Google coming to Singapore?

Singapore should be so proud. "Google to open R&D centre in Singapore", said the front-page headline in The Straits Times today. "The centre -- Google's first in South-east Asia", said the report, "is a coup for Singapore". Yes, indeed. So why hasn't the story been picked up by other local media?

I couldn't find the report on the Channel NewsAsia website even several hours after The Straits Times broke the story.

That is surprising -- especially since the story has already appeared in the International Herald Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, the Hindu in India and several other websites around the world. Could it be professional rivalry that kept the local news channel from picking up the local newspaper report?

Unlikely. While The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia belong to two different media companies, their owners are also business partners. They are joint owners of the freesheet, Today, and local television channels. What's more, Channel NewsAsia belongs to a government-linked company which highlights Singapore's achievements. I was surprised it didn't pick up the story.

Could this be the reason? Let me quote the follow-up story by the Associated Press. It says there are no firm plans yet for a Google R&D centre in Singapore. Here's the AP story:
Internet search company Google Inc. plans to open a research and development centre in Singapore, its first in Southeast Asia, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Google's managing director of Southeast Asian sales and operations, Richard Kimber, was quoted in The Straits Times newspaper as saying Singapore was picked for its "very vibrant ICT (information, communications and technology) space.

A public relations firm representing Google in Singapore, The Hoffman Agency Singapore, did not deny the report, but said Kimber's comments were meant to recognize the city-state's efforts to foster talent in the industry and did not address the possibility of setting up a research and development centre here.

"Google's continually exploring opportunities to further our investment in Singapore and around the world, which includes actively hiring local talent across various positions. We do not have anything to announce at this time," Hoffman said in an e-mailed response to questions.

I found the story in The Age, published from Melbourne, after a Google News search. AP initially repeated just what The Straits Times said. The International Herald Tribune and other websites picked up AP's initial story. The Age published the follow-up.

I still refuse to disbelieve The Straits Times story. After all, it said:

"Although it (Google) is tight-lipped about details, it is already on the hunt for engineers to start things rolling. In particular, it needs an R&D director to head operations."

You don't get such details without deep digging.

AP in its follow-up said that, according to Google's public relations agents in Singapore, the Google executive quoted by The Straits Times "did not address the possibility of setting up a research and development centre here" in Singapore. Then why should The Straits Times say so? Even the most inexperienced reporter won't make such a mistake, let alone someone from The Straits Times.