PM to donate his increment to charities for the next 5 years

the Bear SG

will people stop bloody equating the POLITICIANS like the ministers with CIVIL SERVANTS?

they are NOT the same!

civil servants are working hacks... the politicians are.. politicians...

<Precious> SG

I think it's a lame idea for PM Lee to even suggest that he hold his salary for the next 5 years and donate any increase to "a worthy cause" as it is only him. What's the point? What about the rest of the ministers? Evil or Very Mad

Ponders SG

I wonder if any of you ever thought of this logic.

During budget speech, nothing was ever said of pay increment of ministers.

And in the budget speech, the pay for ministers was already spelt out.

And after the budget speech, minister pay raise was announced but there are no amendments to the budget.

How does this work?

<Precious> SG

Top pay will not cut out corruption. In fact, the people clamouring for pay raise are the very same people who are most susceptible to corruption because they are more motivated by money and feel they don't get paid well enough........

Mebbe it's time to outsource Singapore's ministers liao.............. Mr. Green

NotFromVenus SG

The issue now is,

HOW Many percent of his increment is he going to Donate?
Cool

I'm going to declare that I'm charitable by donating 10% of my 3000% increment in pay.

Laughing

BillyBong SG

Wouldn't that be amusing Cool

BillyBong SG

That's a fair point...before we confuse ministers and senior staff of the minister's office with the average CIVIL SERVANT, who must be disappointed that the masses are now labelling them as sycophants. Cool

gerrykoh SG

He donate but he gets more 5 yrs. later, don't forget the pay increase is long term- till he becomes SM & MM.
Also his bonus is too much- 5 to 11 mths.. for ministers!

mistyblue SG

Then please tell all the people asking for donations to talk to LHL.
The common people are bled dry

gerrykoh SG

Her husband is a rich Indonesian doctor, drives a Ferrari. She don't need the money. Anyway good of her to donate- giving to charity, God will bless her & her family.

ShutterBug SG

Media Release: No need to donate increment, just repudiate pay hike
11 Apr 06

Obviously unable to stomach the backlash from Singaporeans and the eyebrows raised by others around the world, PM Lee Hsien Loong has announced that he will donate his pay increment of S$600,000 a year.

Singaporeans should not be so easily placated or fooled. If Mr Lee has no need of the extra money, why did he allow the pay-raise in the first place? If, on the other hand, he believes that the move is good for Singapore, then he should have stood his ground and defended his actions.

Obviously, it is impossible to justify the unjustifiable. The pay hike was a colossal misstep on the part of the Government, especially when there is overwhelming evidence that the economic situation of Singaporeans has been deteriorating in recent years. The PM is obviously now trying to undo, or at least limit, the damage.

However, Mr Lee's move to increase his salary and then announce that he will donate it away seems such an unnecessary show. Wouldn't it have made more sense to not increase salaries in the first instance?

And what are we to conclude if the other ministers don't follow suit and donate their increments as well?

Singaporeans must not forget that even without the latest increase, Mr Lee and the entire cabinet are already way overpaid. The Singapore Democrats repeat our call for the PM and his ministers to revise their salaries downwards to less obscene levels.

At the same time, and in line with international democratic practice, ministers should declare their assets and the assets of their family members.

If fact, given the dismal economic situation that poor Singaporeans are being put through, Parliament should unequivocally repudiate any talk of salary increase and all MPs should forgo their increments and ensure that the funds are used to alleviate the suffering of the working poor.

It must never be forgotten that parliaments are institutions of service, not avarice.

Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party

==================================

Singapore PM to donate pay hike after salary furore
Reuters
11 Apr 07

Singapore's prime minister said on Wednesday he would donate his S$600,000 ($395,800) pay rise for each of the next five years as he defended a 60 percent increase in ministers' million-dollar salaries.

Lee Hsien Loong, who is set to earn S$3.1 million ($2.1 million) this year following this week's pay rise - or five times U.S. President George Bush's salary - told parliament he did not expect other ministers to donate their pay increases.

The government's decision to jack up salaries for ministers and top civil servants - already among the highest-paid in the world - has brought criticism from ordinary Singaporeans, many of whom consider the move tactless given the widening rich-poor gap in the city-state.

"For five years, whatever the increase in salary above the present level, I will donate," said Lee, who earned S$2.5 million ($1.65 million) previously, in parliament on Wednesday.

Lee said this would give him the moral standing to defend the move to raise ministers' salaries.

The salaries of Singapore ministers were raised by about 60 percent to an average of S$1.9 million ($1.26 million) on Monday, just short of the S$2.2 million that the government had initially proposed.

The government said the move was necessary to attract and retain top talent. ($1=1.516 Singapore Dollar)

^MaRcUs^ SG

Although i do not agree with the increase of the ministers' wages,
but I Salute PM Lee for the move to donate his increament over the 5 yrs....

Well, I do agree that we need to scout for talents, esp the local ones, but its about the methods our government used. Since when have the roles of a civil serveant changed? Being a MP, the ultimate roles should be to serve the people...but now that we kept using carrots and more carrots to "seduce" the so-call talents, I really doubt that these people and "trueful" towards the nation, towards their job.

Then, just weeks ago the GST was raisen, isn't it abit too contradicting to increase the minister's pay now? And look at the gap between the rich and the poor here... an average Singaporean still earn about 1-2 k here...but our PM will be getting 100k per mtd...wow...thats almost 50 times more...
Will it be too demoralising for the average singaporeans out there? so does it means we can also put in 50 times less effort?

No doubt we need talents in the gov, but we need talents thr'out the nation too... pay us what we deserved, then we shall talk about your pay rise...
haa

chiabaliao SG

I would say that the talents they get now are reluctantly serving as PAP lackeys. If the PAP had not resorted to criminal intimidation and persecution of opposition voices, there will be more talents willing to come forward to serve the nation. It's all PAP's undoing. Using money now as carrot shows how corrupted PAP has become. Might as well call it the L&L family empire.

ShutterBug SG

It could well be a briliant twist in their plot to regain public trust and support, and HOW can we know if the money really goes to a "good cause" and which "good cause"???

Besides, regardless of donation or not, it is still our money and they are still OVERPAID - by World Standards.

mdfgrifter SG

Hi moderators, could you please combine several topics all related to the ministers' pay increase so everyone can get a clearer view of how everyone here thinks.

Honestly, with such dissatisfaction among the singaporeans, how can the govt leaders still go ahead with the pay increases? and what are singaporeans doing, or rather what can we do to express our dissatisfaction with the govt's decision?

i'm in the middle of my freaking take-home examination but i just couldn't reisist reading up all the news and opinions about this issue, to see if perhaps my thoughts are incoherent and illogical, but apparently thru newspapers, blogs, forums, and even my friends on msn, all have similar views on the pay increases.

1. Ministers do put in their effort n deserve good pay. But how exactly does earning more money motivate them to perform better? Many forum writers already expressed their point, money shouldn't be the incentive to get people to join the government.

2. Economic students would be familiar with this theory, once you spend a certain amount on necessities, the rest you spend on are luxuries. A minister already earns about $100,000 a month. Even if they could earn more in the private sector, that doesn't deny the fact that the amount is already ridiculously huge. What are they doing with their pay? Investing into government holdings?

3. They say we shouldn't have a say in how much pay rise they get. People then ask for an independent committee to look into it, compare their pay to international standards. Of cos they refuse to do so, becos their pay is comparatively way above other civil servants according to international standards. The arguement is Singapore is ranked 5th in terms of corruption in the world. Well, what is it that the other 4 countries are doing right that doesn't require obscene amounts of money for the ministers?

4. Pegging the pay of ministers to top earners in the top industries is just plain ridiculous. If the ministers would really earn 5 -10 times more in the private sector, then shouldn't they do that in the first place and bring in more money for GDP growth? If they're gifted to work in the private sector then why drag them into government with the lure of money? One more important point: TOP EARNERS IN TOP INDUSTRIES MAY CONSIST OF DIFFERENT PERSONS EVERY YEAR BUT OUR MINISTERS ARE STILL THERE FOR AT LEAST 5 YEARS, MOST MUCH LONGER. People in the private sector take risks to earn that much amount of money, and occasionally risks results in failure, thats why they have to draw so much money. Think about this point further, n you'll see why it doesn't make sense to peg minister's pay to top earners in top industries.

5.If the "bottom line" is just simply money, then all political science students should throw in the towel and start doing other modules. Since nobody believes that some people would want to work for the government for the good and betterment of society, and all citizens are materialistic and selfish buggers, then the rest of Singapore should seriously reflect on themselves - is this what Singaporeans are made up of? No honour, no desire to help, no altruisic desire?

I felt like writing into the newspapers, but then again whats the point, we all know who SPH is run by.

the Bear SG

i read in today's papers that someone suggested pegging the ministers' pay to the average of the LOWEST paid people in Singapore... of course with a factor of about a hundred..

now, i'd say that is a fairer pegging since the Ministers are supposed to minister to the people, not just the top ones who do not need it but those who are poorest...

Minister: To attend to the wants and needs of others: Volunteers ministered to the homeless after the flood. See Synonyms attend.

so.. our Ministers should look up the origin of the word... and start performing their sacred duties.. that of SERVING the people and the country, not themselves...

mistyblue SG

We want to pay fair wage.
Why only peg to the highest paid in singapore?
Why not peg to the average wage in singapore?
Why not peg to the average wage of politician worldwide?

livspore2006 SG

I think LHL is himself not convinced that the pay increment is necessary but as the leader of the ruling party, he needs to make consolidated stand under the PAP party whip.

So to get out of this wrangle, he offered to donate his increment to Charity.

Let's look at it this way, he may be the reluctant guy being forced by circumstances to go along the party line. We all know that stress causes cancer and he got it at such a young age. Even though brilliant, for all u know, he is under tremendous pressure to follow the party line.

pearlie27 SG

Singapore govt have grossly over-estimated themselves. They forget that this is the information age. News get around very quickly and esp controversial news. They might be able to control, stop or ignore us but they can't prevent the foreign media from exposing their excesses or turning them into laughing stock.

valentinoo SG

35% man! i think if we commoner jump from one company to another for a few time also cannot get that kind of % increment

Laughing

« Previous Page Next Page »