“I want to clarify that the mayors do not decide on the salaries, the increments, the bonuses of all our staff at the CDC.
“The mayors are political appointment holders. We chair the CDC to spearhead the CDC, to build a social safety net and help the people. That is our job. If you ask me, I do not know the salaries; I do not know the bonuses of all my staff.”
Dr Teo Ho Pin, Northwest CDC’s mayor , on rumours that two staff from the Northwest Community Development Council (CDC) received bonuses of eight months last year, including the 13th month bonus.
MP Dr Teo Ho Pin is from Holland-Bukit Panjang and hence North-West CDC, and hence the place where the 2 staff are paid 8 months bonus. You call this good performance??!!!
This story was printed from TODAYonline
Dr Teo says ‘be thankful’
Some residents upset;MP points out how funds have grown
Wednesday November 19, 2008
Ong Dai Lin
dailin@mediacorp.com.sg
AS RESIDENTS of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council reacted to the news on Monday that their constituency’s funds were exposed to Lehman-linked structured products, its chairmanDr Teo Ho Pin had this message for them: Be thankful that the funds have grown under the Town Council’s watch.
Told of the rumblings on the ground about the high-risk investment, Dr Teo said the potential$8-million loss should be viewed in the context of the $24 million in investments generated over the past six years. If the Town Council had invested all its funds in low-risk investments, it would have earned only $5 million, he said.
“They (residents) should thank the Town Council for working hard to come up with a diversified portfolio to generate income so that residents do not have to fork out more money.”
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/287994.asp
Peter, please do not post entire news articles in the comments section. You can post an excerpt and a link to the article. Tks. – Moderator.
This sounds like AIG to me. They are all the same…. lies lies and more lies…..
What can I say??? What can we say????
We so need VANDETTA…..
Where you are Vandetta…WHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think there is any economic situation would merit an 8-month bonus payout to what the private sector would call a cost-centre…If they had belong to a revenue-generating department, perhaps there’s some justifications. Even then, 8 months would have been excessive, 8 months is like Lehman Brothers during their glory days….I sincerely doubt CDC earns THAT MUCH money….
Haiyah…. in the heydays of the investment banks. Front liners can paid in excess of 1 year’s bonus. Even those in support function can get 4 to 6 months bonuses.
But then again, 8 months is quite a lot and could cause quite a stir especially in times of economic difficulties. Personally, I know of quite a few pple in the civil service that are still enjoying life big time in the midst of all these problems.
102) Moral Dog on March 17th, 2009 11.20 pm
This sounds like AIG to me. They are all the same…. lies lies and more lies…..
What happened here is worst than AIG, at least now OBAMA is going very hard to recover the $millions back. Here? hahaha. . . . . you can’t even touch them not even when they still continue to pay themselves $million salaries. . . . .continue digging and more of such issues would surface in those non-transparency corps.
So did you get the message? Join the civil service and you get a cushy life recession or not, good pay, great bonus, iron rice bowl and
recreation clubhouse for enjoyment! I hope the government will
seriously reflect upon and exercise restraint over their rewards system,
otherwise it would incur the wrath of the people.
I hope this episode do not cause a division among Singaporeans,
ordinary citizens working in private sector/ unemployed citizens and
civil servants.
There is obviously something very wrong here.
yet we have no system to deal with it. The mainstream media doesn’t seem interested, and there’s no way the ordinary citizen can make the CDC’s more transparent.
Despite calls for CDC to reveal its payroll structure and calculations (like what other civil service departmetns have), these ppl just keep queit. They obviously have something to hide. So what can we do the learn the truth?
Let’s face it. The CDC case is just the tip of the iceberg. Many staff numbers of ministries, statutory boards, uniformed bodies and other government bodies have been enjoying high bonuses for years, recession or not. Singaporeans have been naive to underestimate the number of such people. If the government is transparent enough to release figures to show the range of bonuses civil servants in various departments/ministries have been receiving, and the the number of civil servants receiving such bonuses, I am sure Singapore will be astounded. We dont need names of civil servants receiving such bonuses; we just need the number for each range of bonuses received.
No wonder GST cannot go down, despite us facing the worst financial crisis.
Bus fares only go down by a pathetic two cents despite oil prices down significantly. Taxis fares still refuse to come down. What is the PTC
doing? Are their pay and bonus structure similar to that of the CDC?
Why don’t our President say something? I adore President Obama
who can speak against injustice felt by the common people in the
AIG bonus saga.
Ai..sign, why are things like these down here?
No wonder some singaporeans chose to migrate.
Singaporeans need to be aware of what is happening to our own country and speak up against injustice felt.
As Singaporeans, we have the right to know how tax payers’ money are
being used. What percentage is given back to the people in
the form of education, health care, social subsidies, etc. and
what percentage is used for goverment fees, i.e. to pay the salaries
and bonus of civil servants? We want transparency and accountability.
Singaporeans want accountability and transparency.
As citizens, we pay taxes so we have the right to know how
taxpayers’ money are being used.
What percentage and how much is given back to the people in the
form of subsidies in education, healthcare, etc. yearly.
What percentage and how much is used for government fees,
i.e. to pay the salaries and bonus of civil servants, ministers, etc. yearly.
Then everyone can have a clearer picture of how the country is
being run.
By the way, I just heard that HDB is also paying huge bonuses this Mar, ostensibly based on Singapore’s last year’s economic performance. Many senior staff members are getting 6 or more months of performance bonus. This is of course in addition to the 3 months that all civil servants receive. Anyone knows about other ministries, statutory board and government departments ?
Life is not so simple that migration can solve ……
Basically it seems to be the perception of priviged class versus underdog citizens…is it really ? do not yet!
Well perhaps every dod will have its day after long waits…perhaps never
So why not join the privilged class if you can – do so quickly as the smarter Malaysians are filing and filling up all the outside quotas…. start by joining a sports association
8 months’ bonus is ridiculously high considering the recession and the service standards of Community Development Council.
Last March, I went to the Northwest CDC to seek help in job seeking.
After waiting for an hour, I was told to come back the next day because the career counsellors were “fully booked” for that afternoon.
CDC should have a digital system to tell people the expected waiting time or engage more counsellors.
Surely bonus must be pegged to service and performance.
Our government sectors seem to be doing very well with big bonuses despite losses in overseas and recession. Wonder why there is a need for our government to dig into the reserve in the first place with so many surplus on hand.
People, i said already, the ministry spend within their budget, no fault on their side.
The fault lies with the one who ‘design’ the budget from the drawing block. The one sitting in the office and pluck the figures from the records & reports, doesn’t know what the hell is going on within each ministry or its sub-units. Dont even bother whether the taxpayers monies are spent wisely, except ‘spend within what you are given’. And always work on theories but never hands on or walk the ground, always follow the policies of their predecessor not realising the changes on the ground and the feelings of heartlanders.
I call them theory-king scholars. So i really doubt if these scholars could really survive the private sectors if they are thrown there in the first place, before entering the public sector and became protected species.
By the way, some species are born protected.
Guys!
News articles on North West CDC 8 months bonus disappeared from Mainstream Media?
HOW COME ???
So,they want TO HIDE THE TRUTH??!! &&%%()(#%$^&(#!*
Mayor’s comments may sound evasive on the verge of defensive.
Minister’s later comments even though he has no portfolio make sense – these are most probably front line staff on their own doing long hours of “thankless work ” to try to help citizens within the ambit of the CDC. They are most probably very good workers and must be rewarded to persuade them to stay. Good front line staffers are really hard to find. Do not begrudge them as their basic salary even though may be competitive is very structured and do not come with massive perks, and their jobs do not open them to big opportunities or future.
It is perhaps timely that the minister take a good look at himself and the entire political machinery from president , ministers , parliamentary secretaries, mayors, etc, appointments who could also have thousands working for them in the workload system.
It had been said that the massive salary for politicians is to bring in the best – is it really so ? has it happened ? look at the massive jump in salary of a common working man when he crosses over to be a PAP politician . One cannot be far out to say that it is easier money paid compared to the CDC front line staff.
If there is no attrition – there will be many political overstayers and if the hire and fire policy is not there to ensure that the PAP politicians are really Division one materials. On performance, one could perhaps conclude that the learning process seems to be a long one and perhaps lifelong.
This is the real sore point for voters in the coming GE, and unless the PAP addresses the selection, pay and tenure issues – it is going into a hard landing for them.
PAP – please feel the ground and be courageous to act. You have done well for almost 40 years ; please do not let the last few years continue to be your spoiler……..
Citizens are not born yesterday and there is a limit that FTs including Malaysians can come in to counterbalance the ground swell…….
Thank you.
My company turned from loss to profit last year. But still AWS cut by 1/2 month. sigh….
HDB also giving huge bonus? 6 months’ performance bonus on top of 2-3 months for senior staffs? Wow, that’s too much! That shows we need more leaders with qualities like ex-NTUC income CEO Mr Tan, who can speak up and stand up for the common people when things are not right.
Why do we need so many MPs who don’t walk the ground and are so well paid that they don’t even bother to speak up for the people?
Righteous,
In reality MPs represent PAP, not the people.
Through my encounter with government agencies all these years with regards to jobs, I find their efficiency has been lousy, especially in helping people find good jobs. Most of the jobs don’t come with good pay. And they still have the cheek to pay themselves the so-called perfornance bonus for finding lousy jobs that pay peanuts!
They launched a women-back-to-work scheme in october last year with a big hoo-hah, a big and enthusiastic advertisement enticing housewives to go back to the workforce with jobs in various sectors. But when I called up, it was a big let down, they don’t sound so enthusiatic and on hand they only have very few and mostly low level jobs. In the end I gave up on them and do the job seach on my own.
When they have a compliance officer conversion programme which
promises job placement and 90% subsidy from MAS as indicated in the WDA website. I was a bit happy at first, but when I called the training institute (ICA) to enquire, I was shocked to learn that you need to pay the fees 100% upfront which
can amount to a few thousand dollars,sit and pass the papers every term before you can proceed to apply for the subsidy. And when I asked the ICA whether
they is job placement before or upon completion of course, they said no
and they only act as a referral.
Luckily I checked it out myself with ICA, otherwise I may have assumed
wrongly that there is indeed job placement after program completion.
I urged the PMETs to think carefully and practically before committing their
time and money to the training. They are very costly and I wonder
why the 90% subsidy is not given upfront to help PMETs lessen their
financial burden at a time like this.
This SIN will only get worse as time goes. So, instead of cracking ones’ head to suggest and hope for better days ahead which will never be realised, why not find out more about other countries and seek for a better living elsewhere. Try to get to know the many foreigners here, find out more about their countries, see if they can show us around their countries and whether one can adapt and settle there.
Born Singaporean for six decades, my observations all these years consistently showed that the Leaders lead, demand, enforce and ensure that the people follow, take their orders and never to interfere with their powers and authorities. The Leaders never yield to counter suggestions nor accept any meddlings from their subjects, nor matter how benign or constructive your ideas are.
If you cannot beat them, join them, join civil service so you can too get fat bonus.
8 months’ not a lot. I even heard of 11 months bonus for director position. Even a fresh scholar who knows nothing beside writting good essay is also getting at least 4 months bonus.
Our scholarship system is getting fundamentally wrong. These scholars are articulate, smart, and capable, but they are so lost touch with the ground that drives them to make stupid policy. One example is that LTA decided that taxi cannot stopped at roadside. Heard that policy was drafted by a scholar and approved by his scholar-boss.
The whole point of having a political appointment holder in government is that they would intervene with the civil service to ensure the policies coming out would reflect sentiments on the grounds. Instead, we have a civil service that calls the shot and the political appointment holders are refraining from any intervention.
“Our scholarship system is getting fundamentally wrong. These scholars are articulate, smart, and capable, but they are so lost touch with the ground that drives them to make stupid policy.”
Everyone knows (scholars will even describe it with flowery mastery) that you need to take a plane by air / ship by sea to a far away country, but how many of us really know how to make a plane or a ship.
At least justice was to be looked forward to as AIG is to cough out the millions in bonuses. What about this? Where even the press hesitates to report it…. sad… pathetic….
In Singapore, everything seems fine on the surface, and people are too pre-occupied with their lives to bother. Everyone takes heart that Singapore is
not a poor state but yet we don’t really enjoy the fruits of success, being
a Singapore born citizen.
Sweden, a highly developed and successful country,
has many social policies that truly takes care of the people.
The country’s productivity is very high and their government
don’t demand for high salaries.
Here, we live more stressful lives, take on more jobs and hours
to make ends meet, pay more indirect taxes, i.e. GST on even basic necessities, like water and electrical bills, medical fees which is ridiculous, you need to pay taxes when you fall sick. Talk about the Water Conservation Taxes, why should we be paying this tax when we had already pay for the water we used and the
the added New Water should have brought the cost of water down.
Here we have Workfare, which is insufficient, there are not even enough
jobs for everyone.
I felt our leaders don’t care if we live or die, as we can easily be replaced
by foreigners. If they let the vast number of workers in from China,
India, then of course our workers won’t be able to compete.
Our lives will be very difficult.
I knew someone working for a Sweden MNC here and at best
time of economy, they only get 3 months’ bonus, including AWS.
All levels of staffs, including Senior Managers to low level staffs
get the same bonus.
So again, what could justify the civil service to pay out such fat bonus, 8 months?
Talk about HDB, if they have so much money and can afford to give their staffs fat bonus, then we should not be made to pay for lift upgrading, which is due
to the own poor foresight in not recognising that people do age
and flats should have lifts that stop at every level.
We should also not be made to pay hefty levies when we
change flats. All these policies are simply not social friendly
and gracious for a mature society.
Things are getting too costly in Singapore, rentals are so high so defnitely the cost of goods remain high. Take for example, I was told by a Singaporean who is based in Australia and back for a short visit that some of the branded toys are actually cheaper in Australia as compared to Singapore. A friend from Romania
told me that things are very expensive in Singapore as compared to England which they have lived before they settle here due to a job opportunity.
Take for example, Zoo admission tickets. They are so expensive, $18 per adult
and $9 per child. So an outing of family of three would easily cost $45.
And as Singaporean, we have to pay the same rate as tourists
which I don’t feel right at all. They should give concession to Singaporeans to encourage them to visit the local attractions with their familiies as often as possible.
Other attractions like the Jurong BirdPark,
Cable Car are also too highly priced that most middle income families
won’t be able to bring children there as often as they wish.
Last year the STB even give 50% to tourists to attract them here,
how come as Singaporeans, we don’t enjoy any concession?
Salaries are declining but cost of living remains high,
How can the people not be depressed?
There are already so many people down with
stress, anxiety and depression.
Can the PM truly understand why people are depressed?
Singaporeans are not stupid, they can be trained and take on new jobs.
But before they can do so, they don’t have the means to pay for the high course
fees of the training courses, as most middle-aged people already have family committments. And even if they are able to pay, there is no guarantee they can switch jobs easily. And the influx of skilled and semi-skilled foreign workers
only make things worse.
Now Dr. Teo Ho Pin is also known as Dr. I Don’t Know!
I am a resident of Bukit Panjang and I can’t believe that Dr. Teo did not know that his 2 staff were give 8 months bonus.
My questions are, who judged these 2 staff’s performance? What so “exceptional” about their performance? Did they help Singapore to come out of recession? Did they help to create jobs for the unemployed and retrenched workers?
We are definitely NOT on the same boat that Dr. Teo and Lim Boon Heng are sailing. It is more like they are taking aeroplane and ordinary Singapore are struggling to keep their noses above the water level.
Many of you critics can talk. How many of you are willing to walk the talk? I am not for or against the Government but what IS important is, what we have is what we choose to have. If you study hard, do well, you’ll get a good job and you will be happy. If you don’t study hard, don’t blame the world. Blame yourselves for the lack of forward thinking or the ones mentoring you when you were younger.
It may sound cool to blast our Government, but have you really given a thought about what you have now, or are you just complacent. Please. Travel the world, live abroad for awhile if you can. Watch more documentaries, if you soften up your hearts. Singapore and the way it is run, isn’t that bad. Face it, if someone is getting 8 mths bonus, though many of you will say ” It’s Our Money”, that person gets 8 mths bonus. You can’t do anything about it. You don’t run NWCDC. They don’t owe you an explanation either.
If one thinks they can run Singapore better, please step up and run for opposition and do your part instead of hiding behind the console and writing these things to gain popularity or for whatever insidious reasons.
There are reasons why so many foreigners living here like the system here. They may have better health benefits back home, better retirement plans or even housing plans. BUT at what expense? Do think about it.
- Benedict Koh
* I do not work for the CDC
* I am not in the Government
* I am not rich
* I am not highly educated
* However I work hard and I am very comfortable with my flat and my career.