hard questions in parliament

Samples of Hard Questions raised in Parliament 'My Greatest worry is that an open ended linkage between ministerial salaires and top earners,...could in the long run undermine the moral authority the Govt needs to lead the people...' NMP Siew Kum Hong 'There are others who feel our Govt leaders are paid to much compared to other countries...This comparison is grossly unfair.... The key issue here is that of opportunity cost. If our ministers decide not to be ministers...chances are they'll be head honchos of some of our listed companies....' NMP Gautam Banerjee 'With the right leaders, no amount is too much. With not the right leaders, any amount sees too much- that is the heart of the issue.' MP Alvin Yeo 'I believe that the great public interest generated...serves as a timely reminder for those of us in public office that we are measured by the extent of our active compassion for our fellow citizens.' Mayor Zainudin Nordin '...the senior civil servants will never, ever have to face a downward cycle because it is pegged to the salaries of top earners (in the private sector) and there will always be top earners.' MP Lim Biow Chuan The issue is about timing. 'Has the PM lost a single minister or a perm sec? I think the issue is not as urgent as it's made out to seem....about a month ago, debating and arguing why we shouldn't be giving our Public Assistance recipients - some 3,000 of them - another $100...and now we are talking about million dollar salary increases.' MP Inderjit Singh 'What signals are we sending Singaporeans?' Inderjit Singh '....We believe there is no need for enormously large salaries to attract and retain the right talent... It's also ironic that we are consuming taxpayers' money and discussing how much more of a fraction of a million to pay civil servants and ministers while we haggle over additional tens of dollars to hand out to our needy and disadvantaged citizens.' MP Low Thia Khiang '...ministers in other countries may make more money after their term in office ends, such as through public speaking.' Well spoken by MP Josephine Teo