A question: public reaction to the Income-Allianz deal versus the sale of the Neptune Orient Lines

Hi all! Recent events reminded me that we used to have a shipping line (Neptune Orient Lines; NOL) that was eventually sold off to a foreign company. I am interested to find out if public reactions to the Income-Allianz (IA) deal differs from that of the sale of the NOL, and why.

In 2016, I was just a Secondary School kid mugging for their O-levels, and admittedly did not pay enough attention to current affairs to understand how the public felt about the NOL sale. I have taken a look at HardwareZone and Reddit posts about this incident, and reactions seemed pretty tame as compared to what we see now with the IA deal.

Hence my question:

• Do you think that reactions on these forum sites were accurate reflections of the general public's sentiments on the NOL sale at the time?
• If so, why do you feel that was it more tame than what we see now in relation to the IA deal? Is it because of the concerns of selling a social enterprise versus that of selling a company? Was there just more trust in the government at that point of time? Or was it due to the development of the Singaporean online space between these eight years that encouraged netizens to voice their frustrations online more now as compared to the past?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Looking forward to hear your thoughts!