I was on a plane when I overhead two Chinese nationals talking
to each other:
Chinese A - "Guess what the Singapore prime minister is paid every
year?"
Chinese B - "What?"
Chinese A - "CNY 16 million per year."
Chinese B - "What!"
Chinese B - "How much did Deng Xiao Ping last made?"
Talk about value for money. That was when I decided that I had
enough. I had to write something to get it off my chest, so here it
goes
I just cannot comprehend why Singapore needs to pay its top civil
servants so much money? I understand the need to benchmark against
the private sector but I disagree with the idea of benchmarking
against the top earners. Why? Because most people would agree that
top executive salaries are often inflated and unjustified. In
addition, private sector compensation is often seen as an entire
package (housing benefits, transportation benefits, security
benefits). Is this taken into consideration (i.e., perhaps the
ministers pay should be seen as an entire package as well) or are
we comparing apples and oranges?
But the million dollar question is will top salary guarantee top
talent? I doubt so. Just look at the US CEOs are often paid a
lot of money that they dont deserve. On the other hand, look at
Warren Buffet this guy doesnt pay his CEOs a dime more than what
they deserve and yet the executives running his businesses are
among the best in Corporate America. There are a lot more
intangibles to job satisfaction that just pay. It seems that the
current system of benchmarking civil servants salaries is shallow
at best.
PM Lee said that he doesnt want salary to be the reason why people
dont want to join the civil service or leave the civil service.
Does this mean that increasing the salaries of civil servants will
solve all these issues? First of all, if someone doesnt want to
join the civil service because the pay is too low, chances are that
he or she shouldnt. He or she should spend a decade or so in the
private sector and accumulate sufficient wealth to be financially
independent before joining the civil service. In this way, we can
derive some comfort that he or she really wants to serve the
country; a few years of private sector experience is probably a
good addition to the government anyway.
It was reported in the New Paper that the overall resignation rate
for graduate officers was 10.6% 2006, up from 7.4% in 2005. What
the figures dont tell you is how many of these people resign
because they saw a glass ceiling? I have came across many young
civil servants that became disillusioned with the Administrative
Service (i.e., you are either in it or you suck) system. It seems
that unless you are in the Administrative Service, you are
somewhat disadvantaged regardless of your performance - all things
being equal, a scholar in Administrative Service is seem to be
promoted faster. You dont get that in the private sector. For
example, if you join a Wall Street firm right out of college,
everyone will be placed in the same class pool regardless of
whether you get a 4.0 GPA from Harvard or 3.2 GPA from Tufts
everyone competes on qualities that matter to the job at hand.
Again, intangibles.
More important that the current pay raise fiasco is the big picture
of things in Singapore, which really makes me uncomfortable. Are
Singaporeans truly happy with the current manner things are
developing? It seems that the current policy of Singapore is one of
pro-immigrants, and one of continuous overall growth. Are true blue
Singaporeans reaping the benefits of such growth? Why cant the
government be focused on upping the wealth of its existing citizens
(what I call bottom-line growth) rather than trying to growth the
overall wealth (what I call top-line growth) by importing new
people? Is it because if they dont grow the overall wealth, they
cannot justify a 33% salary increase?
I believe LKY said that our real estate would be worth a fraction
of what it is worth today if not for a competent government. That I
agree. However, going forward, it seems that if we go down the
current trajectory that the government has put in place, that piece
of real estate is probably going to be worth maybe two times or
even three times as much in ten years time. But you know what? You
dont own it anymore, and neither will your children.
