4/11/2007

making tough decisions

'Even if a person has a wonderful brain, without the hands, legs, eyes, nose and ears, he cannot function effectively. We need to pay top civil servants well, but we must not forget the rest of the public service.' Halimah Yacob. In the past when pay increases were implemented, everyone would get roughly the same percentage, a little plus and minus. And then the lower income will get a lump sum which actually boosted their percentage to a very high level. It was all because everyone knew that in percentage terms, the higher income will get that much more. 10% of $100k is $10k. 10% of $1k is $100. Today, there is no attempt to be apologetic. The ministers are going to get something like 25% increase. And at the lower end, something like 14% ot 33%. And in absolute terms, the amount is in hundreds of thousands against a few hundred bucks at the lower end. This is indeed a very tough and unpopular decision. They really deserve to be paid the huge increase for having the nerves and toughness to make such an unpopular decision, all for the good of the people. We need strong leaders who can make tough decisions like this one.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

it is not that they are tough; it is the laws, and the abuse of it, that's tough.