I refer to the article, "Temasek's 24.5% shareholder return highest since 2010" (July 14).

A one-year return of 24.5 per cent sounds impressive until one realises that, over the same one-year period to March 31, the MSCI World Index went up by about 45 per cent.

The world markets have recovered massively over the past year or so and, as they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.

What was also interesting was that Temasek's total shareholder return for the 10 years to end-March last year was 5 per cent per annum.

Over this same period, the MSCI World Index went up by an average of about 7 per cent per annum.

The questions I would like to ask are: "How well has Temasek really been doing over the years? Is it reasonable to expect Temasek to at least beat the relevant market indices over the long run?"

I hope there can be more public discourse on these questions.

Alfred Chan Hock Yuen