SINGAPORE: The Opposition parties are not letting up on the
issue of ministerial salaries, as they continued to shine the
spotlight on what Government ministers are earning, on a day which
commemorated the efforts of working men and women.
As Singapore marked Labour Day on Sunday, Opposition candidates
called for a reduction in ministerial pay and took aim at the
People’s Action Party (PAP) Government’s rationale of pegging the
remuneration of Cabinet Ministers to the top six professions.
Suggesting that the ministerial salaries should instead be
benchmarked at 30 times the median salary of the Singaporean worker
— thus working out to almost S$1 million a year — the Singapore
Democratic Party’s Michelle Lee said: "That would ensure it is in
their interest to make sure your salary increases as well."
Also calling for greater scrutiny of the performance of the
ministers and their ministries, Ms Lee, a candidate for
Holland—Bukit Timah GRC, said: "CEOs are fired for their mistakes.
Businessmen take risks and losses. So how can the private sector be
a fair benchmark?"
Ms Lee had last Thursday criticised the "new PAP" for not
matching up to its predecessors. On Sunday, she said: "It’s time
for some corporate governance in our Parliament. The Government
should answer to us. The old PAP knew this but the new PAP seem to
have forgotten who they work for."
Mr Steve Chia, the National Solidarity Party candidate for
Pioneer SMC, claimed the ministers "have lost their way". Said the
former Non—Constituency MP: "Their focus is on themselves and their
bonuses; their focus is not on (Singaporeans)." He proposed
scrapping the GDP growth—linked key performance indicator (KPI) for
ministers, and including other factors such as per capita
income.
Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang took a dig at the shortage
of candidates willing to jettison their corporate suits for the
PAP’s white—on—white garb — a point conceded by the PAP leaders
themselves — despite the attractive remuneration for key office
holders. Only eight of the 24 new PAP candidates hail from the
private sector, the same fertile ground from which the Opposition
has unearthed a bumper crop for this General Election, Mr Low
noted.
"So what happened to the high quality people from the private
sector that the high salaries were supposed to attract? If high
quality people from the private sector are turning to the Workers’
Party and other Opposition parties, it is a sign that good
government does not necessarily require high salary," he said.
Singapore Democratic Alliance candidate for Pasir Ris—Punggol
GRC Sidney Soon suggested that the number of ministers be cut and
that the money saved on their salaries be used to raise the wages
of the rank—and—file in the Civil Service.
Calling for ministerial salaries to be reduced, Reform Party
candidate for Ang Mo Kio GRC Arthero Lim alluded to Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong’s comments during his PAP rally speech on
Friday.
Said Mr Lim: "(The ministers) say they should be paid so much
because they are the elite. But even the Prime Minister had
admitted that the Government has made mistakes so it shows they are
not that great." (additional reporting by Ansley Ng, Christopher
Toh, Ng Jing Yng, Tanya Fong, Lin Yanqin) —
TODAY
Source:
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4812260