12/01/2007
Payment for life
How much does a politician contribute to the country and people in a 2 term office to deserve payment for life? This is something that has not been really discussed in parliament or in the msm except in some naughty blogs and websites.
It would be interesting to hear this issue debated in parliament. The old belief of political office as a personal sacrifice sounds quite hollow today when remunerations are pegged to market rate or more.
Working for two terms and being paid for life is definitely more than anything the market will pay.
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8 comments:
Redbean,
can u elaborate a bit further...u mean this applies to our MPs and/or Ministers? and how much being paid?
Thks
if i am not mistaken, any mp/minister who serves two terms in office will be entitled to a life time pension at 2/3 the last drawn pay.
Wah, not bad for 2 years of sacrifice, I also want, can or not??
If you check around the world, you'll find similar situations.
An ex Aust PM gets unlimited 1st class travel for himself and his spouse — for life. He also gets an office and staff, for life... all at the taxpayers expense. Even if he/she ends up in the private sector.
Although Aust pollies are not paid as much as their counterparts in S'pore, ALL of those who serve long enough quit parliament as multi millionaires.
Why become a criminal when politics is perfectly legal and can earn you so much more, for longer?
it is market practice and accepted practice that head of state or head of govt are entitled to special privileges and life time pension. those are very special positions. but to extend life time payment to every MP is going to be a burden to the people.
the main argument is to justify life time payment to contribution.
I don't think the pension is for every MP, only ministers. I stand being corrected. But then when you are a MIW MP you more or less get the privileges of being appointed as Director or CEO of say, Singapore Pools or something.
for mps, min 9 years to qualify for pension. for office holders, including mayor, 8 years to qualify.
I will never support the rationale that politicians or ex heads of states are any more "special" than any one of us.
If we, the private citizens want to have a good retirement, we have to work, save and invest HARD during our productive years. We simply cannot up our own wages or write our own cheques without first serving our customer, and it is the customer who determines how much we get.
But as a top level govt servant, you are actually not a servant but a MASTER. You can write your own cheque, and retire like a king.
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