Briefly, the SDP’s recommendation looks pretty reasonable with cabinet ministers getting 40 times the mean wage of the bottom 20% of the workforce. This works out to be $42k pm for ministers, with the PM getting $50k and the President $63k. Yes, very reasonable, minus the big bonuses!
What the recommendation amounts to is a pay cut for the ministers of about 90% or more. Now isn’t it ridiculous? My theory of RAR applies here. Things can look reasonable but can instantly become ridiculous when look at from another perspective.
The only misgivings I have, actually it is an observation, is how people’s mindset can be conditioned to an extent that it is so difficult to change. After all the publicity and discussions about the role of the president and how little he really does compares to a minister, the SDP recommendation still pegs the President’s salary higher than the PM. Beats me.
This kind of conditioning is very typical in Sin. Even people whose thinking are more than the average layman are affected by it. I will say, give the President an honorarium, a respectable amount given the role that he is doing. To me the President should not be getting even 50% of what a minister is getting. He should not even get what an MP should be getting, but conceding a higher amount is a respect for the high office.
I think anyone recommending the new salary package for the political office must bear in mind that it is reasonable and not ridiculous. But I must qualify that being reasonable and ridiculous is relative. The recommendation could be really very reasonable. It only look ridiculous when comparing to the current salaries of political office. Or put it another way, the current salaries look very ridiculous compare to the recommendations. Anyway both look ridiculous.
If the recommendation is to be adopted, which is another ridiculous thought, one good thing will happen. Property prices will fall as there will be lesser people able to throw their millions freely at properties.
11 comments:
Joke / Satire
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Q. Singapore has submitted an entry into the Guinness Book of World Record - Thinnest book category
What is the name of that book?
A. "Underpaid PAP Politicians" by Gerard Ee
Wow! SDP truly ridiculous man!
Imagine it has recommended a useless president to be the highest paid civil servant.
The window dressors SHOULD BE PAI more than the window dressing which could simply be just a flower pot with an artificial plant in it.
SDP got to wake up it's idea!
patriot
SDP is getting very ridiculous in this recommendation. Have SDP ever consider that following awards that our clowns have been so hard fighting for and sacrificing on expense of their conscience will gone down in drain ?
Current Guinness World Records
- World's most expensive government
- World's first top 30 expensive politicans
- World's most expensive Old fart
- World's most useless politican for ROI
- World's most expensive clowns
etc
..
See , so many titles at stake so how can SDP's proposal be good ?
Hahaha
I am definitely, honestly sure that they will say that if you pay them like what the SDP recommended, Singapore will go down the gutter and will live the rest of their lives regretting.
You know who will be asked to come out to say that, so no need for me to point fingers.
Is the SDP now in cahoot with the Party to hookwink the people. Does SDP fall in line with the Party's thinking that Singaporeans are really daft.Does SDP really believe that it will form the next government and therefore in anticipation it is recommending this same disgusting self satisfying high salary. Or is SDP in some sort of a secret pact with the Party? Wherefore then the illogical recommendation of the president and ministers' structure which is not very much different from the Party. Singaporeans will now pin their hope on the Workers'Party to form the next government so that they can trasnslate David Marshall's perspective of what constitute a rational pay structure for ministers and politicians. As a chief minister David Marshall was receiving around eight thousand dollars per month. Subsequently he was shocked when he came to know that PAP ministers were paid by the millions and one of his comments was that they can't eat those money. When the Party and its ministers have a free hand in the national coffer while the citizens have a hard time sufferfing economic hardship then it is time they should be booted out in the next general election. That goes the same for SDP and any politicians who place their self interest first and the people's last.
Southernglory1
sdp
Hi Southernglory. You misread their numbers. It is only about 10% of the present salary. The current gross, inclusive of bonuses could be more than $400k pm when divided by 13 mths.
I think Southernglory is of the opinion that S$42K pm or thereabouts is still way too high for ministers and not a misreading of the numbers.
Comparing that with the lower income groups' monthly salary is, as the ex MM said, astronomical. It is still ridiculously high to some, but can be considered ridiculously low to some too, especially the beneficiaries themselves.
Me? I think just about reasonable, but should not be discreetly inflated with ridiculous bonuses of 8 months or whatever, as I am given to understand.
Will they go around the recommendations and bonuses with some other ridiculous benefits is another question. Never discount the PAP's ingenuity in devising schemes to reward themselves with self serving logic that Singaporeans can never hope to counter, except in cyberspace.
Quote, "...As a chief minister David Marshall was receiving around eight thousand dollars per month...."
David Marshall's $8,000 those day is already quite a lot if you compare with the average pay of the people or the bottom 20%. SDP is right to talk about relative pay, i.e. how many times of the bottom 20% of the people.
Do you really think PAP will cut minister's pay to that extent? If they do, they will win back the people's heart and will be in power for many years. I personally doubt so and hope they will not do so because it is better to have a real change as soon as possible to achieve a fully accountable and transparent government.
SDP's proposal will never materialize. That is why our friend Er takes so long and yet to come out with the recommendation. Do not dream to have any significant cut like 50% or 70% or even 90%. Cut of 30% already draws their bloods.
Pay and Pay (themselves) may a long transition periods (several years) to scale back from the current astronomic level to whatever level Gerard Ee recommends. Net effect - stuff their pockets while they can and buying their time to do so by officially accepting the recommendations of the Ministerial Salary Review Committee.
If it transpires like what I described above, is it ridiculous or reasonable ? :)
hope they no more put up children to run as MPs with so much money at stake.
I think we are hoping against hope that there will be a big salary cut in Gerard Ee's recommendation. It will be hard to imagine a big downward adjustment and I cannot see it materialising, knowing well that people who have tasted multi million dollar salaries will never settle for anything less if they can help it.
The worst case scenario, when that happens, is that they will throw the ball back to us and claim that with that kind of salary as recommended, no good and talented people will want to come forward to serve.
Even now, with that kind of salary they are harping on the fact that some politicians in office could earn much more in the private sector. So, be careful what we wish for. We are not dealing with Santa Claus.
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