ASSERTIONS “WITHOUT BASIS”: INDRANEE
Ms Indranee, in her rebuttal, said Mr Leong’s speech include assertions made “without basis” and that the Government has already responded to the two issues “in full many times”, including ministerial statements delivered in Parliament.
On the takeover of Sports Hub, she noted that Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong had laid out reasons for the termination, benefits of the public-private partnership (PPP) approach and the basis behind the termination sum of S$1.5 billion in his ministerial statement on Aug 1.
“The termination sum is derived based on a formula stipulated in the project agreement. Most of it is made up of the capital expenditure, which the Government would have had to bear if we had opted for the traditional procurement model,” said Ms Indranee.
“Minister Edwin had also explained that the full cost of termination is comparable to the financial obligation that we would have had to pay under the PPP, if we had chosen to continue with it.
“In other words, the entire transaction is financially neutral, because we are not paying SHPL more than what we would otherwise have committed to under the PPP model,” she added.
“Unfortunately, Mr Leong has chosen to ignore these detailed explanations, and instead makes a completely baseless and false claim that the termination sum can be lower.”
Likewise, questions raised by Mr Leong regarding SPH Media Trust have also been addressed by two Ministers for Communications and Information – Minister S Iswaran in a ministerial statement last May, followed by Minister Josephine Teo during the ministry’s Committee of Supply debate earlier this year.
The Government has said that its support will allow SPH Media Trust to “make long-term investments in capability development” such as in the areas of technology and talent.
“This is needed to sustain and develop our local news media and ensure that we have a trusted, credible source of news and information for Singaporeans,” said Ms Indranee, adding that support is also necessary for vernacular print media which play a crucial role in preserving the country’s mother tongues and cultural inheritance.
At the same time, the media industry, not just Singapore, faces the challenge of falling revenues amid the rise of digital content platforms and new avenues for free content.
On the NCMP’s claim that SPH’s shareholders could have paid more, Ms Indranee pointed to Mrs Teo’s earlier response that if the restructuring involved a contribution higher than S$110 million, “the shareholders could have walked away”.
“Mr Leong fails to recognise the realities facing the media industry in the real world and that if we were to do as he suggests, it will leave SPH Media on a trajectory of decline and eventually result in a Singapore without a viable English-language domestic media and without our Chinese, Malay and Tamil media, which is not in our national interests,” she added.
Reiterating that the NCMP’s allegations are “completely without basis”, Ms Indranee said: “I ask Members of this House and Singaporeans not to be taken in, but to reject these bogus allegations and to support the Government.
“Then we can continue to sustain good governance and sound policies for the benefit of all Singaporeans, especially to take care of our elderly and to support the disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our society.”