I think, Kato, that you must be American. Corned beef in the States is the same thing (or similar) to salt beef in the UK. That is cured in brine and potassium nitrate. Since Singapore is part of the British Commonwealth, the meat might be available under another name.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corned_beef and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoked_meat

I certainly agree with you about the canned stuff.