February 3, 2010 - Temasek Review
By Wakka Kong and Simeon Ang
<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in }
A:link { color: #0000ff } A.western:link { so-language: zxx }
A.cjk:link { so-language: zxx } A.ctl:link { font-family: "Times
New Roman"; so-language: zxx } -->
EDITOR”S
NOTE:
This article was emailed
to us for publication yesterday. Unfortunately, the writers did not
inform us that they have emailed it to another site for publication
as well. We advise all our guest columnists to email their articles
to only one site for publication in th future.
According to Minister Mentor
Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the high salary remunerated to Singaporean
ministers helps ensure a clean and honest government as well as to
attract and retain local talents. Pegged to a percentage of some of
the top earners in our country as well as economic growth, our
ministers’ salaries top the world, with our Prime Minister Mr Lee
Hsien Loong being the highest paid head of government, more than 5
times the remuneration of Mr Barack Obama, President of the United
States of America.
We have compiled a table
of various data to compare between our leader and other countries’
to answer the mind boggling question of “whether the Singaporean
government is worth its weight in gold?”
Denmark
PM
- Lars Lokke Rasmussen Salary (US$):
$210,036
Corruption Ranking (a) : 2
Democracy Ranking (b): 1 Quality of Life Ranking (c): 16
GDP
per capita (Int. $): 36,725
New Zealand
P
M - John
Key Salary
(US$): $253,746 Corruption Ranking (a)
: 1
Democracy Ranking (b): 3 Quality of Life Ranking (c): 5
GDP
per capita (Int. $): 26,625
USA
President - Barack Obama Salary (US$): $400,000 Corruption Ranking
(a) : 16
Democracy Ranking (b): 15 Quality of Life Ranking (c): 7
GDP
per capita (Int. $):
46,443
Sweden
PM
- Fredrik Reinfeldt Salary (US$): $236,000 Corruption Ranking
(a): 3
Democracy Ranking (b): 2 Quality of Life Ranking (c): 30
GDP
per capita (Int. $):
35,934
SINGAPORE
PM –
Lee Hsien Loong
Salary (US$): $2,856,930
Corruption Ranking (a): 4
Democracy Ranking (b): 71 Quality of Life Ranking (c): 70
GDP
per capita (Int. $):
49,433
* Salaries are from various
sources.
* (a&b) Corruption & democracy ranking – http://www.worldaudit.org/corruption.htm
* (c) Quality of life ranking –
http://www1.internationalliving.com/qofl2010/
* GDP per capita from International Monetary Fund – http://imf.org/
At first glance, our PM is
drawing up to 12 times more than the other first world countries’
PM salary. What is even more surprising is that the anti-corruption
rankings of these said countries are better than Singapore. We can
see plainly that while Singapore has done relatively well in one
area, the country is obviously lagging in other terms. In addition,
their rankings in both democracy and quality of life are
significantly better than Singapore – one can therefore safely
conclude at this juncture, that an effective and efficient
government does not require astronomical salaries to counter
corruption and/or attract and retain talents who can be sound
policy makers.
There is a need however to
realize that it takes superior logic and foresight, such as those
displayed by our Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew in the pre and
post independence era of the 60s to 70s – minus Operation Coldstore
(which is an outrage in my humble opinion). There is sufficient
evidence to claim that the initial management of local housing and
education by the first Lee administration provided an impetus for
the growth of our country. This allowed the country to be propelled
from third world status to that of the first world. However, there
seems to be a downturn of sorts in the character and “spur” of the
government at this moment. A very recent incident involving the
Minister of National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan who tried to
address concern about the housing needs of local Singaporeans by
admitting that he was “caught off guard”. It would seem that the
million dollar salary he is earning has not compensated him enough
to be prudent for the needs of local Singaporeans. If such a said
gaffe was isolated and sporadic, it would certainly pass the
attention of the citizenry. However, as we all know, our million
dollar paid ministers have recently been prone to many a faux
pas.
A small little bright spot
might be evident in the table we have shared above. This comes in
the form of the high GDP per capita data. However, if we were to
dissect the data provided we can attribute the high GDP per capita
to a few reasons.
One of the main reasons for
the high GDP per capita in recent years may be attributed to our
lax immigration policy as some analysts suggests. The influx of
cheaper immigrant workforce artificially inflated the GDP. However,
this in turn strained Singapore’s infrastructure, pushed housing
prices through the roof, lowered overall productivity, depressed
local’s wages, contributing to the widening of the income gap which
is one of the highest, if not the highest among developed
countries. Ultimately, the people who reap the most from it are the
rich. What many Singaporeans do not realize is that this translates
to higher ministers’ salary as their remuneration is pegged to a
percentage of the average income of the top 4 earners of 6
different sectors in the country.
Singapore’s ranking on the
quality of life study further reinforces the views of many
Singaporeans that life in Singapore is far from being a bed of
roses, this, as compared to other first world countries.
Furthermore, a 2009 study showed that average Singaporeans work
much longer hours per year as compared to most other first world
country citizens living in their capital. The table below collates
some of the average work hours of the above mentioned
countries.
New
Zealand Avg Work Hrs/Year:
1884 Avg
Holidays/Yr:
21
-
Auckland Domestic
Purchasing Power (annual net):
68.9
USA
Avg Work Hrs/Year: 1955 Avg Holidays/Yr: 12
-
New York Domestic
Purchasing Power (annual net):
100
Singapore
Avg Work Hrs/Year: 2088 Avg Holidays/Yr: 11
Domestic Purchasing Power (annual net):
39.9
Denmark
Avg Work Hrs/Year: 1658 Avg Holidays/Yr: 24
-
Copenhagen Domestic
Purchasing Power (annual net):
73.1
Sweden
Avg Work Hrs/Year: 1777 Avg Holidays/Yr: 25
-
Stockholm
Domestic Purchasing Power (annual net):
73.5
* Figures from “Prices and
Earnings”, UBS
The huge disparity in Work
hours and domestic purchasing power speaks volumes about the man on
Main Street. As opposed to what the government would have its
citizens think, Singaporeans are a hardworking bunch. The average
work hour of a Singaporean far exceeds that of the other countries
in our analysis. And yet what do Singaporeans have at the end of
the day? Well, Singaporeans take home the lowest domestic
purchasing power of all 5 countries. To add further insult to
injury, the government has even called on Singaporeans to be
“cheaper, faster and better”. Contrast this phenomenon with that of
ministerial salary, we can see the evidence for the brand of a
local drink, Heaven and Earth.
For some time now, the
Americans have been criticizing about the excesses of Wall Street
and the resulting use of Main Street to shore up the country’s
economy. Putting this in context with the Singaporean society, it
is time for the excesses of the government to be checked with the
man on Main Street. It is time the government of Singapore realizes
that they are only in power on the premise that they govern for the
people and not for themselves. As George H. W Bush himself was
quoted as saying, “A government that remembers that the
people are its master is a good and needed thing.”
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/03/the-singapore-government-%e2%80%93-worth-its-weight-in-gold/
