Andrew Loh
Ministers scheduled to be given a third pay hike this year
If you ask me, the future is really shining for us… We will survive; this is a red dot, which we can make redder and brighter. (MM Lee, 2006)
We are into a period of good economic growth and social development… If there are no wars or oil crises, this golden period can stretch out over many years… (Singapore in a golden period, says MM Lee, 2007),
Mdm Soh (not her real name) is more than 70 years old and has been working as an office cleaner for more than a year. Her daily routine starts at 7am and ends at 5pm, which means she puts in 10 hours of work, including a one hour lunch break. She works five and a half days per week – 55 hours in all.
She is paid $650 per month.
$2.95 per hour.
In January 2008, the Minister for Health, in advocating for the implementation of means testing starting at the median income, cited the figure of $2,170 for full-time employed residents. Mdm Soh clearly is not in this income bracket, even though she works full time.
Mdm Soh says that she started work when she was 10 years old, doing various jobs over the years. Although she finds life tough with the current rate of record inflation, she declines help from her children. “They also have their families,” she says. “I’ll just make do with what I have. I don’t go out except for work and maybe once in a while I buy a little 4D”, she says in Teochew, referring to the lottery. She quickly adds that she spends “at the most just one dollar’s worth” on the lottery.
The elites – a third pay hike
At the other end of the spectrum, top Government ministers had their salaries increased twice in 2007, the second one in December of that year. According to a Straits Times report:
Under the revised salary package announced by the Public Service Division (PSD) on Thursday, ministers at the starting grade will take home $1.94 million next year – an increase of 21 per cent over this year’s $1.6 million.
Also in the same report:
With the pay revision, the annual salary for President SR Nathan will go up from $3.1 million this year to $3.87 million in 2008, the Prime Minister’s from $3.09 million to $3.76 million, ministers and senior permanent secretaries, from $1.593 million to $1.94 million, entry superscale grade Admin officers, from $384,000 to $398,000 and MPs, from $216,300 to $225,000.
The Prime Minister’s salary was increased by $670,000 per year. That is about $55,833 per month. The PM’s salary is currently $3.76m per year ($313,333 per month).
According to the Reuters news report, “Singapore’s economic boom widens income gap” (9 November, 2007):
“The proportion of Singapore residents earning less than S$1,000 (US$690) a month rose to 18 percent last year, from 16 percent in 2002, central bank data released late last month show… and Singapore’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has worsened from 42.5 in 1998 to 47.2 in 2006, and is now in league with the Philippines (46.1) and Guatemala (48.3), and worse than China (44.7), data from Singapore’s Household Survey and the World Bank show”.
The Government is expected to announce a third salary increase for civil servants, including ministers, later this year, as part of a three-step effort to close the gap in the benchmark for ministers’ salaries. This was explained by Minister in Charge of the Civil Service, Teo Chee Hean, on the 9th of April, 2007:
Salaries at the MR4 Grade are currently at 55% of the benchmark. Given the large gap, it is not realistic to close the gap fully in one go. Instead, we will close half of the current gap, that is, from 55% of the benchmark, to 77% of the benchmark by the end of this year.
This will be effected in two steps – one step now, and another step at the end of this year. Next year, we aim to close half of the remaining gap, bringing salaries to 88% of the benchmark by end-2008.
(Sprinter)
What is the Government doing about the income gap for ordinary Singaporeans, especially the poor? It prefers to take a “targeted approach”, giving periodic handouts and assistance and schemes like the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS). The Government has dismissed suggestions for the institution of a minimum wage and has also regularly warned that “subsidies will not solve Singapore’s problems”. (Lee Kuan Yew)
Give our elderly a sense of peace and security
Yet, with the anticipated third increase in ministers’ salaries, which is already the highest in the world, Singaporeans are beginning to wonder if only the top few are reaping the rewards of the hard work which everyone had put in during the boom times.
As was asked in an earlier article on TOC, “Why have Singaporeans, with one of the highest savings rates in the world, become so dependent on government handouts to even just get by?” With regards to the latest handout as reported by Channel NewsAsia, Over 780,000 households to receive $134m of utility rebates, one wonders why such a huge number of Singaporean households need such handouts to pay their utilities.
Have Singaporeans, consistently ranked one of the hardest-working and overworked, suddenly become beggars with hands extended towards the Government all the time, even as they continue to strive and compete with foreigners?
Perhaps it is time to seriously consider a more institutionalised approach to closing the income gap, such as having a minimum wage policy, and give Singaporeans, especially the working elderly such as Mdm Soh, a sense of security and peace in their twilight years. This is more pertinent now as the Government is also encouraging Singaporeans to work for as long as one can. Minister Lim Boon Heng even urged Singaporeans not to think of retiring (Channel NewsAsia).
To have someone like Mdm Soh work for $2.95 an hour is, in all honesty, quite shameful for a country which regularly trumpets its economic achievements. But more importantly, it says something about how we value those who have given practically their entire lives helping Singapore become this “world-class” city which the Government now boasts about.
While chatting with Mdm Soh, she was very anxious not to be seen talking to me too long. “I have to get back to work, or else my boss will be looking for me”, she would periodically say. I could not help but wonder: Are our elderly so frightened of not being able to find jobs that they would accept any jobs offered to them, even if they do not pay them fairly?
As former NTUC Income CEO Tan Kin Lian said here:
I believe that local workers deserve to have an adequate salary for a hard day’s work. This salary has to be commensurate with the cost of living. It should be adequate for a worker to feed a family, at least in a frugal way. The worker should not be expected to work for 12 hours a day, and still not earn enough for the family.
Indeed, our elderly who put in full-time work should not be struggling to keep up, or made to work for less than what would be minimum wage, all in the name of “globalisation” or “competition”.
Otherwise, ministers should be prepared for a severe backlash if and when they increase their own salaries later this year – the third time in two years – by millions of dollars again.
It seems that this “golden era” which MM Lee declared we are in is only for a select group – and we also wonder whose future it is that is “really shining”.
Read also:
Uniquely Singapore – F1 or F9: Income statistics?
Elderly toilet cleaners a sad reflection of society here.
————–
Below is a recent letter which my colleague Leong Sze Hian sent to the Straits Times. It was published in the ST on June 25:
Retraining low-wage workers: Let’s be realistic
I REFER to the article, ‘Contract workers: Caught in the pay squeeze’ (June 8).
The Building Custodian Job Re-design Programme, an initiative supported by the Workforce Development Agency and National Trades Union Congress, seeks to enhance the skills of cleaners to value-add in work such as changing light bulbs, clearing blockages and ‘custodial checking’, such as sighting and reporting defects, pests and killer litter.
This job of building custodians or multi-skilled cleaners comes with a $1,000 starting wage, compared to a cleaner’s $700 to $800.
As I understand most cleaners are elderly with low education, how realistic is it to expect them to undergo re-training to expand job duties and responsibilities?
How many companies have sent cleaners on this re-training programme?
How many of the 37,000 contract cleaners have so far been sent for re-training?
As most cleaners are employed by contractors which have to bid for contracts at the lowest competitive price, how likely is it that one paying the lowest wage of $700 will pay the $1,775 course fee and allow time off for the 112-hour course?
With regard to the advisory to all companies and contractors on responsible outsourcing practices issued by the Ministry of Manpower in March, I have come across an elderly road sweeper, an 84-year-old Singaporean man who works 55 hours a week for $650 a month, and an elderly woman who works 24 hours a week as a housekeeper at a community club for just $300 plus a month – no wage increment, bonus and so on.
Government agencies, statutory boards, government-linked companies and so on should take note of the very low wages of workers on their premises, and try to influence their outsourced contractors to pay decent wages.
For example, they could follow the example of the PAP town councils, which have recommended a $1,000 starting wage for full-time workers and $500 for part-time workers, in new cleaning contracts since April.
Although no minimum wage is imposed, cleaning companies are required under the new contracts to send their workers to the National Skills Recognition System Clean Residential Estates course.
—————
Bye, bye amanda!
We may not see your comments anymore, but for the collective good of the World, may we on top of good behaviours, do our best to contribute for the betterments of livings anywhere in the World.
Best Regards:
patriot.
Amanda says:
“Alright, I agree that the brick wall analogy was not that well chosen. But the main point of the analogy is to show you that parts and the whole are different.”
That parts and the whole can have different properties is not in dispute. Actually, you sparked off this exchange with your blatant use of the word “rather” in these two statements:
1. “Rather, it should put in broadly scope plans that seek to maximize the collective success of Singapore as a nation rather than of individual people.”
2. “The government should take care of the national interest rather than individual people.”
Firstly, I am not convinced that the “success” of a nation is a completely emergent property that is conceptually different from the “success” of individuals. It is not like “consciousness” which cannot be reduced to the component level. For example, the “wealth” of a nation is measured in the same dollars and cents as the “wealth” which is familiar to an individual.
Second, I am not convinced that success at the national level is divorced from the additive success of individual citizens. Oddly enough, you seem to be aware of this when you use the term “collective success”.
It is a fact of life that some people will benefit more and some benefit less from the growth of a nation. That is not in dispute.
The key issue of contention is whether the pronouncement of success at the national level is based on the modest success stories of many people, or the massive success of only a few people, while many others stagnate or suffer. I think that many contributors to this discussion do not consider the latter scenario as genuinely successful.
This is not a minor matter. Singaporeans from all walks of life are anxious about the implications of this bright future that we are being hurtled towards.
“Here is another example, this year the New York Giants won the American superbowl, the biggest achievement in American Football. That is success for the team.
On the other hand, if you were a an individual football player, presumably individual success might be the chance to earn more money or the chance to start every game. (correct me if instead players want to earn as little as possible and start as little as possible). So the coach, would have to make pragmatic decisions to increase the chances of the team winning. That is similar to the role of the government. If the coach thinks a player is making a mess, he should drop the player for the good of the team. That would not be very “successful” of the player. I hope this shows a greater distinction between “individual success” and the “team(national) interest”. ”
Yes, this is a better analogy.
However, notice that the success of the team is not divorced from the success of individual players – it is mutually interdependent.
Using your analogy, I’ll try to illustrate the concerns of many commenters in this post:
Imagine a coach of a certain city football team promising to the players that his leadership will help them win big time.
Due to the brilliant strategy of the coach, they initially achieve a winning streak which increases the profile and reputation of the team.
As a result, they face tougher and tougher competitors until they are poised to compete at the national level.
While the players have been performing well so far, the coach has much higher aspirations and pushes them harder and harder. The coach intends to train one of the top teams in the country.
The players don’t mind because they have individually gained much fame and wealth from the success of the team. Of course, the coach has also benefited greatly, in fact many coaches from other teams often come to him for advice.
Then, one day the coach decides to replace some of his players with star players from another city. At first this went unnoticed because the players who were swopped out were considered within the team to be poor performers anyway. In addition, the presence of the star players boosted the overall strength of the team.
Then gradually, as the competition became stiffer and the stakes raised higher, the coach became increasingly dissatisfied with the original players. More and more of them were replaced. The remaining players started to become concerned and approached the coach for clarifications.
They reminded the coach that his initial promise is to help the players win, and not to ditch them when they can no longer keep up with his rising expectations. The coach assured them that his obligation has always remained the same: to help players of his TEAM to win big time.
Star players may have come from another city, even a rival city, but they are 100% undisputed members of the TEAM.
There is no mistake.
When they protested that this approach will eventually compromise their position, the coach reminded them not to be so narrow-minded and take a broader view – after all the team was performing superbly and headed towards a bright future.
And since the team is a great success, the coach decided to reward himself and the best performing players with top dollar that is commensurate with national norms.
Players who are dissatisfied with this arrangement has two choices.
Those who feel qualified to teach a national-level coach how to coach a football team can always approach him directly with their suggestions.
Or they can leave the team. It is completely fair.
But yet the original players did not feel reassured by this.
Instead, they felt even more anxious and insecure.
And so, only one question remains for you, Amanda.
I assure you it is not a stupid question.
Perhaps you can never understand how it would feel like to be one of the original city players in the team, since you were one of those who left.
But if you had stayed behind, because you were not a “quitter” as the coach had labelled you, because you were doing your best, because you gave half a flying duck about what concerns your fellow players –
If you realize that YOU were going to be the next player to be switched out, would you greet this shining future with a smile?
Amanda
>>
To all other questioners demanding replies from me:
” Go ask your million dollar minister” – I’m not your million dollar minister.
>>
Eh? I thought you have all the answers when you criticized and chastised other commentators as “vague” and “having no plans”.
And by the way, is that suppose to be “stupid” answer to our “stupid” questions as well?
All said and done, PAP and their supporters have still not shown how PUBLIC funds have been used.
Where is the detailed statement, which shows the movement of all dollars of the public funds?
Coming up with charts is NOT eqivalent to giving a detailed report.
Since public funds are involved, we as citizens, have the RIGHT TO KNOW how every single dollar is spent and transacted – including the transfer of funds from the MAS to GIC and vice-versa – including where MAS got those funds from – taxes? Our CPF?
Government keeps saying our CPF is SAFE and untouched. Without transparency and disclosure of statements, HOW DO WE KNOW?
Remember – OTC tried to get those details (that’s his job, remember?), yet he was prevented from doing so by the government!
So why is our current president paid close to $4 million for? To act dignified and entertain foreign guests? What are his duties?
204) Lim Leng Hiong on June 30th, 2008 1.56 pm
Clap, clap, clap. Wow man, you have struck the nail.
Everyone player is replaceable except the coach. Every player is rewarded / compensated if it fits the plan of the coach who calls the shot. Once the utility units of the players have been expended and not too good for the next level of the game plan, they are thrown aside.
@Sgcynic,
I discuss this high pay topic ocassionally with my friends here and their kids during our weekend gathering. My friends too asked me the same question you posted here. One of their kids spontaneously came up with this brilliant answer. May be they are paid to count beans. You see, if you take their annual base and divide it over the population you get the following:
4/4.5=0.888 cents a piece
3.67/4.5=0.812 cents a piece
2.67/4.5=0.593 cents a piece
So it is actually hardwork to add up all these cents. Very tiring you know, so no time left.lor to do other things.
Don’t take it seriously.
Donny Woo says:
“Clap, clap, clap. Wow man, you have struck the nail.”
Thanks. It is almost trite to emphasize that a society will be evaluated by the way it treats its weakest and most disadvantaged.
People who are in the privileged positions of power should take note.
If you are not willing to budge an inch on our political freedom or freedom of expression, then so be it.
But please do not rub it in our faces by saying that Singaporeans don’t care about freedom, don’t care about rights, and only want economic growth.
If you are not willing to spend a second to reconsider the extent of our foreign talent policy, then so be it.
But please do not rub it in our faces by producing article after article after article in the mainstream media about how wise the policy is and how amazingly good the foreign workers are.
If you are not willing to spare a cent to help the poor elderly workers, then so be it.
But please don’t …DON’T… rub it in our faces by saying that they have the “dignity of employment”.
The anxiety about the future is shared by Singaporeans from all walks of life.
Nobody is immune. Nobody is indispensible. No matter how high you feel your position is, no matter how good you think you are, no matter how secure you think your job is, there will definitely be someone somewhere better, faster and cheaper than you.
Some flexibility in the policies will help ease the tension of the people.
Constantly testing their patience will not.
Dear Lim Leng Hiong;
give us more of your wisdoms.
We need more holistic guidances to progress wholesomely.
patriot.
Lim Leng Hiong,
well said !
“Nobody is immune. Nobody is indispensible. ”
Unfortunately there is a senile old fart who believe otherwise, and give empty inspiration and security to his coffers, pinkish clown son and the Holy Jinx.
The way LKY speak is pretty obvious, he is trembling with fear and uncertainty, he no longer inspire anyone in Singapore because the internet has exposed him to nothing but a cowardice. Can anyone not see his coffers pretend to be loyal to his party because of $$$$$$. He lack the security and believe that anyone not with him in ministry is against him. Therefore, we see all walks of PAP life giving bullshit and cowdung to the laymen. Utter nonsense for more than four decades when the ruling party perform their own check and balance, and manipulate the election. Freak government.
This LKY reminds me of Emperor Qin Shi Huang who will remove and destroy anyone that against him because he fear for his insecurity and legacy.
In a true democracy, these bunch of money grabbing so called leaders we have here would have been voted out. Look at Kevin Rudd. Australia’s leaders are so paid less than ours, But when he came to office, he immediately cut his ministers’ pay. Suprisingly, there is alway no shortage of people coming forward to stand for elections to serve the people. Ours have to be invited to tea and guaranteed of voted in (thru’ their wicked GRC scheme), as revealed by GCT.
How much more respect can the citizens accord them?
Hi Lim Leng Hiong,
Hope you will contribute your writing and thoughts to TOC, just like Ho Sze Hian, Tan Kin Lian and others. TOC could well be the best source of news platform that ones will not hear the truth from our main stream media.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/06.05/99-rowlingspeech.html
If the people who have the voice do not speak up for the poorer and disadvantaged in its society, the country would be nothing.
Run by the elites, for the elites.
I applaud the writers of TOC and bloggers who speak up and speak out. Amanda would much prefer that we all keep quiet and move on.
It happened! What to do?
Yes, CPF annuity happened, and many people will get caught that the CPF goalpost from 1960s will move and move and the minimum sum scheme has recently increased and all those at age 55 will not get to see the fruits of their savings and will not be able to spend it. How many people are fully aware of this?
For this, I am proud of Chee Soon Juan. and ashamed of Amanda and the likes of her.
the fact that while CPF was meantime to be a success, it has now become a national fact that it is broken and is a national joke. While GIC and Temasek get high returns, these were not ploughed back to its citizens as returns to their CPF – it was left in the National Reserves.
Now we are stuck with insufficient money for our retirement, because our govt has abuse us of our returns in GIC / Temasek. And to fix this national shame in CPF, the 80 PAP member have passed the CPF Life to hold on to our money further, and to hold on to our minimum sum scheme. In the meantime, recently the National Development Minister Mah has openly declared that HDB flats will continue to be subsidised from market rate, not from cost price. And this means lesser money in your retirement account to pay for these sky high public housing! I pity our kids in future.
This HDB subsidy thing is something his worthy opponent Chiam See Tong mentioned years ago – yes that chap with 5 o level passes, who soundly beat Mah Bow Tan in his hey days! Something which PAP have hidden for years in parliament….
To Patriot and Edn:
Glad that you like my writings, I prefer to write about science. I’ll comment at the TOC occasionally.
Lim Leng Hiong,
You have earned my respect.
It is very difficult to walk in Singapore. It is even tougher to breathe in Singapore. Sometime, I am even worried for the younger generations. The ever increasing prices of the necessities but the salary of the low skill workers have stagnant or even dipped worries me.
Many rich people failed to have any idea of how people tighten their belts to curb inflation. My dad does not earn much, hence, can consider myself in this group of people. Perhaps what make me looks better then others is to have access to internet.
Economic theory talks about constraints, trade off, opportunity cost and blablabla… Hence, with the extra entertainment, what I see on my dinning table would be mostly vegetables with few pieces of meat and a bowl of rice.
People like Amanda who fails to put herself into the Poor’s shoes is understandable however she has gone overboard. She fails to understand each individual has their own constraints and they are also fighting for a breathing space so please don’t penalize low skilled workers by suppressing their wage. To most economist, minimum wage is a bad idea as the trade off is the increase in unemployment rate. I believe the main point is to help these unfortunate ones. Everyone plays a part for the success of the county and shall not be forgotten when these people have retired. These retirees should be recognized and remunerates them reasonably well if they decided to continue to contribute to the economy as most of the time, good economy accompanies inflation.
204) Lim Leng Hiong on June 30th, 2008 1.56 pm
–>If you realize that YOU were going to be the next player to be switched out, would you greet this shining future with a smile?
I do not know what a football player would feel.
But if put in a workplace context, say, if I believe there is a good chance that I would be laid off by my firm, I would definitely be worried and start looking for alternatives (eg. to search for other jobs).
So the answer to your question is no, I would be worried.
to qualify the above answer,
but I would not blame the firm if they can find someone better than me, unless the decision to lay me off is a matter of favoritism or biasness.
204) Lim Leng Hiong on June 30th, 2008 1.56 pm
also, if I haven’t mentioned yet, I think your response was well written. It helps me sort of see things from your point of view.
204 Lim Heng Hiong
Now I could say that I appreciate the story of “The Emperor who had on clothes on”. By and large, our society’s values have been eroded through coveting more wealth and more economic growth. It undoubtly painted a picture of wrong placement of values in every aspect of our lives. Thank you for painting the picture so detailed and candidly. Indeed, our society needs more such “little boy” to reflect reality.
Amanda
>>
but I would not blame the firm if they can find someone better than me, unless the decision to lay me off is a matter of favoritism or biasness
>>
What about you being retrenched simply because of your age? Often times, it is not not even a case of competency. If the firm can hire someone younger, why not? Be in touch with the reality of ageism and its effects on older workers.
The ST today has reported the failure of the PAP again – to raise the living standards of the citizens – especially those in the bottom of the food chain – Cleaners / attendants etc.
That is why those who can speak out must speak out and remind the government of its promises.
Swiss standard of living – but we must ignore old 70 year old who work for the dignity of employment – what ? Say that again? I heard the Chee Siok Chin vs Davinder Singh and I almost threw up. (I would not put Lee Hsien Loong cos he was silent most of the time :)
“And all our leaders could tell us is for us to upgrade, upgrade! They are taking us, the Citizenry, as morons. They think we are blind to those professionals and managers getting displaced, replaced and retrenched, became jobless, went into taxi driving, security job that pay them peanuts. Why are these people suffering such fates? THE FAULTS LIE WITH NATIONAL POLICIES THAT HAVE BEEN AND BEING DISHED ONTO US, SHOVED ONTO US!
DOES ANYONE WANTS TO UPGRADE TO WHERE THE SAID PROFESSIONALS AND MANAGERS WERE AND SUFFERS THEIR FATES, AFTER SPENDING MONEY AND TIME AND NEGLECTING ONES’ FAMILY IN THE PURSUIT OF UPGRADING?”
May I add here that many job applicants are rejected because they are ‘over qualified’ and many that were retrenched were because their pays were much higher than the many new candidates, including foreigners available in the market who are able to replace them(current employees) at a much lower cost(salary).
This is a very vicious development, which of not arrested, could result in serious turmoil in time to come.
patriot.
Correction to ‘of not arrested’ to ‘if not arrested’.
My apology.
patriot.
Just thought i point this out.
“A country gets the Govt it deserves. ”
-Good Grief
And they probably deserve Mugabe. Good lord.
How apt.
Perhaps it will only take a reputable western reporter to shame the govt into action. How can we (even more so as Asians) allow our elderly citizens to work so hard for so little. Where is the compassion in our society? Our leaders are gourging themselves silly while our elderly are living from hand to mouth. I think elderly pension is the way to go. It’s not free lunch but one that shows who we are as a nation. A nation that truly cares for its unfortunate and less capable elder citizens. Of course there will not be any ROE on this, God Forbid! If the leaders don’t have the vision or can’t be bothered, let me put it in another way. How about treating it as a ROE that gives soft power and moral authority to a government that sends a clear signal that a nation that cares for its people is a nation that is worth belonging to. We desperately need to be closely bonded as a nation, lest we get torn apart by materialism and self-centeredness. For a govt that takes pride in taking the best practices from other developed nations, this is worth considering. In fact, as our nation rapidly ages in the not too distant future, we may not have a choice at all.
To Tiredman and Singaporespirit:
Thank you for your kind comments. I hope you found the illustration to be clear and accurately reflect ground sentiments.
To Amanda:
I’m that you can see our perspective. The anxiety is real and nobody wants to keep running in an accelerating treadmill, certainly not when people have reached their 60s and 70s.
Some professionals believe that they are immune. Managers believe that they are immune. Civil servants believe that they are immune.
Just keep your head down, keep quiet and follow instructions. Everything will be OK.
The reality is that nobody is immune, because nobody, not even the government, can predict the future.
If we don’t speak up for the elderly poor today, then one day when some of us end up as elderly poor, there will be no one left to speak for us.
Someone (laserpointer) finally fell for the flame bait which I provocatively included in my earlier post. Yes, a country gets the Govt it deserves. If good people do not rise up when they feel that something is wrong, regardless of the cost to themselves, then they really do deserve the Govt they have.
Aquino proved that. The people in the former Soviet Union also proved that if necessary, change can be brought about by the people.
If some of you think that our situation can by any stretch of the imagination be likened to Marcos/Aquino or pre-Gorbachev USSR, then… well, there’s always one in every crowd. I’m certain that the vast majority of Singaporeans do not think so.
So in the final analysis, yes, a country deserves its Govt if you pull-back and consider all the things that the country-folk can do to change its Govt. It runs the entire continuum — from providing feedback and participating in discussions, to offering oneself up for public office regardless of personal cost, to… well… to whatever it takes if the situation demands it.
All those that are saying that the Govt is somehow directly responsible for even white-collar jobs going to the foreigner are in essence pushing for a protectionist approach, which in today’s globalised economy, is really like spooning water out of the ocean with a leaky teaspoon. There are forces at work that are far greater than any one or several Govts. Thomas Friedman discussed it a lot in Lexus and the Olive Tree, and The World is Flat. These forces are (probably) unstoppable, and people need to adjust to change because change is the only constant.
Remember that other little bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese? In that book, the ones that thought that the mountain of cheese will always be there, and will always be sufficient, will ultimately find out that it is finite. The ones that wander further afield, looking for alternatives, and planning for tomorrow, will actually have a future.
Those lamenting their loss of jobs — do check (I’m not saying you haven’t) what WDA has to offer. There may be things there that would surprise you. Those lamenting others’ loss of jobs without assessing what options and backups (short of handouts) are in place, could do well to do some research *first*.
There. I’ve emerged from observing, largely because the flamebait I put in was finally taken.
Let’s be more realistic.
I have read many comments about how good our government was that turned an island from a fishing village to what it is today. I am grateful for that. However, that was a very long time ago. The ministers back then should be rewarded adequately for the progressed they had made. Most of the current ministers were not even born during that era. So not logical to use this arguement to justify their pay rise.
“Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has warned that Singapore could face another round of inflation if companies increase wages to help workers cope with the higher cost of living today. ” ~quoted from CNA
I would like him to explain which data did he gathered to make such a statement. From my observation, many families in singapore are barely struggling to survive because of the higher cost of living. Some of us dont even have savings. Every month income goes directly to paying for all the bills. I mean if the inflation was due to the purchases of luxury goods, his comments would be justified. Right now we are all facing core inflation on our daily necessities.
IMHO, i think the PAP had lost it’s plot and the trust of many singaporeans.
I am just dying for them to announce their 3rd pay hike for ministers.
I am just dying for them to do that.
I hope they will do that as soon as possible.
That will be the end of the PAP.
A bunch of highly-paid idiots. What have they done since winning the elections in 2006?
F1?
Casino?
Singapore Flyer?
Increase their own pay TWICE already?
Low Thia Khiang is right: Pay peanuts get monkeys.
Pay bananas STILL get monkeys!
Excuse me folks….
the gov’t is given the mandate to rule….
i don’t remember agreeing to the the gov’t using the monies tax direct / indirect for investing public funds….and the gov’t even if it uses these monies for investment, should they not check or re-vet with the mandate givers which in this case the citizens of singapore…
it seems the mandate given by the mandate givers [us] allow the gov’t to do as they please without even bothering to at least brief or justify their policies with the citizens of singapore.
We elected the bloody gov’t…and we have the goddam right as mandate givers to ask and question the gov’t…
to those in the forum who mention we are whiners or ask too much…please do kindly remember we voted [be it willingly or unwillingly] do have the right query, to question, to ask, to raise concern and to DEMAND as we gave them the mandate…even citizens who did not vote for the gov’t has the same rights to question and raise concerns and ask and demand from the gov’t too.
To those who says or said we are lucky, we are the best and we should know better….remember the citizens of singapore gave them the mandate…thus they have to answer and do well for the citizens of singapore.
To those who are not satisfied or feel let down by the gov’t and if able to cast your vote…
please do the right thing…not only for yourselves but also for your kids and future generation of kids…we should work with a gov’t that works with its citizens and both parties leverage on each other…when a gov’t does not do that for its citizens [majority 66% = mandate givers] and 30+% non-mandate citizen givers…then please.vote such a self serving and uncaring gov’t out.
Gov’t will think we are ungrateful and disloyal….but the gov’t must remember…how many citizens over the 44 years contributed to singapore well being…and how many citizens made sacrifices over the 44 years too to singapore…without the citizens in the first place who stay and fought it out…where will singapore and the gov’t be….
the gov’t has forgotten its citizens….and it is up to the citizens of singapore do decide for better and for worse.