“There is one good point about paying our ministers obscene salaries. This will make them so expensive that foreign countries would not try and poach them.” An Anonymous Wag
~by: Dr Wong Wee Nam~
“When I undertake to do something, I do not expect anything in return. I am doing it for the sake of my country.” So he said on national television. This sounds very much like an inspiring political utterance made by a selfless politician but, unfortunately, it is not. The words actually came from the mouth of the late Mr. Choo Seng Quee, Singapore’s legendary football coach of the 60s and 70s.
Who is Choo Seng Quee? Those of us who are in our fifties and above would probably know something about him. It is unlikely that people below the age of 50 would have heard about him.
Uncle Choo, as he was affectionately known, was an extraordinary coach. He was intelligent (few from Raffles Institution in those days would want to be a football coach – pay being a key factor), a charismatic leader, a strict disciplinarian, a slave-driver, a good mentor to his charges and a great tactician. Most of all, he was a patriot who believed that when you wear the national colours you are fighting for the glory of your country. Which was why, at his training sessions, he made all his footballers to start the day at 5 am by singing the national anthem.
Many years ago, my friend Quah Kim Song, an outstanding footballer groomed by Uncle Choo since the age of ten, related to me an incident that I had not forgotten to this day.
Song said that at one training session when they had just started to sing the national anthem, the rain suddenly fell. Everyone started to run back to the dormitory for shelter. When they had shaken the water off their body, it was then that they realised Uncle Choo was not with them. On looking out onto the field, they saw the old man, standing motionless in front of the flag-post, with the incessant rain pelting down on him. All the players were so ashamed that they went back to the field.
If the recent debate on the report of the committee to review minister’ salaries is anything to go by, it would appear that people who are willing to do something for the sake of the country without being offered a substantial quantum of return hardly exist nowadays.
After seven months of deliberation, Mr. Gerard Ee, chairman of the above committee came up with this startling statement: “We have to do a kinesthetic check, touch our feelings and say, $1.1 million, too low, too high, how do we feel. I immediately think of some of my friends that (might be) potentially considered. Would they say outright, “Don’t kid me, $1.1 million, don’t come and kachau me.” But I hope we are right that $1.1 million is enough not to deter talented people.”
His views were supported by Grace Fu who wrote on the Facebook that it may not be “wise to call for the tradeoffs to be tilted further to an extent that it dissuades good people from coming forward in future”.
It would appear that in the committee’s deliberations, one of the important factors has been on how much to pay the ministers well so that people would not be deterred from taking on the job.
Have we come to this pathetic state? Is there such a paucity of people with a sense of mission in politics that we need to scrape the bottom of the barrel with the dollar sign to entice people to come forward? From the large number of people offering themselves to opposition parties in the last general election, where financial gain for them is less likely than financial liabilities, this cannot be so.
A good political leader should be one with a strong moral conviction to do what he believes in without regard for his life, liberty or monetary reward. If a person is deterred to serve his country and his people because the money is not right, how can such a person be a good political leader?
People who do not recognise their special obligation and duty to society, which has invested so much in them and helped them attain a high status and position and need to be enticed by humongous salaries to serve are really no extraordinary people and could be dispense with.
We should not gloss such people with labels like “talented people” and “good people” when the word “mercenary” would be a more appropriate term. It would really be a service to the country to deter such people from political office. We would be much better out off without leaders who are more interested in their pay cheques than in serving the country.
In May 2011, when the committee was formed, Mr. Gerrard Ee said “PM has said in his speech that salaries must reflect the values and ethos of public service. That means that whatever we work out, the final answer must include a substantial discount on comparable salaries in the private sector and people looking at it will say, ‘these people are serving and making a sacrifice’.”
Unfortunately, the report has not achieved that objective stated. When I look at the report, juxtaposed with Mr. Ee’s comments, I asked myself, “Why are we trying to accommodate the mercenary-minded people? By factoring them into the consideration, are we not devaluing the values and ethos of public service?”
Furthermore, because the recommended pay for ministers is still too high (it is merely reduced to the 2007 level), the report fail to make a lot of people looking at it to say, ‘these people are serving and making a sacrifice’. A hairdresser told me, “I read the newspapers and aiyoh, the ministers are paid so much. Aiyoh, really so much!”
It certainly would not convince this lady and many others as well that people earning that kind of money are making a great sacrifice. This despite the spicing of many of the news reports with words like “fair”, “reasonable”, “sacrifice”, “cuts”, “earn less” etc.
Another recommendation of the review committee that I fail to understand is the need for a National Bonus to supplement the ministers’ income. When a politician fights an election, it is a tacit understanding that if elected he will serve them to the best of his ability and with the dedication that is required of his office. Isn’t it a given that it is his job to grow the citizen’s median income of the citizens, including the bottom 20%, and cut the unemployment rate of citizens and grow the GDP? Why then is there the need to give added incentives to do all these things when these are exactly what he is elected to do and entrusted by the people to do it well? Running a country comes with the good years and the bad years. What do we do with the bad years? Dock his pay?
When we get a contractor to renovate our house, we don’t give him added incentives and performance bonuses to do his job properly. We engage him because we trust him to do his job properly. In fact, we will deduct the final bill if we are not satisfied with his job. If we are happy with his job, we will give him a future contract. Similarly, a politician’s reward is to be re-elected.
It is really sad that our mindset of how we should pay political leaders has not changed. We are always looking at using financial incentives to induce potential leaders to come forward to serve in public office when true leaders with a passion to serve would not need such incentives. By doing so, we have actually transformed the office of political leadership from a noble calling into a highly paid bureaucratic job. In time, it will inevitably erode the respect which our people have of our political leaders.
This, indeed, would be a gross injustice to the dedication and commitment of people who truly want to serve without regard for the returns but purely for the sake of the country.
It has been said that we may get monkeys when we pay peanuts, However when we appeal to a person’s love for money rather than his sense of mission, we may also end up attracting those greedy characters camouflaging themselves with sheep’s clothing’s.
Singapore needs leaders who are not only visionary, upright and capable. They should also have the wisdom and compassion coupled with an acute sense of social responsibility. Those who think that the money is not good enough or that the money is finally good enough for you to serve, please stay away and carry on with your own business. The country can do without you.
The review committee could have done better.
–
picture credit: style mesti ada
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@ Have Eyes Will See
I BEG TO DISAGREE AND WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOUR TUNNEL VISION IS MYOPIC BLINDED BY DOGMATISM I STRONGLY SUSPECT.
Prove me wrong if you will.
“Singapore is reputed worldwise as the least corrupt nation. We fix where it needs to be fixed almost instantly. We are even going to be the region’s arbitration hub. Speaks volumes.”
You made no distinction between corruption and corrupt conduct. If you really knows law and its application in democracies like Australia and New Zealand, they made a DISTINCTION between that. In Singapore, we may not see overt corruption but plenty of ‘LEGALISED CORRUPT CONDUCT” – GRC, electoral boundaries shifts, ministerial benchmarking to top private sector earnings( Gerald Ee’s committee admitted to its inequitable flaws) etc. etc. I can go on the list if I want.
Being the regional arbitration centre “speaks volume” about our law?
That is a DEAD GIVEAWAY of your dogmatism. Ask you a simple question, can I?
Please check law database websites any where in the Commonwealth countries, show me which one has legal cases quoting Singapore’s judgment to be the basis of their common law applications – if you understand what “common law” is? To make life easy of search, I will supply you one with tens of thousands of legal cases, which quotes legal common law doctrines EVERYWHERE ELSE where you got one maybe only in 10,000 legal judgment quoting Singapore’s case law precedents. Here it is
http://www.austlii.edu.au/
AFTER DOING YOUR DUE DILIGENCE OF HOME WORK, YOU CAN THEN PROUDLY SHOW US THE TRUTH OR UTTER NONSENSE OF YOUR STRANGE ASSERTION BELOW IN QUOTE OF YOUR LAST COMMENT IN YOUR POST.
“Because our laws are superior to elsewhere and they know it!”
Yes, it SPEAKS VOLUME not about law BUT YOUR DOGMATIC ASSERTIONS AND SUBSEQUENT MISINFORMED CONCLUSION!
@oxygen
I think it is the result of years of brainwashing and conditioning lah. Cannot blame people, blame the….
The education does not seem to open minds to different possibilities, complexities and alternatives that can be and should be explored. Everything Sg seem so stifled with only one way of thinking, the PAP way.
@ Angelina
Asian and in Singapore’s education’s robotic learning along with extreme political oppression are big issues hindering our development and survival sustainability.
It also takes an exploratory mind as well. The “natural” order of specie survival in nature is they breed and even trees grow silent.
Restraint of growth, some trees die prematurely after you strangle their nutritious food from the ground AND in the case of human species the “BRAIN FOOD SUPPLY” while the rest of trees in the world OUTSIDE SINGAPORE survives on, grow silently.
This country has now been reduced literally reduced to a dumb concrete jungle of sterile minds, eat-and-sh*t (and eat more and sh*t more with bigger pay checks) and waiting for terminal death with a more elaborate funeral.
IT IS TRAGIC BUT TRUE.
i cannot agree more with what the author stated in his article…
@oxygen
dear oxygen,
being in business for almost 40 years myself, and having gone through the ups and downs, i can identify and i fully support your detail and systematic clarification in support of your views using business roi analogy etc.
most of the pappies mps and ministers could not even survive a year in the real business world if they ever turned entrepreneur, without relying on the network of support from their own cronies.
@oxygen
1)lern to know that loan from bank is legal and loan from “loan Shark” is iglegal! u know why ?
2)Can this above concept apply on ” Corruption” ? HOW WE DEFINE ” CORRUPTION?”
@ wikigam
YOU READ MY POST ON ‘CAPITAL AVAILABILITY”, so borrowing from loansharks escalate your risks survival on the downside exponentially.
As for corruption definiton, I suggest you read case laws found in
http://www.austlii.edu.au/
Too big for me to handle here and I will be busy for the next few days to digest all together. Sorry about this.
@ sal
I like the business world too – even though sometimes the losses can be excruciating. The andrelin flows to work your mind harder and harder in crisis situations. You woke up every morning, staring at the room ceiling asking – where is my $1 breakfast coming from? Otherwise where is the excitement of challenge?
Those who have NEVER endure near death failures in business DON’T COMPREHEND THE JOY AND TOUGHNESS OF FINDING SUCCESS.
They think money scammed is more joyous than money risked and hard fought for and the enduring sacrifice of all other needs.
Business is either you love it or not or remain on someone’s employ – life long dependency.
Even a lot of CEO’s won’t dare venture out in the jungle world on their own CAPITAL AND RISKS.
THAT IS TELLING.
Grace Fu for PM. Then her husband can be CEO of Temasek…….that way her family don’t have to suffer too much financially.
@oxygen,
I think you are barking up the wrong tree here if you feel that SG law system doesn’t get cited/referenced anywhere. FYI, I did simple search and I found dozen court cases that actually do reference Singapore law research, court deliberations & judgements.
Though I don’t disagree in general with assessment why Singapore’s education system produces dearth of risk takers and unorthodox thinkers. Risk taking and being unorthodox is very very bad.
dont attack ltk, who know about election results? u mean he dont have to continue with his business to put his children tru school ah?
yah that’s the problem, the opp mps never decided their own allowance, did they? incidental that their allowance became this amount?
on the other side, the ministers decided themselves to be paid many multiples more which we singaporeans want to see reversed, as soon as possible!!!!!!!!!
@Oxygen
‘Even a lot of CEO’s won’t dare venture out in the jungle world on their own CAPITAL AND RISKS.’
very true. once they’re on their own, it’s a very different ball game altogether.
EPHolder10 January 2012
@oxygen,
I think you are barking up the wrong tree here if you feel that SG law system doesn’t get cited/referenced anywhere. FYI, I did simple search and I found dozen court cases that actually do reference Singapore law research, court deliberations & judgements.
………….
you meant berlinda ang and the chief justic did a proper job maintainnin a justice system in singapoor?
than the lady who hold the weight scale is indeed BLIND….
Tllierian10 January 2012
Grace Fu for PM. Then her husband can be CEO of Temasek…….that way her family don’t have to suffer too much financially.
…………..
and her kindergarden daughter can be the CEO of kandang kebrau hospital
please don’t laugh or sneer hor…
the x-lta minister undergrad daughter get a FOOL salary while undergoin attachment with a usa financial firm….
Today’s blogTV’s feedback on ministerial pays echo more views that the revised pays though a step in the right direction are nevertheless way too high. It will be a shame if PM Lee proceeds with getting S$2.2 millions for himself and S$1.1 mil for his ministers.
Can the Papies point one Minister who was drawing more salary in the Private Sector and LHL had to provide him with a MAKE-UP PAY.
Now MSM is on full swing to justify and rationalise the eel’s committee findings.
The terms like CLEAN WAGES, VALUE OF PUBLIC SERVICE IS INCALCULABLE are being spewed out to convince the Singaporeans.
Even after receiving Clean wages without perks when the Papigs Ministers go overseas on official trips who foots the bill on transport, accommodation and food. So it is not that clean afterall.
PAPIGS have long been writing their own checks.
It is a case of democracy being manipulated to serve the interests of the party in power. The trick is quite simple. If he says repeatedly and long enough that higher pay will attract better people to serve the country even if his comparison is fishy, he only need to use the press to support his view and his majority of MPs to vote the same way, people will at the end have no choice but to let him have his way. Look at how privatizations and GRC are passed. They happened in the same way. Majority controls the decisions even if decisions are wrong aimed at serving the ruling party’s own purpose. The devil also knows the scripture. Who can do it better than LKY ?
Eugene
I have given a feedback to Gerald Ee’s committee. So he must have seen it as a courtesy to give me a reply to the effect that my views have been fully considered by the committee.
I replied to him asking for (1) a list showing ministers’ before/after salaries prior to appointment as ministers.
(2) A list of salaries of ex-ministers after they left service to join private sector.
He obviously cannot reply to these two points to validate LKY’s repeated assumption that the pegging of ministerial salaries to the private sector’s top earners indeed has attracted top talent to join the government.
No one in their right mind will buy the concept that the way to solve corruption is through high pay. What do you call this:-
There was a case long ago as I was told, that a property developer gave huge discounts to the senior Lee when he purchased 2 properties. Lee then clarified in the Straits Times (front page) that it was a normal business transaction where the seller wanted to give a discount, nothing abnormal about that and thats that, case closed.
More recently, we had the President Tony Tan saying that “he does not intervene” in the SAF’s decision with regards his son’s case – even when it happened under his watch. With NS, it is easy to be discovered as thousands of NS men knew about it. Might there be other similar “does not intervene” cases like monetary allowances, expenses paid whatever? If yes, the President can always say it is up to the SAF to give his son, nothing to do with him again.
In dealing with corrption, surely the CPIB should be working harder or expanding if corruption is rife. Also another benefit of democracy is everyone watches over you and everyone is allowed to expose you! In a democracy the media play a key role in watching over the Govt too and exposing them. Of course there has to be a judiciary we can trust too so that the media are not silenced that way.
When a Govt rejects democracy, it is clear that it is up to monkey business. The talent & corruption argument in the pay structure are all excuses but I must say totally lousy excuses that are so very unconvincing.
When money is the definitive factor to serve, the country is down the drain.
Pay enough, you get good workers. Reward sufficiently, initiative is/are exercised. Pay luxuriously, you get people guarding their position/job more than doing their job!
When remunerating, the HR always look at the industry norm or fairly similar type of profession.
Why is public office compared to private sector pay?
There are 193 members/countries in the United Nations.Isn’t this good basis for comparison?
The answer is clear in a culture of peanuts we are trying to pea minds with great pretensions.
In history, offering a higher pay has never been a solution to deter corruption. Higher material rewards will only breed greed.
It is a simple basic logic any man on the street can understand.
Give in to the man and he will ask for more. Stop giving in to his demands and punish him for his wrongdoings and he will learn not err again.
Today’s ST said that the PM has discretion to pay new Ministers 90% of the difference between his previous private sector pay and the Ministerial pay. Can you believe it??
And the Review Committee on Ministerial Salaries recommended that this discretion be kept, but be limited to 1 term, rather than the current 2 terms….!
http://iamsg.blogspot.com/2012/01/have-you-ever-heard-of-make-up-pay-for.html
Theoretically, being led by selfless and able leaders who are not motivated by personal gain is preferred.
But look around you. How many selfless and able Mahatma Gandhi types do you see around you? How big is this pool of people? Do I hear – small? Do we then hope and pray one of them will lead and save everyone? Is this realistic?
The consumerism we see around us is endemic and is fuelled by the media. In all likelihood, it is here to stay. And the selection of leaders (public and private) needs to take this into account.
@Rodolfo
You are swinging from one extreme to the other just like those who view Communism as the answer if Capitalism is under attack. I know it is the digital age but the real world is not made of 1′s & 0′s. It is about getting a happy medium.
Of course appropriate reward should match the job. At the moment it is excessive even after the cut and as the writer of the article pointed out, will lead to getting “greedy characters camouflaging themselves with sheep’s clothing’s.” There is such a thing as ‘too much’ or do you disagree?
Steve Jobs is no doubt a talent, same as the Scientists behind inventions, brain surgeons or physicists at CERN. If we do have them in Sg, it would be utterly silly to attract them to become politicians.
Take Steve Jobs, he seemed happiest doing what he was doing, he was doing what he was good at. If he became a politician because the money was too good, he would have wasted much of his time and talent doing something he had less passion for. Besides, we would not have many of his wonderful inventions to today.
It would be such a waste of their talents to contribute in their fields. Different people have different callings, talents and passion. You may want a talented politician, but you definitely do not want any kind of talents just because they are talents.
Rodolfo, 10 January 2012
S’pore does not need a big pool of selfless leaders. when you idealise Mahatma Gandhi, are you not realistic yourself? neither should S’pore put utterly selfish people in leadership position to appease their worldly desires. that would be too dangerous wouldn’t it?
consumerism may well be fuelled by the media, but which media is strictly controlled? consumerism contributes to GDP does it? i am sure even in the most trying times, economic optimism will be inflated to make people spend, despite earning less. in the last economic downturn, there were adverts on “positive thinking”, “living within one’s means” & “being frugal”. maybe with the ministerial salary reduced, maybe they should heed their own call to do likewise?
such salaries can still afford them restaurents & foodcourts, not just coffeeshops. they can still afford a very comfortable life, they have little creature comforts beyond their needs.
consumerism is all around us, so is corruption. so you are trying to say that our political leaders are so easily tempted?
@Angelina
Good point. A talented doctor high pay = geat politician ?
The many years of $ needed to get good minister has brainwashed many.
If a company is badly managed, easy solution is to use $ to get talent.
It is a difficult task to find a politically acceptable solution.
The strange thing is when we compare the market value of our ministers globally they are over paid.
When we compare the average singaporean pay to the US, UK, we are underpaid.
First thing I would look at is, what position or positions the members of the review committee hold. The next is, what is and was their remuneration for the past and present times. This definitely has an implications or influence on how they come up with the recommendation.
PROBLEM:
mere mortals have an Employer phsically visible and concretely visible to them and dictates how much they be paid.
The people on paper employs gov. But this Entity is not concrete nor visible as an entity.
Effectively n practically , the power that be can increase their salaries as proven to be the case. This despite massive critical mass DisApproval, aka 40%.
I hope my point has gone thru to you.
SOLUTION :
A Stronger more Effective Opposition to perform this Role for the people or should i say the 40%.
The obstacle 60% true blue citizens.
Why true blue? Majority is what defines what sporens are.
Regards
Lampard Pard Lam
3 days 3 nights also cannot finish talking one lah…
There is no medicine on earth to cure greed.
And greed is like cancer-spreading cells that will reach stage 4.
@Oxygen
I admit that certain things Singapore does very well. That is why it is a financial and logistic hub, next to the best. Thus it is also the regional arbitration centre. But if you have a case against someone who has connections to the political elite, you are doomed. The same machinery that made it an arbitration hub is turned against you. I have personal experience of this. A law firm who has close connections with the ruling party set the ISD on me and my family, checking and harassing us at all border checkpoints aimlessly for two years until I challenged them at the Causeway stopping traffic into Johore for 20 minutes. If you read the reports of Chee Soon Juan’s case in Court you will see how the judges will stoop low down at the behest of their masters. There are countless instances of the abuse of power, conflict of interest wrought by the Regime and its lackeys.
Thus there is a mixture of excellence and rogue behaviour. I have a distinct feeling that the thuggishness is increasing as the salaries of the officeholders increase. Today the smell of arrogance and opulence is strong around the ruling elite. I have no solution to this, but advise courage when dealing with the powerful in Singapore.
Even the judge has pronounced Anwar not guilty in Malaysia. Our judges must also release themselves from fear. Perhaps we can still regain the excellence that was ours a mere 20 years ago before the wild escalation of ministerial salaries and the havoc it wrecked on the psychic of the abusing official and the abused. Nowadays whenever the official speaks he seems as if from another planet. Great wealth and power has cut off his appreciation of simple human feelings of his subjects.
@son of singapore
don’t be too quick to jump to the side of the malaysia judges yet. elections are coming, this could be one way to reduce opposition votes in malaysia
@whole wide world
I read that the sodomized young man got his anal matter analysed only two days after the supposed sodomy.Why the delay?
The judge acted as a judge should when he questioned this very fact of delay and the fact that the DNA was so degraded that it could not be read.Whatever is the political fallout is extraneous to his judgment.This is how judges should behave if they are in fact in the business of judging and not in the business to pander to the requirements of others.
Just to focus on your statement, I do not see how freeing Anwar brings down opposition votes. With Anwar leading the opposition in person it most likely have the opposite effect on the voting.
So it is better for everyone if judges stick to judging by the lights of their knowledge of the law perhaps also tinged with mercy and justice.
Rodolfo10 January 2012
But look around you. How many selfless and able Mahatma Gandhi types do you see around you? How big is this pool of people? Do I hear – small? Do we then hope and pray one of them will lead and save everyone? Is this realistic?
…………
if matamagandhi xsist together with nelson mandala who cut his overpaid presidente salary after servin more than 27 ears in prison…
singapoor ministers cannot be liked them?
is drgohkengswee amon the greedy ministers? yes or no will do…
~PERIOD~
A post on this issue: \http://mentalclarity.blogspot.com/
I totally agree with the author. Uncle Choo is the True Singaporean. Many feel that LKY is the true Singaporean. The PAP has conducted a fantastic scheme that has “brainwashed” the majority of Singaporeans. Slowly (sometimes too slowly) the young are beginning to see the rut they are in. Something will happen in the future where people like Uncle will recieve the honour and recognition they deserve and the “money minded” self serving politicians are the thing of the past. I may not live long enough to see this but this will and must happen.
Some say money is the root to all evil,
I say those holding high post with “no reconition” is the best virtue on Earth?
I find the argument specious that the country must be prepared to pay huge sums to officeholders so as to keep them honest and not dip into the state fund. This argument originated from LKY, who of all people must know that his grip on his colleagues is so frightening that one of them from his cabinet has committed suicide and another from NTUC has fled the country. Paying people millions just so they don’t steal millions is such a strange argument, reflecting both on the author as indulgent and on the receivers as in a fragile state of incipient criminality.
Whatever it is we the citizenry, long suffering taxpayers, have to support such flippant logic while among us, there are those frail men and women picking cardboards and selling tissue papers for a living. I note that the cost price of a packet of three tissues is 30 cents,and they sell it for one dollar. I so not know what the dirty cardboards will fetch for the hopeful souls. Can LKY please reflect on this, he with his brilliant mind and equally brilliant think-tanks from the school he established.
LOOKED SIR / MADAM , TOC , world , VOTERS , PEOPLE , MEDIA ETC … the RP chief before was seemed for eg only leave singapore to uk because it seemed for eg only because his father was lated JBJ . A lot of negative comment toward him , or some even said for eg only he was 1-man show in the RP . Hey sir / madam … do now already existed proof stated that 10 corrupted police who took bribe from the internet boss which strait time and chinese shin ming reported before . And total breakdown of the MRT SYSTEM , THE NETS SYSTEM ETC (( for eg only )) in singapore , before . ((**)) MR LATED JBJ , OR THE RP CHIEF OR THE WHOLE RP CANNOT AGREE , CANNOT JUSTIFY , CANNOT KEEP QUIET FOR SURE … BECAUSE THE PUBLIC SERVANT , PAP MP , MINISTER EVEN PM ETC SALARY .. THING ALL CAME FROM PEOPLE PAYING TAX/ES MONEY INCLUDE FOREIGNER . THE RP CHIEF AND MR TAN JEE SAY WERE INDEED VERY UPRIGHT CONCERN , MORAL CONSCIENCE UPRIGHT TO FEARLESS SPEAK-UP.. WHEN TIME ARISES BEFORE . ((**)) RESULTED MR TAN JEE SAY SAID BEFORE 500,000 MONEY IF HE FOR EG ONLY BECOME PRESIDENT . ((**)) WAKE-UP THIS WAS WHAT MR LATED JBJ ALWAY SAID BEFORE .
“Fair” is only meaningful to the one who think it is Fair.A good politician might not be a good CEO if given the job and a good CEO might not make a good politician.What are the basis of these benchmark? Only if we can get the person with the right motivation for the task to produce the optimal result.The world greatest companies founders are not motivated by money if not they would not be giving back to society more billions than SG top 10 billionaire combine
Every business owner or CEO has to deal with competition and his enterprise may fail to be profitable and will cease to be. The PAP ministers have no competition but will receive his millions for decades once he is put in place. Moreover he is guarded by State Institutions including the judiciary and the secret police so that he will never be pushed out of his post by any external force.
I suggest that if the PAP minister thinks that he is deprived of CEO pay, he should become a real CEO or business owner himself. No one ask him to stay on. Singapore cannot afford to pay people CEO pay while they take no risk as in a business. Running a country is not the same as running a business. This is the age old wisdom of nations the world over, It is only the genius of LKY who made running a country the route to enormous wealth without the enormous risk hanging overhead.
Do you see any country paying its office holders millions?
Yes, I do. These are countries who usurp the country’s assets by force as in Suharto’s Indonesia and several Arab countries whose leaders are toppled one after another, even as I write. The PAP mercifully has not gone that route, but the heavy burden of sustaining them is getting into the nerves of the citizenry, only now articulated because of the magic of the Internet.
I would like to say to the PAP and any political party, even the WP, that the formula to pay millions to officeholders is just daylight robbery on a hapless populace and will not be sustainable. I think this salary issue will be the downfall of the PAP as ruling party.
Why some people asking for pay like they are the best on the planet?
@Unhappy Patient
“How much are doctors like Dr Wong Wee Nam paid? With healthcare costs going up, why don’t doctors accept lower pay?”
“Aren’t doctors supposed to be serving society? Why is it that even a junior specialist earns more than 80% of Singaporeans? How can doctors be in touch with the ground with such salaries?”
____
Where have you been? Your masters wanted it this way.
It is no coincidence that many countries are sacking their rulers at the same time today. Even as I write, there is civil unrest in many nations in the Arab world agitating to get rid of their overlords. Some Arab nations have already gotten rid of their bloodsucking, aging dictators, namely Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. But many more are trying to do so. Why so many nations are doing this at almost the same time?
It is the ease of communication brought about by the Internet. The uprisings in Egypt, which started it all, are famously coordinated by an Egyptian Google employee.The Internet bypassed the traditional media which as usual in these countries are heavily controlled.
But the coincidence which strikes me deeply is the one happening right here in Singapore. For the first time, in the year 2011 we found that we have no need to read the Straits Times for the news or watch ChannelNewsAsia. Coincidentally or not, it was in 2011 that an opposition party, the WP captured 6 seats in Aljunied. Coincidences mount up. The citizenry became aware and troubled by officeholders paying themselves millions of dollars, to the extent that the Singapore PM earns 6 times what Obama earns. Even wet behind the ears PAP parliamentarians earn twice the Obama wage. The clamour on the Internet forced the PM to commission a ministerial salaries review panel.
The PM was coincidentally also heard to promise the citizenry CHANGE, mimicking Obama I presume. Whether things will change is left to be seen but now half a year later nothing has changed. The mindbending salaries would be cut on the recommendation of the Review Committee but still remain mindblowing million dollar payouts. The favorite economic tool of importing shiploads of foreign workers and making one million of them citizens within 5 years seems set to continue. The secret political police, the ISD, is still in place. Not a single thing has been changed by the PAP.
But looking at the coincidences created by the Internet, I anticipate that the CHANGE will be forced on the PAP, sooner or later. CHANGE is the Spirit of the Age of the Internet.
Some of the PAP cadre has been spouting the phrase ‘new normal’ to show that the change is already conferred upon the citizenry. I find it ironical and deeply disturbing that an inspiring, life giving, hopeful phrase which came out of the Arab uprisings against their aging and corrupt rulers has been hijacked by the PAP to celebrate the utterly changeless nature of the PAP hegemony.
We have been winkhooded by the formula..
It is all one sided
They can gain back easily by bonus and increment and promotion… There need to be some limits.. And caps…
if so many arms of the government are privatised, it means the government has lesser responsibility and work?
If a person has lesser a lesser responsibilities and portfolio to take of, do the company continue to pay him more, increase his pay or pay him lesser?
Is this the reason why they have more time to think of a formula to smoke the people and at the same time increase their pay?
hmm…………………
So should the pay for NS servicemen be increase since they shoulder the “BIGGEST” responsibilities of protecting the country? Can Mr Ee please kindly perform another round of review and peg the servciemen to the top 20 countries since we enjoyed stability for the past 40 years?