(UDPATED Thur 7:10pm: adding Grace Fu’s
quotes)
Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Environment and
Water Resources Grace Fu said the public might have misunderstood
the remarks she made on her
Facebook page on Wednesday.
In her latest Facebook post made at about 5pm on Thursday,
she responded to the barrage of comments critical of her earlier
remarks by saying she is “honoured” to be given the opportunity to
serve the people.
“Thank you for all your candid views. I respect all of them.
I realise my last posting could have been misunderstood. The
committee has done a thorough job with a substantial recommendation
over a fairly emotive topic. I accept and respect the
recommendations,” she wrote.
However, she also maintained her position about the tradeoffs
of further lowering ministerial salaries.
“I am honoured to be given the opportunity to serve the
people. However, it may not be wise to call for the tradeoffs to be
tilted further to an extent that it dissuades good people from
coming forward in future,” she added.
In her previous remark
on Wednesday in response to the proposed salary revisions, Fu, who
is also Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Communication,
Information and the Arts, hinted that further reduction in
ministerial salaries might deter anyone from considering political
office.
“When I made the decision to join politics in 2006, pay was
not a key factor. Loss of privacy, public scrutiny on myself and my
family and loss of personal time were,” Fu had said.
She added that, “The disruption to my career was also an
important consideration. I had some ground to believe that my
family would not suffer a drastic change in the standard of living
even though I experienced a drop in my income. So it is with this
recent pay cut.”
However, she reiterated that it may not be “wise to call for
the tradeoffs to be tilted further to an extent that it dissuades
good people from coming forward in future”.
Prior to joining politics in 2006, Fu was CEO of PSA
Corporation (Southeast Asia and Japan). During her 10-year career
at the Singapore port operator, she steadily rose through the
ranks, holding various appointments in finance and marketing before
becoming regional CEO.
As of Thursday afternoon, her post had drawn over 730
comments with more than 821 shares. Most criticised her,
questioning if local politicians were motivated by public service
or by million-dollar
salaries already deemed to be the highest in the
world.
Unveiling its report on Wednesday, the Ministerial
Salary Review Committee proposed a 36 per cent pay
cut for the Prime Minister, a 51 per cent cut for the President and
a 37 per cent cut for entry-grade ministers.
Facebook user, Raziff Hamid, wrote on his Facebook wall that
in past decades when former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and the
first generation leaders were in charge, people entered politics
driven by their altruism, unselfish regard or devotion towards
welfare of its citizens.
“However the same sentiments did not cascade down to the next
generation either by the folly of their own policies or this is
just an exception... sad day for politics,” he said.
Another user Ivy Tan said she finds it “disturbing” that
local politicians are not motivated by public
service.
She said, “You can have all the paper qualifications and
impressive work experiences in the world, but if you’ve got no
inherent passion for your job, you’ll never be able to make a big
difference.”
Jia Jun Ng also noted on his Facebook post that the main
objective in participating in politics is to be the bridge between
the government and its people.
“If one has the passion for it to make a difference, why will
this affect their decision to join? The pay cut is not that
ridiculous judging from the current economy we are in,” he
said.
‘Fu’s comments reasonable’
On the opposite end of the discussion, netizens have defended
Fu’s remarks which they said were fair.
User Joshua Hoe Tian Ming pointed out that none of the posts
critical of the minister’s comments have refuted her point that
politics is a career in the public eye and that loss of privacy for
the politician and his or her family is a huge price to
pay.
The term "public service" also does not mean one must be
poorly compensated, said Hoe. “Just because politicians are
supposed to be serving society at large, including the poor and
unemployed, does not mean their pay should be pegged to that,” he
wrote.
“If they fail to serve, punish them by voting them out, not
by a misconstrued notion that they only deserve what their poorest
constituents are getting,” he added.
User Kai Li Tan also defended Fu, who is also MP for Yuhua,
saying she was only voicing out her honest opinion. Tan noted that
only an “idealist and simpleton” would expect those joining
politics to serve solely for passion or the
public.
“As much as I do not think it (is) justified to overpay our
ministers or political office holders, I do believe passion alone
cannot feed the stomach. Political figures or not, everyone has a
family to care for and personal dreams and desires to achieve,”
said Tan.
User Thian Beng Yap also took issue with the way some fellow
citizens criticised MPs on every front without “any
wisdom”.
While the government does commit mistakes, he believes in its
sincerity to serve the nation, and that ultimately this same value
will help win the country over, he said, adding, “Like some would
say, politics is a thankless job.”
_____________
How come the PAP MPs and ministers always accuse
Singaporeans of misunderstanding them, why ah?
The recent one was from Seng Han Tong. They take turns
to tell us we misunderstand them. As if we are all
retards.
Political offices are for those which want to serve the country
not for those who want to take from the country.
"Ask what you can do for the country, not what the country can do
for you." That's what make a great nation. If you cannot offer,
please stand down, don't disgrace yourself.
