Of Remembering How Decisions are Made

As the dust settles on the Ministers' pay hike issues and the gesture by PM and some MP(s) to donate their increment.. what now?

My question is, the next time your constituency gets to vote for a political party to represent you, would you remember this? Would the same cross be placed in the same box?

Let's be realistic here, the PAP will not get out of power, at least not when the GRC exist and not in the next election that must happen by 2012 if i'm correct..

It is important to note that despite the debate and public outcry about the pay rise, the benchmarking of minister salaries, the GDP bonus, there had be NO DIFFERENCE to the announced decision.. NO CHANGE

In today's parliament, we have some members speaking out against the pay hike:

NMP Siew Kum Hong:

..The benchmarking system puts that at risk. When we focus on salaries to the exclusion of the moral imperative and considerations of public duty and service, we endanger the moral authority of the government to lead..

..Ministers benefit from this economic growth through the GDP bonuses, even as many Singaporeans do not. There seems to be a certain degree of inequity here...

..If we have reached the stage where money is necessary to draw able Singaporeans into public office, then I think we might as well pack up now, because we would have failed


NCMP Slyvia Lim:
..the debate arouses a feeling of deja vu, harking back to the other transparent debate about whether to have casinos in Singapore. The revision was presented in Parliament in a form of Ministerial statement under Standing Order 44 where no vote will be taken. Not one thing said by any MP will change the decision of the government...

..Ministers are currently drawing $1.2m a year which divided by 12 is about $100,000 per month. How does it compare with the average person?..

..If we are seriously unable to interest good people into public office, we must ask why other countries can do it and we cannot. Is it just money, or the fact that we have not invested in creating a culture of high public-spiritedness?..

..As such, I cannot agree with the Members who see political office as yet another career choice. It must be more than a job, and the holder must be able to think of others besides himself..


Hougang MP, Mr Low Thia Khiang

..the public, like me, was not and is not convinced that the salary benchmark is fair and just! I see no point in wasting public resources debating on this salary issue every few years if the sole purpose of having this supposedly "debate" is just to pacify the people that the government has given it fair thought before approving the high salaries...

..By benchmarking civil servants' annual pay against individuals who have performed well during that year, there is an implicit assumption that civil servants and Ministers never make incorrect decisions - but are they truly super human beings forever error-free?..

..It is also ironic that we are consuming taxpayers' money and resources discussing how much more of a fraction of a million to pay civil servants and Ministers, while we haggle over additional tens of dollars to hand out to our needy and disadvantaged citizens...

..Even in the private sector, no organization can afford to keep paying increasingly higher salaries just to retain and attract top performers since resources are inevitably limited..


So we have it, 3 opposing voices, some gestures from MPs here and they, but an all out increment for our President, MM, SM, PM and Ministers without changes..


Will you remember that the opposing voices were so limited and the change non-existence as the administration's pay increase was announced just like that?

Would you remember?
Would you allow it to happen again?












Remember and remember it well i will