SG Complains

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Does high pay always equal good govt?

Apr 13, 2007
The Straits Times

FOLLOWING the debates on ministerial pay, one gets the impression that, like the recent anti-smoking advertising campaign, the Government is using ‘scare tactics’ to justify the latest round of pay hikes.

While one cannot dispute the fact that Singapore has done well over the years and that our ministers have been very well paid, such an association does not imply a causal relationship.

The people have been warned about the number of bad governments there are in the world, but is there any concrete proof to demonstrate that high pay equals good government and, more importantly, that low pay equals bad government?

In addition, high pay cannot necessarily buy or guarantee integrity, as the National Kidney Foundation scandal and Enron case amply show.

Also, extrapolations from the business world have their limits. Much has been said about the fact that a CEO is constantly being scrutinised whereas a minister only has to stand for election once every five years. I would like to add that public accountability may be further diminished by the fact that some MPs get to ‘walk over’ into Parliament on the back of uncontested GRC wards, election after election.

It has also been argued that a competitive pay package is required to attract the right talent with the right ‘heart’. I note that the medical profession is not included in the six benchmark professions, yet every year there is no shortage of students applying for medical school. Surely this is an indication that there are many talented Singaporeans who are willing to forego better pay to serve society.

The last election gives me faith that there are many more public-spirited citizens from all professions and walks of life out there.

Lastly, I applaud the Prime Minister’s decision to freeze his pay for the next five years, and his pledge to donate any pay rise to charity. He is truly a man who leads by example, and I hope that the rest of the ministers and MPs, especially those who have voiced their concerns about the benchmark, will demonstrate their ‘heart’ and follow suit.

Siow Tian Rui

- The fire is starting to burn in Singaporean! The news will fan the flames of the spirit of kiasuism and let there be a race to the top of the top earners in the private sectors!!! ARHHHHHH Chiong Ahhhh….”breaking sound”

“wah lau eh…got retrench…sibei sian start all over again…yar liao loh!” (My God…got retrench…very irritated …must start all over again…win already loh!)

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Categories: Others
14 April 2007 at 17:36 - Comments
  • Jimmy
    Well, like they all say, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys ! If you pay bigger peanuts, you get bigger monkeys
  • Jimmy
    Senior execs’ pay in S’pore competitive
    Survey shows that wage packages are higher in S Korea and Hong Kong


    Apr 23, 2007
    AsiaOne

    Where multinational corporations (MNCs) source for talents and set up shop depends very much on how much senior executives earn in a country.

    According to a survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, while finance directors in Singapore are paid more than their counterparts in Japan (US$163,418), the pay here is still not too high compared to those in South Korea (US$212,542) and Hong Kong (US$220,775). Marketing and HR directors in Japan still earn more than in Singapore, however.



    Finance directors here – often the second highest-paid executives in a company – take home an average annual total cash package of US$176,982, while marketing and HR directors earn an average of US$155,250 and US$166,152 respectively.

    “Compensation has long been driven by such factors as history pay levels, size of economy and competition for talent,” says Steve Gross, global leader of broad-based rewards at Mercer.

    “As companies become more globally mobile and can shift some jobs to lower-cost locations, these new considerations will have a big impact on pay levels among countries.”

    The remuneration packages for finance, marketing and HR directors here far exceed those in China and India, the two rising Asian giants which are the main attractions for MNCs and investors currently.

    Mercer’s survey covered 2,300 companies in 50 countries, and it was found that while India had the lowest pay for those three positions, both in terms of base salaries and annual total cash, the US was the highest.

    http://news.asiaone.com.sg/a1news/20070423_story9_1.html
  • Jimmy
    Extraordinary govt, talent keep S’pore ahead, says MM

    Island will sink into nothingness if it lacks govt with capability, integrity

    By Peh Shing Huei
    Apr 23, 2007
    The Straits Times

    IF SINGAPORE gets a ‘dumb government’, the country is done for, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said at a dialogue.
    Bright people will leave, and with no natural resources to fall back on, the island will ‘sink into nothingness’, he said on Saturday.

    ‘The biggest mistake any Singaporean can make is to believe that Singapore is an ordinary country and can behave like an ordinary country like Malaysia, like Indonesia, like Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark,’ he said.


    That is why Singapore needed an extraordinary government, filled with top talent who will ensure the system remains efficient and the country prosperous.

    He was speaking to 400 Young People’s Action Party (YP) members at a dialogue at the St James Power Station as part of activities to mark the youth wing’s 21st anniversary. For more than two hours, he spoke and fielded questions on foreign talent, competition, censorship and values, among others.

    ‘If Singapore ever loses this kind of government of capability and integrity, of always looking into the future, planning ahead, it will just sink into nothingness and become an insignificant island,’ he said. ‘Talent will bleed out. It will never recover. Who will make it recover? Where are the resources?’

    Hence, he found the recent debate on ministerial pay increases ‘completely unreal’.

    While he understood the emotions associated with the increases – which raised ministers’ annual pay from $1.2 million to $1.6 million – he urged Singaporeans to think of the larger picture.

    ‘You want to quarrel about $20 million over a $4 trillion economy? I say, rubbish. Let’s say the PAP crashes tomorrow, right? One boatload sinks, 3,000 people dead. You have an election. You’re going to reproduce this government? No…

    ‘I see this place going on for another 50 years. No problem. But you need top grade government. Top grade in every profession, meritocracy in every field. Then you’ll succeed,’ he said.

    At stake was the future of a country which international scholars have described as being the ‘best example of government that works’, he said.

    He cited passages from books by Harvard Business School professor Richard Vietor and University College London’s Peter Hall which pointed to Singapore’s success and the leadership that made it possible.

    But he also emphasised a point made by Prof Vietor that despite Singapore’s sterling performance, its future remains uncertain.

    As the country moves forward, said Mr Lee, Singaporeans must ask themselves how they want it to proceed. He laid out two paths: a dynamic or a static one.

    The first would gear Singapore to be a dynamic international city with ‘high-end talent and migrants’.

    In the stagnant scenario, the economy would go into a tailspin, and the financial centre here would dive down.

    To be on the first, dynamic path, Singapore needs to continue to change and adapt, embrace globalisation, technology and take in the best talents.

    Major cities, he noted, were more successful if they were more cosmopolitan.

    He reminded his audience that his generation never considered Singapore as a possible nation. And as former communist leader Fang Chuang Pi – known as The Plen – told Mr Lee in 1995 when they met in Beijing, Singapore was a freak, and that a freak was often a genius.

    Still, the late Mr Fang said that geniuses ‘usually lived short lives’ and died young.

    Mr Lee told the YP, in his first dialogue with the youth wing, that Singapore has proved The Plen wrong for more than 40 years.

    But the country remains a little dot. And it is a dot in South-east Asia, unlike other small and prosperous countries such as Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, which are in peaceful Europe, he said.

    As Prof Vietor wrote, Singapore ‘has remained secure in South-east Asia, amid countries far larger, and somewhat less stable, than itself’.

    Mr Lee said that even Hong Kong, which is the most similar to Singapore, was more secure as it had the protection of China.

    But he is optimistic of Singapore’s immediate future.

    ‘We’ve done it for 40 plus years. There’s no reason why we cannot do it for the next 10 years, no troubles. The economy is going to do well. We’ve got all the framework for it,’ he said, pointing to the free trade pacts signed with major economic powers like the United States and Japan.

    ‘How is that done? The quality of the government, the quality of the society, the institutions we have created that produces this flow of educated and talented people.

    http://news.asiaone.com.sg/st/st_20070423_113313.html