You cannot run a country on greed or money. If what is good for the country is all about greed and money, then you will have to face policies that are greed or money driven.
A country is about the well being of its people, not about the well being of a few rich men or women, not about the superb infrastructure, not about GDP growth, if they don’t benefit the people.
To connect the performance of political leaders to KPIs is controversial. To link them to GDP is dangerous. We have seen an economic wonder in year 2010 when our GDP out performed China and India. It must be another world record for Guinness, 15% GDP growth! No bluff. If there is no linkage of GDP with minister’s performance, we may not be near that number by a mile. It was a miracle that is like once in 50 years event. Make that 100 years.
And nothing can be more terrible than to link minister’s pay with GDP as KPIs. We know how numbers can work wonders with a little jigging by the statisticians. No need to explain. Even Ali, Ah Eng and Amir can do it to look good, and betterer if their pays are tied to it.
How could dumbass experts tie the performance of a country to just economic numbers? The well being of the people, cost of living, happiness, general health, quality of life, freedom of expression, a good life, to live and enjoy life instead of working to death, living in bigger and better housing, no need to fear a runaway property price and unable to buy decent roofs over their heads, good jobs, to be able to spend their hard earned money, etc etc are all important factors that must be taken together as a whole. Running a country is not just about how much more profit. It is everything, about a good or better life.
Dump the KPIs. And never link minister performance with profits. The National Development Minister must have gotten 24 or 27.5 months of bonus for increasing the revenue of HDB and its profits if his KPIs were about revenue and profits. But what about the consequences and the well being of the people, the pain, the angst and the money being emptied from their savings, forced to buy ever higher property prices in the public and private sector. And force to wait 4 or 5 years to get their flats? Are they really good for the people?
National leadership is not just about making money and raising GDP numbers. It is about people, and no, not just people, it is about the citizens, the interests and welfare of the citizens. Once these objectives are being distorted by money and greed, the people will only be aroused, I mean anger and discontent of the people.
Spare the effort and wasteful time and resources to measure performances of ministers by themselves. The simple and more important and relevant way is to evaluate them by the people through the ballot box. The citizens may be daft but not dumb and know what is a good govt and what is a bad govt. They have exercised their little intelligence for the past 4 decades for their own good by voting for good govt. How can anyone dismiss the people as stupid and do not know how to judge if the govt is good or bad?
Let the people decide whether a govt deserves to be reelected. Period. Dump the KPIs. Running a country is a long term enterprise, not short term results measurable annually.
In a way that your article is absolutely correct, but easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the DNA and spirit of the current cabinet.
redbean makes an unsubstantiated claim to start off his post, and proceeds to argue as if it were "the truth". What a con man!
ReplyDelete>> You cannot run a country on greed or money. <<
Of course you can. The story of Singapore thus far, and the reason for it's astounding success is because the people and the government have been pursuing money...motivated by greed.
Greed is a human emotion. It is neither good or bad.
So get fucking real and don't hide the truth!
Let me make Matilah happy this morning. He is right. You can run a country on greed and money.
ReplyDeleteBut there are consequences and price to pay for it. And the price is getting higher and higher, and getting to become unacceptable. KNN CPF minimum sum also go higher and higher, property prices, cost of living, prices, fees, rentals, everything will go higher and higher.
Money must not be the only thing to measure the performance of ministers. There is such a thing they called holistic approach to running a country.
Are you in one of your fruity new age moods again?
ReplyDeleteJust because you are "not happy" doesn't mean you are "correct" in the moral assessment (whatever that is) of the situation.
Politics, power and money all go together.
The people get the government they deserve --- and that AXIOM sets up DYNAMIC PROCESSES of human action and interaction.
What are you going to tell me next: that Singaporeans are a special "sub species" of humans and possess superlative qualities, and have erased the negative quirks of human nature?
Please, entertain us with your comedy lah!
I see a trend that i do not approve of, and feel is highly dangerous.
ReplyDelete[Presumption: No inflation]
COE: 65-70k every 10 years
#after 30 years: roughly $200k
HDB Apartment: 300-400k loan
#interest accrued over 30 years @ 2.5%/annum assume loaner makes linear payments = $112.5k - $150k
CPF contribution from employee w/o employer consideration:
#every 1k/mth = $200
1 year = $2.4k
10 years = $24k
30 years = $72k
average singaporean earning 3k a month when he is 30 pays $216k in 30 years of work.
[presume no wage increase]
with simple math, driving a car and living in a 4-room flat whilst paying cpf for 30 years means:
$200k + $112k + $216k = $528k that you don't see anymore once you make these commitments.
Let's reverse this and divide 528k by 30 years and then 12 months.
$528k/360 months = $1.4k-1.5k monthly
thats the amount of actual spending you do when you live simply. Its boderline crazy if any of you think this is normal or affordable by the average singaporean.
I havent even gone to the extent of trying to measure things like road tax, income tax, housing renovation, gst-induced spending (thats killing the poor really)
with 528k per average singaporean given a basket of 2 million working singaporeans, thats 1 trillion!
Victor, your costing is too conservative. But sinkies are happy. Got lui to spend mah.
ReplyDeleteAnd Matilah, you are bad, very bad.
Your assumption of human characters is so pessimistic. You have insulted all the good men that we have, maybe the exceptions are the few good men.
How can you say that all men are the same, driven by greed, money and power? You forgot lust.
Not true lah. Just look around for the few good men and they will prove you wrong.
redbean ,
ReplyDeletehere's the difference:
1. You do not accept human nature -- you always postulate that people should be...[whatever].... You invent all sorts of nonsense labels to describe human nature: evil, greed, selfishness...etc.
2. I accept, and try to improve my understanding of human nature. We mammalian primates with big brains; brains which generate the epiphenomenon of consciousnesses , have many QUIRKS because we evolved to SURVIVE, using emotion as the primary tool, not reason or logic.
Human nature is what it is. Relac lah. We are all scared monkeys, with weapons.
GDP ?? Prease again , you berieve in GDP of 8.5% per annum in China ?? If you berieve GDP is not a cooked up kelong figure , then you too berieve in the existance of Ultraman. GDP is a convenient tool for the powers that be to use as tools of propaganda . Prease understand how GDP can be cooked to boil , par boil or well done. prease
ReplyDeleteThere is a living proof of superman cum ultraman in one Matilah Singapura.
ReplyDeleteHe can survive under the worst tyrant and in the most corrupted. Not just live, he will thrive!
We all paid for Durians but we got peanuts. Worse still we also kenna shoved up the shit hole and still continue to Pay and Pay.
ReplyDeleteanons, prease prease relac lah sial.
ReplyDeleteAstro Boy uses his manga magic to create GDP figures and other economic data used to "calm" people and the markets. Also in cahoots with the Double Penetrated Virgin" Mary, these fictitious numbers are used to "massage" lenders into handing over the moolah so that the WELFARE PROGRAMS can continue in most cuntrees, by promising the lenders SPECTACULAR RETURNS on their investment -- backed up by "data", of course.
>> He can survive under the worst tyrant
Not true. First it is UP TO YOU to avoid getting yourself under a tyrant.
>> and in the most corrupted.
I have no problem with "corruption". To me corruption is part and parcel of being human. We are all CORRUPTED in some way.
It can't be helped. In many instances I like corruption because you can "bribe" your way to get ahead.
"Bribing" is nothing more than market arbitrage -- ie there is a price discrepancy between real value and stated value.
I say it is damn wrong to bring down the remunerations of the Ministers.
ReplyDeleteAt a few millions per year, they have little or nothing left to help the poorer Singaporeans. And now their pays got reduced! Imagine what they have to resort to now in order to help the 'poorerer' Singaporeans?
As many of the Incumbent Ministers hailed from FOREIGN LANDS, just wonder if they send money back to their other families in those countries? Do they sent their Singapore Made Family Members to settle in other countries and then transfer their SINGAPORE MADE FORTUNES to invest everything there?
Should there be a Law drafted to prevent ex-political leaders from settling abroad and or prevent them from transferring their money abroad? Is there such a need?
I learnt many years ago to earn SGD and spend it in countries with weaker or weakening currencies. Monkey See , Monkey Do ... I learnt it from those greedy pigs. So , not too late to jump in on the band wagon , monkey see , monkey do , can't beat them ? join them pehaps? hmmm ?
ReplyDeleteHi Matilah, I didn't know you got so much respect for me, that I invented words/terms like greed, evil, selfishness. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI pai seh to accept the honour. These are descriptive words of human behaviour. I wish I invented them.
I know that you have just came across them and still unfamiliar with them. You will get use to them.
Thank you, thank you.
Hi anon 12:48. You are right. GDP is something that can be cooked to please the taste buds of whatever wants it. They can have it rare, medium or well done to suit their taste.
ReplyDeleteYes RB at 2:33. We must always get 3 choices just like when we go beg for food , we get offered hawker , food court or restaurant. This is the singapore way. thanks to our honourable you know who. Those who don't , can spell vivian?
ReplyDeleteAiyah people. The number of times I've seen S'pore "big timers" here in Kampung Perth is amazing.
ReplyDeleteSince I fly SIA almost exclusively -- fantastic service, hostess all jambu -- I have on more than one occasion shared the cabin with "famiLee" members.
Also remember the RSAF have a base here, so you get the brass showing their faces.
In past years George Yeo like to come here talk cock to the mat salehs.
Don't be silly people: get overseas too. You are right: monkey see, monkey do!
These new KPIs per se are okay. My gripe is that the targets are set so low, that even if the economy does not grow, they will still get months of bonuses. And which companies give more than 20 months bonuses to most of its employees? Also, remember in the past, if the economy tanks, they will blame the global economic environment, but when the economy booms, it is all their credit. Tail you lose, head I win.
ReplyDeleteTo me all KPIs are not okay in public office. You cannot let someone set his own kpis, without your agreement, and may be detrimental to you, and using whatever numbers or statistics selectively to justify his achievements.
ReplyDeleteThe best way is the people judging them at the GE. They set up what they want to do, the people decide if it is what they want. No happy, don't vote them. And at the end of the term, another chance to decide if they have done what they said.
Remember the KPIs of housing. How many Sinkies think they are good for the people? To me they were atrocious, anti people.
Latest revelations about ministerial salary at entry point are:Basic salary $715k
ReplyDelete1 mth. AVC
3 mths. Performance bonus
3 mths. Ann.National bonus
Total : $1.1m
plus MP allowance in addition.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteGrace Fu is a minister without grace and is very ungracious to the city which wrongly and illegally pay her and her fellow ministers so much for doing so little that is worthy to Singapore. She has openly shown her disssatisfaction from her heart and if we are not mistaken she is symbolic of most of the ministers and PAP MPs in mind and spirit in their real colours to serve the country for the sake of money and not for anything else. In the meantime her colleague Tony Tan who ran aground GIC and caused Singapore to lose more than 42 billion dollars can still be a President collecting millions of dollars in obscene salary for the next six years.
Paying themselves obscene high salaries is bad enough but what is worse is that they burden the people with all sorts of unreasonable tax via high PUB charges, high transport fees in SBS and SMRT, high medical cost, high property tax, high cost of COEs and ERPs and a myriad of other hidden charges as in GST.
To top their sin they have ignored the welfare of the people causing untold suffering to hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans who are suffering in silence. Every year thousands of Singaporeans have died unnecessarily from cancer, heart disease, kidney trouble and diabetes because they cannot afford the high cost of medical treatment. For many who survive the diseases they are greatly impoverished as they have to sell their house to repay huge loans from friends and relatives and from loan sharks.
If the PAP government has any conscience it should sincerely lighten the people's burden and suffering by reducing taxes, abolish GST for medical and hospital charges, reduce medical
cost and help the poor and middle class in other ways.
PAP ministers and MPs should wake up and stop being self serving and hypocrital in claiming that they want to serve the people when it is actually the Money God they are serving and that's the reason their obscene high salary is never high enough. They must sincerely change or the people will change them in 2016.
Southernglory1
January 17, 2012 9:49 PM
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