5/26/2011

Try a different thinking cap

While the Salary Review Committee is thinking, perhaps there should be a rethink on the underlying assumptions for the high ministerial salaries. One key component that was built into the salary is the amount to prevent ministers from being corrupt. The ministers’ salaries thus consist of a normal salary plus a corruption prevention factor that is undefined. Knowing how bad corruption can be at high places, the amount in consideration cannot be small to be effective. There are only 15 ministers plus another few ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries. The total would not be too big a number to monitor for corruption. Maybe we can take a different approach to this corruptibility issue. Remove the corruption prevention component, say X dollars from the pay check. Let those ministers or people in high offices try to be corrupt and let the CPIB go after them and make them pay for their bad behaviors. This approach could put to test how many genuinely good men we have and how many would turn bad. And the amount of savings can be quite substantial if the $X is big. Assuming this is $1m a year per minister, multiply by say 30, to include the other office bearers, and spread it to 50 or 100 years, my god, it is no small change. In practice, I don’t think there will be so many corrupt ministers to pilfer so much money from the system and without being caught. This is a worthwhile experiment to try. From the money to be saved point of view, it definitely makes sense. Another option is to declare the quantum provided to prevent corruption. The ministers may opt to accept this quantum to free them from the temptation. Those ministers who are confident that they will not be tempted even without this sum of compensation can opt out of it. In this way, the more righteous and upright ministers need not be forced to accept this sum of immoral money which they did not want in the first place. There will still be huge savings as many ministers are likely to refuse to accept such compensation and be seen as corruptible. You see, the rationale for this corruption prevention pay is pretty humiliating and self serving as it implies that none of them can stand firmly on the ground and resist the temptation to become corrupt. So the good ones too become tarred by accepting the payout. Time to take a new look at the rationale and a new approach to the tackling the problem of corruption.

8 comments:

  1. Simple isn't it? Just go back to the pre-1994 pay. The difference between then and now salary will be X.

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  2. The benchmark should be with the ordinary Singaporean workers. The KPI should be related to living standard of poor Singaporeans.

    After all, they are supposed to serve the country and improve the well-being of the people.

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  3. I have a better idea:

    Give the PM what the US President gets. The rest of his team will be paid prorated.

    Next set aside $16 M per a year as prizes for the best 3 ministerial performers, PM included -
    1st prize $10M
    2nd prize $5M
    3rd prize $1M

    Who decide the winner ?
    We, the people whom they serve will cast our votes for the most deserving.

    Have a parallel system for the MPs, including the opposition MPs.

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  4. Not a bad idea. But some may feel insulted by the prizes. Not much more than a peanut. Once people get use to a big appetite, they no longer find peanuts attractive.

    That is why increments must be in hundreds of thousands or millions. Otherwise meaningless, can't feel anything.

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  5. Well, throw in an upmarket private property in Sentosa, Cameron Highlands, Australia, New York, London, etc. lol.

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  6. Hi Black Joe, welcome to the blog.

    When things get outrageous, anything goes, just for a little entertainment: )

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  7. That will also mean Ministers and family members cannot buy and sell of properties, shares, no white horses in army, etc during term...and full disclosure of assets before and after ministerial term.

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  8. To pay much more for the sake of preventing corruption in Parliament Members is as good as saying that the CPIB under the Charge of the PM himself is NOT RELIABLE or the PM himself not able to make the CPIB function as It should.
    In any case is Singapore CORRUPTION FREE??????

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