Political/Societal Issue

Put ministers' pay in perspective: MM





News Articles

Put ministers’ pay in perspective: MM 5/4/2007
http://news.asiaone.com.sg/st/st_20070405_107489.html

Be mindful of the affective gap: Catherine Lim 5/4/2007
http://news.asiaone.com.sg/st/st_20070405_107506.html

Singapore ministers set for million-dollar pay hike: Reuters 5/4/2007
http://news.asiaone.com/a1news/20070405_story12_1.html


'Your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries', said MM Lee on 5th April 2007, in full support of Singaporean ministers’ proposed pay-hike. In recent weeks, much controversy has loomed over our nation, much of an opposing viewpoint between two camps of our citizens. One of which believes in pulling our ever-widening income gap closer, while the other in favour of paying ‘able generals’ their rightful salaries to do a good job in leading Singapore.

In my opinion, the significance of this issue lies in the irony of the term ‘public service’. Our ministers are redeeming pays described as ‘obscene’ by some, evident in the fact that PM Lee’s salary is 3 times that of US President George Bush, and 4 times that of Japan PM Shinzo Abe. Yet, as correctly pointed out by freelance writer Catherine Lim, public service should be less a salaried job and more a vocation, with all that this implies of selflessness and sacrifice on the part of the leaders, and trust, respect and regard on the part of the people. Material comfort should never be primary to our leaders, as the ultimate reward for a politician would be a place in our nation’s history that he has done well for Singapore in his political career. At this time that our income disparity is at pole ends, our Cabinet has indeed hit hard on our Heart Landers’ wounded emotions.

In the eyes of the commoners, the local government might have gone too far as they are bringing home a total wage bill of $46 million annually, despite MM Lee having pointed out the fact that this only accounts for 0.022% of Singapore’s total economic output of $210 billion. Yet, we must understand that $46 million is what many of us would not earn in a lifetime, and this sum of money constitutes from tax that such commoners pay from their hard-earned incomes monthly. The public’s blunt comments about the ministers’ pay-rise must be taken into consideration as well, as they are the driving force that carries out the government’s strategy to take Singapore a step higher.











On the contrary, the government has its logic and reasons for the increase in wages. At this point, I would like to point out a few biases and prejudices that Singaporeans have against our republic’s leaders. People tend to undervalue team performance and the difficulty of our ministers’ knowledge work. Moreover, they tend to attribute our nation’s success to the conjuncture of world, regional and local events as compared to the concerted efforts of our government leaders.

Thus, in order to attract the brightest talents to serve in the civil service and to prevent corruption in our public sector, I agree that this substantial amount of money channeled into our ministers’ wages must be spent to keep our country going on well in today’s context of universal competition.