When I was in parliament (1980-2006) I was under the impression that Ministers did not get any Pension because all office holders were required to switch from pension to CPF in 1998. Imagine my surprise when I read in the newspaper (5 Jan 2012,ST) that in 2008,two years after l left parliament,the Pension component was re- introduced and this resulted in a further increase in salaries for Ministers. This Pension component,which caused a lot of anger,is now removed. I am glad that this is being done. However,such a trend of changing policies mid-stream is not good. Singaporeans want more transparency. To be transparent,an annual report of ministerial salaries must be published.
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| While using the bench mark of the median income of the top 1000 Singapore earners is better than 48 high earners in the past -the formula has not changed,only the numbers. Every year,the median income of the top 1000 earners will be used to calculate Minister’s pay. Some of those 1000 would have fallen off the list the next year. But,because the current formula only takes in the best 1000 in the high earners cohort each year,those fallen ones in the first year will not be considered in the second year. They will be replaced by better performing ones. Thus it is a win win formula. Consider this;if we were to use the SAME 1000 cohort over the term of office of the Ministers in our calculations each year,we may have a clearer and truer reflection of the fortunes of our top earners. It will be a case of comparing apples to apples. This will be reflected in our minister’s pay. To Serve or Not to Serve. A consistent theme in the revised Ministerial Pay review is Pay high or loose Talent. We can buy administrative talent but political talent I am not sure. They are two different skill sets. One is working for Salary,one is working for a Cause.One has obedience and self,the other is about passion and public service. In schools,we were taught Service before Self. This is an important ethos of character building. However this over emphasis on using money as an incentive goes against all that.A consistent theme in the revised Ministerial Pay review is Pay high or loose Talent. We can buy administrative talent but political talent I am not sure. They are two different skill sets. One is working for Salary;one is working for a Cause. One has obedience and self,the other is about passion and public service. In schools,we were taught Service before Self. …This is an important ethos of character building. However this over emphasis on using money as an incentive goes against all that. We must bring back the public spirit of serving as our First Call and not be constantly swayed that Money in Politics will attract talent. The review committee was tasked to review the former committee’s rational for the level of salaries for the President and office holders. The fact that the committee has not deviated from using the top private sector earners as a reference tells me the formula was only tweaked. Lets follow the debate in Parliament and I will share more comments. I agree with MP Alvin Yeo’s concern about how the eligibility of candidates are determined. He wants clarity or confusion will result.As a trained Senior Council,his comments merit close attention. He questions the interpretation of 3 individuals’ decision without review by other bodies as inadequate for such an important post. He also question how the election should be run. You can read it in the ST Oct 18 Tuesday page B4. Continue reading Presidential election needs more clarity:Alvin Yeo (The written transcript may differ slightly from the actual speech delivered because Dr Tan Cheng Bock did not follow exactly to the texts) Dear friends, Thank you for coming to this indoor rally. During the past 2 months or so I have walked all over Singapore covering many shopping centres,hawker centres,MRTs,bus stations and HDB homes. Unfortunately despite my many walkabouts I have not been able to reach many of you because of the sheer scale. Some of you may have travelled all the way from east north and south to the Singapore expo. I want to thank you to all for your effort in coming. Tonight I am glad to see all of you here in person and wish you a very good evening. We have come to the end of a long and hard journey of campaigning for the Presidential Election. We did it in an honourable way. We kept to the rules of election. Whatever we did we had the approval of the election dept – our mailers,calling cards,posters,banners all carry the stamp of approval by the election office. Thus our posters were not taken down which has happened to many of my opponents.
The Presidential Election is not the General Election. You have to elect someone to the highest office of the land. So it is only proper that we conduct the election in a dignified and orderly way. Tonight we have chosen to hold an indoor rally. We think it differentiates us from an open rally. The agenda of a PE rally is different from a GE rally. The topics are limited,unlike the GE rally where day to day issues affecting individual Singaporeans are brought up. It is often highly charged and at times electrifying and emotional. But an EP is different. You want to come here to have a personal feel and understanding of the candidate you want. You are here to see how the candidate is here to represent you as your Head of State both locally and internationally. Continue reading Tan Cheng Bock’s Unifying Rally at Expo Hall 8 25 August 2011 | ||||||||||
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