Sorry everyone, just have to quote part of Sylvia Lim's speech
(AGAIN) on this:
"While I do agree that this is an opportunity to have a public
airing, 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. I would personally very much like to know what each
individual Minister feels about taking more than $2m of taxpayers
money home each year, while fellow citizens struggle with rising
costs and taxes.
Secondly, Minister Teo mentioned that it was not right to look at
how much political leaders elsewhere earn because our Ministers
cannot become Ministers in other countries. But the comparison is
logical because we are comparing similar skill sets and
responsibilities funded by the public. Looking instead at 2/3M48,
how valid is it as a measure of a Ministers worth? Is it possible
that, in fact, some of our Ministers are doing better in Cabinet
than they would have done in their previous careers? Can we
say that each and every Minister in Cabinet now would have become a
top-earning banker, accountant, lawyer, engineer or CEO? We have
seen instances of civil servants and military personnel embark on
2nd careers in the private sector, and find the business world a
whole new ball game; and some, in fact, flounder.
Thirdly, Minister attempted to show that Cabinet salaries were not
in the rarefied zone of high fliers by plotting a graph of 1,000
residents and Malaysians. Even so, 1,000 out of the resident
workforce of about 1.9 m (as at mid 2006, according to Labour Force
Survey) is less than 0.1%. To be in this group of 1,000 is already
to be in a very privileged few and as far as the public is
concerned, is already in the rarefied zone. "
And wat makes Spore so special that our ministers have to have such
opportunity cost consideration? Are other countries' leader all not
CEO material at all? Is the US president having a much easier job
than LHL, or even easier than all our ministers?
