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with reference to the bill that will no doubt 100% be passed by parliament this coming monday... (well, they ARE approving their OWN pay rise)
its laughable enough that we have a prime minister who refuses to step down and contiues to draw a salary higher than the current prime minister who is "running the show", To have that person come out and complain that his 2.6 million dollar paycheck needs to be raised to prevent brain drain, sounds like a line out of the comics section that isn't meant to be on the front page of a "world class" newspaper.
well, if you didn't know: the president of the united states draws 300-400 THOUSAND. and the prime minister of new zealand draws roughly the same figure. converted to SGD thats roughly 500-600K. but i don't see any one of them being bought over by an annual pay topping 1.2million to run some private company.
A)Its really sad that the people who are supposed to GOVERN our little island see us as fools. To base public sector pay on private sector pay is nonsense.
Firstly, companies are there to MAKE MONEY, that is their main objective - profits. The Public sector is known as the civil service for a reason- to SERVE the CIVILians. if you attract people with money, wouldn't those people you attracted be more obliged to serve their 1.2million dollars than the 4 million people?
Secondly, to base the pay of 100-200 people on a paltry 40 TOP EARNERS,is senseless. if they were comparing 1:1, the median pay would be lowered by a large margin- there is only 1 TT durai in every NKF. They have NOT given reason as to why this comparison is used.
Thirdly, the reasons stated: " to attract people with the skills and passion and deter corruption" are fundementally wrong. MONEY is the root of corruption;who's to say you're not feeding the start of an insatiable hunger? The real reason why singaporeans are not entering politics is not because of the pay. If it were,i think no one would want to be prime minister of new-zealand.
4. If they based top civil servant's pay on the private sector, then other aspects such as perks(civil service clubs, extra subsidised fees at govt hospitals etc) and pension should be removed too. People in the private sector have no such thing as pension, club membership or hospital benefits. If the remuneration is that high, there should be no issue with them financing their own fees. Besides, if they fail to plan their own finances, how capable are they?
5. Imagine if america used the same benchmark. bill gates and steve jobs would raise the median to 200 million easily.
B)MM's comments on our ladies becoming maids and taking ministerial pay "in perspective" with the GDP of the country.
Does he really think we're that stupid? did the ministers make ALL THAT MONEY?
GDP is based on
Consumer spending( which is paltry in singapore, relatively),
Government spending(fiscal spending, which singapore is NOT very famous for) ,
Investments(foreign direct investment)
Exports minus imports (trade balance)
any economist can tell you the trade balance makes up the most of our economic GDP. that astronomical 200++billion figure. GDP IS NO DIRECT MEASURE OF GOVT INCOME OR PERFORMANCE.
Maids? does he think singaporeans are dumbfucks who can't study? So how does paying them another half a million more prevent us from deteriorating to that state? its not too long ago that gambling was banned here, and now the govt is pushing for at least 2 to be built.
C)the media supporting the govt's every whim , is beginning to be irritating why does the 9 million dollar pay of a 70-80 year old banker have to be put on the front page one day after the MM's scare tactics? Its not as if it concerns us. If it did, the new york herald would be putting Mr gate's wealth on the front page every day. IT totally puts things out of perspective.
think abou this:
D) successful bankers and businessmen work their butts off, over a span of more than forty years. to get that much pay. FORTY YEARS. the lucky ones like Mr gates, take 20-30. while the rest, work their hearts out, only to die without even SMELLING a million bucks in their entire lifetime. Politics in singapore is such: join the PAP with the right credentials and maybe with 5 years worth of groundwork, at the next GE, maybe you'll get elected in a "walkover" constituency and get 1million in pay the next year. do the right things to keep yourself in that seat- you're elected for another 5 years and BAM, THERE YOU GO: more than 8 years service, half your salary in PENSION after you retire. so a young guy in his late thirties can be a millionair in 5 years, and be a multi-millionair in 10 and can upkeep his millionair lifestyle with the 600k pension yearly after he retires before 50. and they're complaining of brain drain.i say fuck you, tell us what % of govt income every year is used for ministerial pay!!!!
btw, if you fail to get the picture with all the big numbers flying about:
10 000 a month( maybe run of the mill lawyers and doctors?)= 120k a year.
30 000 a month(maybe board directors of small companies, regional managers)=360k a year
100 000 a month=1.2 million a year= 3k a day
216 666 a month=2.6 million a year= 7k a day.
just think, would you sacrifice your month's pay(3k), every DAY, to prevent corruption in the 4th least corrupt country in the world? FOURTH least corrupt. the fact that the high pay is not deterring corruption 100% should already be an indication that its not working. BTW, as mentioned earlier, NZ's prime minister gets about SGD 500k+ a year,but NZ is tops the list of least corrupt in the WORLD. If they are WEAK and IRRESPONSIBLE enough to be bought out by some private company, then i say let them go! Before they sell US out.
E) Them using money as an incentive is very poor for a government known for planning and foresight. You cannot use money as an incentive in a service based job. If you do, there will be no end to the rise as you will keep seeing your service as more valuable and irreplacable. I'd rather they use the money to restructure the civil service to make it more efficient than to use it for their personal gain. If this goes through, its going to be a huge drain on resources. As it is, we have to keep upping the taxes, but the people on the ground aren't getting pay increases. Instead of serving the people, they seem to be serving themselves first. But my point is, the money could be better used than funneled into the pockets of "the elite" in singapore. If you read the republic II, you'd know that people of the past expected such leaders to live amongst the people and share their woe with just enough to tide by. With such high salaries, singapore has been very kind to ministers already - I doubt there is a single minister living in a standard HDB flat at all. This pay rise will just furthur the divide between the people and THEM
they(sg govt) says: More money can buy passion and snuff out corruption!
collective sayings from generations past:
1)money is the root of all evil
2)you can't love to order
just. THINK.
