Singapore's founding leader dismisses gripes over pay
hike
The debate over the million-dollar paychecks of Singapore's cabinet
ministers is "rubbish" because the city-state needs to attract
extraordinary people to run it, founding leader Lee Kuan Yew said
in remarks published Monday.
"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 was
quoted by the Straits Times as saying over the weekend.
The blunt-talking former prime minister said the public furore over
the decision to raise cabinet ministers' base salaries by more than
30 percent to 1.05 million US dollars per year was "completely
unreal."
"I say, 'rubbish,'" he told 400 members of the ruling People's
Action Party (PAP) on Saturday.
Singapore, with its lack of natural resources and small population,
needs attractive packages to draw talented people into public
service or the country's future prosperity would be at risk, Lee
warned.
"The problem we now face is how to attract more talent, how to
headhunt and to persuade the best to come into parliament," said
Lee, 83, who remains an influential figure in the government with
the title of "minister mentor."
"I see this place going for another 50 years, no problem. But you
need top-grade government," Lee said.
The pay hikes for ministers and top civil servants, which take
effect this month, have triggered a rare public outcry from
normally reserved Singaporeans, who enjoy Southeast Asia's highest
standards of living.
The pay increase boosted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's annual
salary to 2.04 million dollars, five times more than the figure US
President George W. Bush earns and more than eight times the salary
of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The prime minister -- the son of the elder Lee, who now makes 2.01
million dollars -- said he will freeze his salary for five years
and donate the pay increase to charity.
Ministers' salaries are calculated using a formula pegging them to
the earnings of top business executives and professionals,
including lawyers and bankers.
Officials have long maintained that high salaries are necessary to
attract talented managers into government service and preserve
Singapore's reputation as one of the most corruption-free countries
in Asia.
