I read the news report about the basic salaries of the different levels of political office, from ministers to parliament secretaries. They are quite modest and acceptable to me, and perhaps to most Singaporeans.
It is the high rate of bonus that brings the salaries to a high level. This bonus is supposed to be "pay for performance". I do not like this concept. At a senior level, office holders (in the public or private sectors) should not be motivated by greed. They should do their best out of honour and the privilege to serve the people.
When this principle is realized, we will have a better society, which can give a better life for all. When political leaders are motivated by greed or personal wealth, we have a bad society. There is still time to change for the better. Remove the performance based bonus!
It is the high rate of bonus that brings the salaries to a high level. This bonus is supposed to be "pay for performance". I do not like this concept. At a senior level, office holders (in the public or private sectors) should not be motivated by greed. They should do their best out of honour and the privilege to serve the people.
When this principle is realized, we will have a better society, which can give a better life for all. When political leaders are motivated by greed or personal wealth, we have a bad society. There is still time to change for the better. Remove the performance based bonus!
SG already reached the crossroads, politicians must have strong sense of history to lead the country, rather than to further hurt the GENKI of the city-state. My opinion is the this 3-day parliamentary debate on political salaries is not just ae matter of policy, it has far-reached impact on the value systems which hold the country together during tough times, especially SG no longer achieve high growth rate anymore.
ReplyDeleteSo "in realty", money still matters to entice people to enter public service in the PAP fold - the younger ones still have families and young children to take care of, the older ones could make tons of money in the private sector, and the PM has to make up for the opportunity costs the latter suffers, so have to compensate them with high pay.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Opposition MPs still have to disagree with the Pay Review so as to have something to show for during the Parliamentary Debate, otherwise would lose face on TV.
How endearing arrogance could be on National TV.
This skeptic is not entirely convinced, sorry Mr.PM. Not all Ministers and MPs make the talent list, many are only piggy riders.
I like this part by Mr Chen SM : political service should be “primarily a privilege, not a burden or sacrifice”.
ReplyDeleteS$1 to 2 million per year is more than sufficient for any Singaporean live with very luxury life style. If PAP ministers are so greedy over money, then they should not join politics in the first place. Anyway with the new salary structure, many ordinary citizens (tax payers) still cannot accept it. Good for oppositions to conquer few more GRCs in GE2016.
ReplyDeleteMoney is not everything but everything is MONEY! face it, in the end, debate is a waste of my time. The government has already made up their mind long before the debate started. It's just like the good old days. Maybe this exercise is to find out those MPs who fought for the govt no matter come what may. They will be short listed as minister potential. One success story is monster bent who did nothing for 10,000 retail investors and was fast track to where he is now. This was my lesson to realized pap made lots of motherhood statements and assume many things but hong kongers showed me that high, high salary doesn't mean fair. It still boils down to self interest. Just pay them what they want! All talk is just a show.
ReplyDeleteIf we can agree that the core role of government is to raise the livelihoods of the people, then the ministerial pay should be pegged to the median income so that it will rise and fall in tandem with the median income.
ReplyDeleteIt should be about 15 to 25 times the median income (those who demand more than 25 times are not suitable to be a minister). This would be about $720,000 to $1.2 million annually. It is simple, easy to understand and transparent.
The new ministers’ pay of $1.1 million to $1.76 million (grade MR4 to MR1) is about 23 to 37 times the median income and is too high. It is about 53% higher if we compare the entry pay of $720,000 and $1.1million (1,100,000/720,000 = 152.8%).
I agree with Mr Tan KL!
ReplyDeleteBut what can we citizens do now even if we strongly resent to the PM and ministers grossly paying themselves OBSCENELY HIGH salaries and BONUSES...
We need more than just the few WP MPs and NCMPs... We need more SDPs and NSPs and RPs into the Parliament to speak out against such shameless practices and policies which are grossly against the interests of the ordinary citizens!!
I am sure these non-PAPs will be able to prove that we dont need to pay obscene pay packages to get them to work for us in policy-making, etc.
Hard to accept that it is difficult for ordinary citizens to just get the 13th month bonus + one month AVC bonus. But for Ministers, the 13th month + 1~1.5 AVC bonus is a given and there are 2 mores sets of bonus in the BM. Each set the average bonus is 3 + 3 months...up to a max of 6 + 6 months in an exceptionally good year. So it is hard to convince the ordinary citizens to accept this.
ReplyDeleteImagine Ministers then asking citizens to forgo their bonus (1 + 1) months bonus when economy is bad and even to accept CPF cuts. I could not agree with such double standards.
As usual, Parliament today is no different from after 1994 where all proposals of Ministers' Salary went through smoothly regardless of Opposition concerns. As usual, PAP MPs conintue to hammer WP MPs for their opinions and views. Of course, this is made easier with 300 administrative staff from Ministries. I am not so concern what is happening in there because the non-PAP voters have already won and made our point of view known i.e. Wake up the PAP with MORE Opposition with Quality. To have a independent Ministers' Salary Committee & finally reduce their salary by using a more realistic benchmark is a success. IMAGINE May GE returned PAP with same or 0 opposition. The Govt will use this as a Mandate and push for another increase. With no creditable check, PAP will continue to be ignorance....Good Job WP.
ReplyDeleteThe scarcity of top talent venturing into politics might be due to reservations about joining an omnipotent group wielding unlimited power such as under the ISA, or simply a fear of colliding with this force.
ReplyDeleteAs a citizen thinking aloud, I write this with some trepidation.
Performance bonus is still needed. It needs to be peg to align with the interest of the common man on the street & not some top 1000 earners.
ReplyDeleteThey always complain about how hard it is to find good people to join pay&pay. Issue is rather not a question of finding good people for pay&pay, its one of why good people WILL NOT JOIN pay&pay.
They ought to ask the question "What is it about our org, that DOES NOT & CANNOT SEEM TO ATTRACT QUALITY PEOPLE?". How come throw so much $$ & yet scrapping the bottom of the barrel in finding their 'so-called talents'?
The Million Dollar Iron Rice Bowl
ReplyDelete1) During Recession, we need the Govt
2) During Good time, we need the Govt to think ahead
3) For problem cannot be solve, push it to committees e.g. taxi problems is PTC problem.
4) For Low birthrate, blame it on global trend and ask Citizens to help while standard of living continue to be high.
5) For Flood, first cool off complaints by educating citizen it's once every 50 years. Then rotate minister. Then change the word Flood to Ponding. Then ask new committee for Flood control master plan.
6) Need money then get it from motor drivers, raise ERP, reduce number of COEs.
7) Still not enough, build Casino. Pass the gambling problems to other self-help committee.
8) Still not enough, raise GST.
9) SMRT stoppages. Sack CEO and setup new committee. Not LTA problem or increase of population.
10) Everytime a recession happens, blame it on external factors. Not Govt fault.
11) If excellent economy, give hugh bonus to Ministers they have done a great job getting foreigners to take over local jobs.
12) Slow economy? Increase foreign workers. Local PMET not important as they have CPF or can work as security guards for Condominiums.
See, as a jobless man, I can also do what the minister does. Just direct problems depending how skillful is your taichi skill. If crisis, CEO resign but if you are a Minister, then due to shortage of LOCAL TALENT, you are forgiven and continue to enjoy good salary because you are needed no matter what the economic situation. This is the Ministers IRON RICE BOWL.
Mr. Tan, I totally agree with you that the bonuses should be scraped except for the 13th month in line with the civil servants. The govt can give hefty bonuses to compensate for the so called pay reduction to their own MPs. So, what is the real reduction in Pay?
ReplyDelete