The buck stops here
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By Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's own admission, this is not the
best of times for the Government to be grappling with an issue as
sensitive as a pay hike for ministers and civil servants.
Certainly not when the income gap in Singapore is seen to be
widening, and not everyone is enjoying the benefits of the
returning good times. In fact, some speakers during the three-day
parliamentary debate on the issue even wondered whether Mr Lee and
his ministers had undermined their moral authority to govern by
giving themselves such large pay increases.
So, when Mr Lee took the floor yesterday to wrap up the debate, he
decided to address just such concerns: Minutes into his two-hour
long speech, Mr Lee said he would freeze his pre-increment salary
of $2.5 million for the next five years, promising to donate any
increase in pay to charity.
That means a donation of at least $3 million, or a minimum of
$600,000 in each of the five years. Under the phased pay revisions
announced on Monday, Mr Lee will draw a salary of $3.1 million this
year, a 25.5-per-cent jump from what he drew last year.
The Prime Minister said he did not expect other ministers to follow
his lead.
"I'm the one carrying the ultimate responsibility ... I know that
ministers and MPs already support various worthy causes, but it
should not be an ostentatious display of how self-sacrificing they
are. That is a private matter for them to decide at their own
discretion," said Mr Lee.
While his decision is likely to win applause from many, one MP
asked whether some Singaporeans may view it negatively.
Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) said: "I fear that there may be
people out there who take his magnanimous gesture as a retreat and
a face-saving admission that the policy (on ministers' salaries) is
flawed."
Responding, Mr Lee reiterated that it was his personal
choice.
In his speech, Mr Lee said he agreed with MPs who had argued that
joining the public service required "sacrifice and
selflessness".
Still, he added, choosing the right people for the job was "not an
auction" to show who was willing to make the bigger financial
sacrifice.
In a speech that was at times emotional and peppered with anecdotes
from his own 23-year career in politics, Mr Lee spoke about his
fears of Singapore getting a corrupt premier in the future.
"I'm worried about somebody wanting to be Prime Minister, hoping to
be paid not a single cent but still collect $400 million under
the table ...
"We don't expect ministers to earn as much as top earners in the
private sector, but it must not be too far out of line with what is
earned outside," said Mr Lee, who also shared with the House that
he turned 55 this year and has drawn his CPF.
On the timing of the pay hikes less than three months before the
Goods & Services Tax will be raised by 2 percentage points to 7
per cent Mr Lee conceded that the timing could have been
better.
But then again, he said, there is "no good time". The last major
salary revision was seven years ago, and there was a growing
"urgency" to close the gap on the private sector benchmarks in
order to ensure that the public sector would continue to attract,
and retain, top talent.
"Politically, this is the most difficult decision for me to take
... It was Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Mentor Lee
Kuan Yew who encouraged me to do it. They know the importance of
having good ministers to help them with their work."
Mr Lee also touched on the link made by many MPs between
ministerial salaries and public assistance payouts for poorer
Singaporeans.
"When you make such comparisons, the problem can become very
emotional ... General welfare is something we can promise, it's
very easy and popular. It's like having a God of Fortune giving out
money and everyone is happy. You don't need very capable ministers
to do that," he said.
However, if the Government were to tread down this path, it would
suffer "long-term repercussions", he said. "The wiser approach is
to grow the economy, and use the fruits of growth to implement
policies that truly improve the lives of the poor."
Mr Lee also paid tribute to 94 MPs in the House, whose monthly
allowances have each been raised from $11,900 to $13,200. He said
the lawmakers here compare well with parliaments in other
countries.
And while Mr Lee had said the buck stops with him when it comes to
donating his salary increment, one MP Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar
GRC) announced at the end of the session that she would follow
his lead. - /sh
