Hsien Loong has spoken on the impending findings of the Salary Review Committee, likely to be out in time for Christmas. He touched a bit on how the pension scheme works and that the max a minister will get is 10% of his annual salary. In his short revelation, everything is in percentages and nothing absolute was revealed.
What is 10% of annual salary? Or what is annual salary? Does this annual salary comprise the basic monthly salary, 13th month AWS, performance bonus and productivity bonus based on the GDP? If the annual total is $10m, 10% will be $1m, assuming that last year the bonus was really huge and the average was $10m per minister. And if the bonus was bigger, then the percentage will be smaller and vice versa.
If the pension is based on annual salary which includes many variable bonuses, presumably the pension should be variable over the years as well. But this is just too perplexing to compute. I would rather believe that the pension is based on the fixed monthly salary. Given a minister’s salary of say $3m a year, the pension of 10% should be about $300k. Right or not?
If the pension is computed using gross annual salary that includes bonuses, then something is not in order as the performance factor and GDP growth should no longer be applicable to a pensioner. As the pension is a monthly payment, even the 13th AWS should not be in the computation. It should be a simple computation based on the last drawn monthly salary and nothing else. Tiok boh? What about allowances?
The other problem about adding all the bonuses into the annual salary is that it is going to vary from year to year. So ministers retiring on a good year like George and his colleagues, the pension is going to be better than those who retire in a bad year. This doesn’t make sense.
So I would think the annual salary is based on 12 months or at most 13 months. And definitely all other allowances for all kinds of appointments other than the minister’s salary will be excluded. We will have to see what the final figure is, if it is not a state secret like the cost of building a HDB flat. If not at the very best, the figures given will be only a matter of percentages.
No self respecting human resource professionals will include performance bonuses and the country’s GDP performance as components in the computation of a person’s pension. Pension does not take into account individual or the country’s performance into the future.
15 comments:
I believe he said 13th month, annual variable component and other bonuses are not counted in computation. Also, any increase in basic salary since 1994 is also not included. And the max 10% is for those who served more than 18 years. Can check news or Hansard.
'One insistent member of the floor kept asking and she finally replied that she gets 40% of her last drawn package of $500,000 p.a.
The above was reported in the media - Foo Yee Shoon's pension numbers.
The same "anti corruption " argument must be applied i.e. the same argument to justify sky high salaries.
10% is too low to prevent the type of people who were paid high to remain uncorrected from becoming TOTALLY CORRUPT.
These jokers take a 90% (more if you include freebies and bonuses) PAY CUT when they retire.
You have to be crazy to expect these money-faced animals to stay the shining examples of human perfection.
IMO they should receive full pay with benefits for life.
Isnt what we discussing "counting beans"?
Salaries of Parliament-ers and some Civil Servants are way too high. Public service is after all not profit making; maybe an "independent" salary review committee should advise our leaders that taking so much pay makes them morally less able to lead the country.
I have no quarrel with their high pay/pension. But if anyone screws up, like MBT, please return your money back to taxpayers and citizens. The folly of their policies wll be felt by an entire generation of S'poreans, while there will be happily retired with fat bank accounts.
I'm no longer surprised at the ingratitude of Singaporeans.
Singaporeans are demanding. And they demand the whole universe from their govt. and get upset if the govt fails to deliver. One mistake or negative result means that the whole govt is totally fucked and everyone in it is useless.
Most of the exorbidantly paid elites in the govt are people of sacrifice: they come from the private sector to "serve their cuntry" and thus take a huge pay cut.
And now they are expected to "scrape by" on 10 % of their already reduced pay (compared to their private sector jobs) at retirement.
Come on Singapore -- look into your hearts.
With Matilah's lucid and logical reasoning, I have no choice but to agree with him. Paying ministers a miserable 10% of their salary as pension is too risky.
He is thinking like a true blue Singaporean. This is the kind of reasoning that Singaporeans can understand.
Now, who is demanding for the whole universe? So unreasonable!
Think the woman does not know how to count. Think she got 10% but thinks she got 40%.
10% is only the pension part. Do not overlook the various paid postings and appointments offered to them when they retire or step down.
Some Older Singaporeans have received and some are receiving pensions. How these pensioners are paid should be the benchmark for the Ministers and Civil Servants that are entitled to it.
What is so difficult? After all pension is older than the independence of Sin.
patriot
10% of 4 millions is $400,000 for doing nothing at all other than talk cock and sing song !
WTF , corrupted PAP MIW !
However small a pension they get is still far better than nothing and the vast majority of us get nothing. What more do they want?
Patriot has a point about the ruler's pension being on the same basis as older peasants. But then they will start to argue that they are special talents and need special rewards. How can they be compared to peasants? Our system works on warp logic and self serving interest. Nothing more!
Getting to the bottom of the pension issue for another hundred years and we still are non the wiser.
But rest assured, the truth hurts. Better be ignorant and live in bliss.
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