Chairman Lim Boon Heng yesterday.

The principles are placing the long term over the short term; emphasising “the larger institutional good over the individual interest”; and prioritising “the habit of always thinking and building for future generations”, he said.

In his first speech as Chairman, Mr Lim laid out the challenges facing Temasek.

“Technology, globalisation, and the shifts in the global balances between savers and spenders, between borrower nations and creditor nations — these will shape global developments, and impact Singapore and Temasek.”

One reason why Temasek has been successful, he added, is that it has a “farsighted and understanding shareholder” in the Singapore Government.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who also spoke at the dinner, said “the Government’s approach is to ensure that people of sound character and judgement are appointed to the board, to guide Temasek’s management and its strategies”.

He added: “We (the Government) are careful not to have any role or influence in Temasek’s investment decisions. That has been the right approach for Temasek, which makes commercial assessments without having to second-guess whether the Government would agree to its decisions. But it is also right for the Government, which has to avoid being put in a position where it is endorsing or vetoing a deal, or is seen to do so.”

AMIR HUSSAIN