'Goh Chok Tong was reportedly quoted in an audio recording as saying that
PAP Ministers are not paid enough, and people who earn S$500,000
annually are “mediocre”.'
Simon Lim made this quote in his article on how disappointed he was with Goh Chok Tong. He may be disappointed but Goh Chok Tong did not become LKY's first choice candidate as the PM of Singapore for nothing. It must be exactly for making such wise cracks, oops, I mean comments to be noticed by LKY as his number one choice. Pardon me, I am ageing and maybe getting dementia.
But Chok Tong need not be unduly worried about the ministers being underpaid since the recommendation by the nasty COI to reduce a bit of their grotesque out of this world salary. There are many ways to increase a minister's salary without asking for a pay revision. Let me be a smart alec for once and offer a few good suggestions that the govt can do to increase the salary of ministers without asking for a pay rise and without raising alarm and unhappiness among the daft citizens.
1. Just promote them, to senior this and that or deputy PMs. Can have 4 or 5 dep PMs. The increase in salary would be seen as due to promotion ie clever and deserving, not simply pay hike. Who can quarrel with that? Clever ministers must reward mah. If not every minister acts stupid stupid how?
2. Create more minister positions, like having more ministries, ministers without portfolios or having more ministers in a ministry. So instead of one minister, two ministers can be promoted to be paid ministerial salary.
3. If that is still not enough, appoint them to be chairman of GLCs, part time jobs with good monetary rewards.
4. Can also appoint them to be directors of companies, easiest is GLCs. If one directorship is not enough, offer 2 or 3 directorships, or 8 or 10 until happy happy.
5. And chairmanship and director fees need not be reflected in the govt's budget some more. The pay of the ministers would look unchanged and can look unchanged for ages. And ministers can pretend to look very unhappy and grumpy because got no pay rise or salary revision. This is like playing the sympathy card, so poor thing, so long no pay rise. Caveat, this is a tough act if ministers all eat until fat fat and chubby chubby, looking so oily, rosy and radiant, very difficult to have the hungry look of cleaners in kopitiams or cardboard collectors. They must not look like Napoleon.
6. Of course there is the annual bonus to add to the salary. Be creative, call it productivity bonus and tie it to some fanciful formula that always go up, or can be jigged to go up.
7. When productivity bonus still not enough, can create creativity bonus, leadership bonus, innovative bonus or PLP bonus. PLP stands for people in short, ie people bonus for being people caring like scheming compulsory insurance schemes using CPF money that the people cannot say no. Don't have funny ideas.
8. There are also other indirect bonuses or rewards in kind, like going for overseas trips, fully paid, for training trips, learning trips, fact finding trips etc etc. Go and learn how to manage MRT, how to manage the oldies, how to make our education system better than third world education system...QED.
Just ask any HR professional and they would be able to produce a long list of monetary rewards without increasing the basic salary or calling for a pay revision.
I think I have given a lot of good suggestions that the govt can consider without ruffling the feathers of the unhappy and very sensitive daft citizens. They would not know what is happening, not a clue that the ministers salary can be fatten in these ways and keep telling everyone the ministers are only earning $1m or the PM earning $2m dollars as officially said so. So 'cham', so poor thing. Like that how to become the highest paid politicians in the world with the highest dignity?
What do you think? My suggestions good or not? Oh, one trade secret, don't tell, don't talk about it. When smart alec asked, just be very transparent about the basic salary and buat bodoh about the additional perks, bonuses, fees etc etc.
The Mathematician PM is already one or two steps ahead of you since the last reduction of ministerial pay.
ReplyDeleteThere is a secret bonus, the exact amount of which is decided by the PM. In of one the years when GDP growth was 14%, he gave himself 20 months bonuses. So go figure out how many months bonuses the other ministers get.
All in all, there are 4 types of bonuses each minister gets:
1. NWC recommended bonus.
2. Annual GDP Performance National Bonus.
3. Annual Personal Performance Bonus.
4. Secret Bonus at the discretion of PM ( you can call it Balls Carrying or Loyalty Bonus).
That's where you have Senior Secretaries, Senior Sperm Secs, Snr Ministers, Mental Ministers etc.
ReplyDeleteNow First Sergeant, Second Sergeant and what's Third Sergeants.
Why No First Corporal etc etc.
Farking pei sai SAF. Have nearly 10 to 20 Generals.
And kernels ni jobs have to transfer to SMRT.
Thats why they are civil serpents, politicks, leeches and only know how to suck blood. The world is not fair so such people can exist. So when pay your next tax, gst, duties, remember to curse those ministers. The more curses, the more mother nature will take control.
ReplyDeleteSmall Boy Chua://Oh, one trade secret, don't tell, don't talk about it. When smart alec asked, just be very transparent about the basic salary and buat bodoh about the additional perks, bonuses, fees etc etc.//
ReplyDeleteBased on the old story of the emperor being naked wearing a new clothes which is "nothing" and everyboLEE pretending it is very nice by playing the PLP (people's role based on the blog writer's latest definition) role until SHAMboLEE who turned out to be a small boy with all his innocence and truthfulness calling spade a spade called out the "hardtruth" ... Oops ... red faces everywhere ... All the one everyboLEE knows but pretend nvr see the "emperor naked" like the newly born babies until the (new) small boy (aka adolescent Chua) called him out ...? Aiyo ... Maciam thunder out of the blue from sudden lightning strike ... To the "naked emperor" hardtruth of "clever tricks" but known to all his (cuntry's) men (and women) but pple keep quiet pretend dunno ...?
Of course RB, and to add more fuel to your very big appetite pubic service of Hippo PAPPoo misters:
ReplyDelete1. Promote wives to CEO of Tummysick subsidiaries or related companies.
2. Also as children come of age in late 20s or 30s, some quick path to director level like Meedia (Fake News)Authority. Or lobangs in some Gigolo Facebook firms thru' connection.
3. Special privy to buy gcbs, from properties owned by related firms like Keptpeer for Lau Goalie. Or deep discounts from Ong Bang Sang.
4. Overseas high end Scoldlahship for sons n daughters like Malboro Tan, .....the list go on.
5. Riding aircon white horses midnight special for National Server
6. The Biggie is to manage big national FUN under a fake private company paying bonuses like Goldman, using accounting gymnastic cheap historic nation transferred assets donkey years ago and revalue to mkt...Pau Chia.
How not to be very rich....blur the stupid sinkies still thinking a few mlns for AirRiskto Cats is enough for OUR standard of clearing the Table lah.
//'Goh Chok Tong was reportedly quoted in an audio recording as saying that PAP Ministers are not paid enough, and people who earn S$500,000 annually are “mediocre”.'//
ReplyDeleteAiyo ... TNM (aka KNN in Cuntorniece) ... Tun Madhater is going to get "very angry" liao ... In one stroke, Lau Goalie (own GO(A)H) "insulted" the entire matland cupboardnet? Lau Goalie "creating problem" ... for who ...? Haven't meet up "already throw mud into pple's face .... "Scoreeeee ..... GoaLLLLLLLLL ...." (Own Go(A)h) ...? Lau Goalie turned 3-yo not enuf fun yet back from hooleedazes now still in world cup mode ...? "Forcing" Big Bro to "sack" him so he can turn renegrade and join "force" with his childhood other (RareFirst) schmate "block" abang adek to champion the ukele "this is my country" ....?
@ all taxpaying Sheeple
ReplyDeleteSingapore is governed by a class of Ruling Elites, our version of a Peranakan Aristocracy.
Therefore they should be paid accordingly and the serfs and peasants should tone down their dissent, and access to the Super Human Abilities of their feudal masters.
It follows that there should not be ANY UPPER LIMIT to the monies paid to these people who sacrifice so much of themselves in service to the nation and duty to the Sheeple.
Because they are adroit in managing the business of The State, we should exploit their abilities in also managing our biggest companies; and compensate them accordingly.
In this way, we needn't feel guilty in pushing our masters too far, as they would be suitably renumerated for their business savvy in the "private" sector.
"Sama Sama Menuju, Bahagia"
How fortunate it is to be a humble vassal in our cuntry.
This national day, we should each take a knee and pledge our liege to our great masters.
"Seamua Kita Berseru!"
Long live our Leaders!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRb, I find it hard to believe that woody said that. Did u verify its not fake news cause I don't think woody is that dumb to insult 99.9% of the population leh. So the dude that anyhow quote him should be sodomized to learn a lesson lor 😀😀😀
ReplyDeleteGoh Chok Tong's comments make my blood boil.
ReplyDeleteI am very furious at what he said!
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” ― Frédéric Bastiat
ReplyDeleteIt is reported everywhere. He said it during a Q&A session recently when he was asked about helping the elderly when it was suggested to cut defence budget or salaries of ministers.
ReplyDeleteRight Matilah, Singapore National Day is celebrated MORE joyous like leeches like you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Rest who advantaged the Daft Sinkies with the blessings of their equally Daft and Traitous Leaders.
Only those patriotic Singaporean children die serving the Nation.
Those so called Permanent Residents or citizens took the first flight home when their interests are been jeopardized.
Stupid Sinkie Leaders for the sake of Enhancing their peesai glories with already leeching of the Nation's wealth took in these parasites who upon tasked with the Role of NS started scrambling with all sorts of excuses and scooting away.
Those who brought some empty glories to them are also been excused from performing their obligations.
Only that Poor Melaka lad who have had the wrong beliefs as propagate by their leeching cousins who has them good died an unnecessary DEATH.
Even our chao Hay what's fluke flash in the pan Olypmic Swimming Gold which is worth nothing just by a name only to the Ego Leaders told his chao hay BRO to follow his heart. Meaning farking off from here
You think our highly esteemed Egoistic so called Olympic Swimmer will serve his NS obligations
???
Fat hope, he will not be in Sinkieland to serve and die an want ongg DEATH.
The SAF can now hoo haa about the past unnecessarily lapses andcock ups.
Mark my words, there be further these unnecessarily deaths in the future.
They just masak masak and memories are short for them and peasants lives are cheap.
Actually Woody wasn't Old Fart's first choice ... he wanted KFC to take over him as PM, but Woody managed to get majority support of Cabinet ministers.
ReplyDeleteIf Goh Keng Swee had his way in the early 1970s, Woody would have been black marked & condemned liao. Woody supposed to serve his govt bond in MTI under GKS when he came back from overseas study. But Woody bypassed GKS and secretly talked to NOL & PSC for his bond to be transferred to NOL.
GKS was infuriated when he found out about it & wanted to discipline Woody. But Old Fart intervened & told GKS to cool off.
So Old Woody had proven again and again he went where the money & opportunities were within the monopolistic power, without any real loyalty. Public service is just a convenient veil to fully exploit the system and rallied behind the scene for his selfish ambition n greed. He is a true politician without principle. Namly GCBs, were once NOL?
ReplyDeleteWoody is another of infamous REye product of yes-man or con-man?
ESM actually stands for "Enriching Self Mastermind".
ReplyDeleteLHL is very clever in giving such appropriate title to the Wooden-head Only Ghost of the Trinity - Father, Son and Only Ghost!
ReplyDeleteOn Friday, local news platform MustShareNews shared an audio recording of Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong who turned down a suggestion to lower ministerial salaries or to lower the defence budget in order to better support elderly in Singapore,
ReplyDeleteIn the conversation, 70-year-old Abdul Aziz shared his concerns about issues about elderly being forced to work just to survive and asked if Singapore could have some sort of an elderly pension fund and suggested that the defence budget to be cut a bit and also perhaps 10 per cent on the ministerial pay.
When queried if the recording was indeed true, ESM Goh had his staff to clarify that the recording was taken during a dialogue at the South-East District conference on Thursday (2 Aug) at NTUC Centre and provided the transcript of the conversation. When compared with the recording shared on Facebook, it is shown to be truncated.
Read the full transcript here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2018/08/05/goh-chok-tongs-speech-defending-high-ministerial-pay-and-defence-budget-at-grassroots-event/
3.30 pm, be careful what u posted u may be sued till your pants dropped then Tua Kee coming in to sodomize u very jialat lar😀😀😀
ReplyDeleteAnon 1.46 is right. Woody was not the first choice. Tony Tan was the first choice, but he declined. If I remember correctly, Woody was ranked No. 4. Two others, Dhanabalan and Lim Chee Onn were mentioned. Dhana was highlighted as not ready to be Sinkieland's Indian PM in the context of Singapore's predominant Chinese population then. Correct me if I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteTalking about ways to increase minister's salaries and more ministers, this has already happened with two ministers for education in a trial run recently (though that has now reverted to one), but it was probably to test the ground reaction. The response must be pretty encouraging for the PAP to say the least. No adverse comments.
After the next GE, we will probably see more ministers in the format of the MOE twin minister exercise. As for salaries and bonuses for ministers etc it is as always, a legalised farce. They can take as much as they want and nobody is the wiser, being able to tout the same old excuse that revealing their remuneration is a threat to national security, like GIC and Temasek.
OldDragon28August 08, 2018 12:41 am
ReplyDelete@ Virgo49 August 07, 2018 10:50 am
"Hello OldDragon(28)
You must be the Chinese Ancient Historical Scholar."
Nah Nah Nah ... Mee spent a lot of time and efforts on "modern" China especially the period between 1978 to 2017.
For those westerners who tried to make sense of the phenomenal high-growth phase of China (at more than 8% per annum) which lasted 33 years from 1978 to 2010 and what the future beyond 2018 could portend, it could be the case of "searching for Easter eggs. You only find what you have hidden yourself. What you, yourself have hidden beforehand.”
To make sense of the restructuring efforts of the Chinese economy and where it could be heading, the best method could be none other than the "scientific measures" ...?
To know whether an economy is restructuring successfully, one way is to study the change of its GDP composition in terms of the various sectors?
Looking at the GDP composition of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the Chinese economy of the past decade from 2008 to 2017, it can reveal to a large extent whether the restructuring and rebalancing of the Chinese economy is yielding any dividend?
Nicolas Nassim Taleb, in one of his best sellers "Fooled by Randomness" wrote: "... randomness disguised and perceived as non-randomness ..... we seem to have evidence ..... 'courage' ... underestimation ... than ....".
China could well be The Golden Swan version of Nicolas Nassim Taleb's "The Black Swan"?
"The Black Swan" raises fundamental inquistions into how many mathematically complex endeavours gain or fail to gain new insights. Taleb
posits that those unpredictable events, abberations are the ones that could turn commonly agreed assumptions on its head. Such are those that have a substantial significant influence on the way social scientists try to determine how the world works and they are greatly more useful for gaining more instrumental insights about the many things of human activities than the similar expectations not unlike the search for Easter eggs which often ends up finding those eggs that ones ownself had hidden them beforehand... Such could be in the China case where whatever the westerners wanted to find about China could be the "Easter eggs" they hid beforehand?
As such, China stands as a powerful challenge to the conventional wisdom of the west? The Golden Swan version to Taleb's "Black Swan"? Those who tried to predict China could very well end up on the wrong end?
Laying down the Chinese government's response to the post-2010 economic growth phase, they are:
(A) Supply-Side Structural Reforms (SSSR)
1. Phase out excess capacity;
2. Resolve unsold housing inventories;
3. Lower the level of indebtedness;
4. Reduce Costs;
etc ...
(B) In the “Third Plenum” of November 2013, under the stewardship of President Xi Jin Ping, many reforms were announced.
How should we measure whether many of these initiatives have yielded the intended results?
Looking at the GDP composition of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors could illuminates how the "new economy" of China is transiting?
Using data from 2008 to 2017, three sets of information can be computed via current prices, 2016 prices and 2010 constant prices.
What are these?
(Young) Bro Virgo49,
Political economist Chua is a renowned figure in his own domain and an accomplished professional in his own sector. Perhaps more can be enlightened by his contribution to the above "5th rater" personal insights?
Cheers,
OldDragon28
Typo ... smart phone auto(in)correct
Delete(Human bean's "manualcorrect") Should be:
".... could illuminate ....."
China's GDP grew by 6.9% in 2017. That is significantly noteworthy.
ReplyDeleteDiversification of the GDP components and sector reforms lay emphasis, with central government's direction and assistance, aims to increase the productivity of the tertiary sector to more than 50%, while reducing the secondary sector. The primary sector will be maintained at 10% but using techonology to increase output. This is to counter the US Trade War. China will produce her own soya beans and reduce imports of harmful soya beans from the US.
China's GDP for 2018 will likely be even higher than 2017. The Trade War effects can only be felt significantly in 2019.
Well said Mr Chua for following up on the China comment!
ReplyDeleteJust some minor "collection" though ... for the benefit of MSN readers ...
When you said "..... aims to increase the productivity of the tertiary sector to more than 50%, while reducing the secondary sector."
Did you actually mean "aims to increase the PRODUCTION (or OUTPUT) of the tertiary sector to more than 50% (OF THE GDP), while reducing the (SHARE OF THE) secondary sector (IN THE ECONOMY)."???
(HUMAN BEAN'S KP (kaypoh) SUGGESTED EDITING IN CAP)
Ahem, I am not Chronicle.
ReplyDeleteTo understand China, one has to look at the whole society of people, culture and lifestsyle and the country as a whole.
The poverty and bankruptcy of China prior to the 1978 Revolution were caused by a few centuries of misruled by the Manchus and followed up by the looting and plundering of the West. Then there was this concerted effort by the West to demonise and oppressed the Chinese Civilisation world wide.
When Mao took over China it was like ground zero, to restart a new China. His main success was the reunification of China. Deng took the baton and China took off from a very low level of development. The people even today do not consume at the rate and scale of the West. The cost of living other than in the big cities are still relatively low and they could survive on wages that are comfortable to them in China but seen as very low overseas. That is why economists are trying to look at China from the angle of purchasing power parity.
By using RMB and converting to US dollars, China seems to be very poor in many things. But in reality it is very rich in many ways that the West cannot see. A few thousand dollars would be enough to feed a Chinese soldier versus a hundred thousand dollars for an American soldier. A Chinese tank, aircraft or missiles caused a fraction to make in China. China is self sufficient in many things....
The West still pretend to be superior and trying to block China from access to new and leading edge technology. Unfortunately this phase is over. China has caught up and is developing new technology on its own. Soon China will be passing laws to prevent the West from stealing its technology, like 6G fighter aircraft, space technology etc etc.
The West can continue to underestimate China and Chinese to their own peril. They are in a state of self denial.
OldDragon28, appreciate your contribution and sharing of your knowledge on China.
I forgot to add the invasion, destruction and genocide committed by the Japanese and their looting of whatever that was left in China. The KMT also took a lot of treasures and gold with them when they fled to Taiwan.
ReplyDeleteChina was practically penniless when they start to rebuild themselves from scratch while the West continue to obstruct and block them from access to technology and the world economy.
Mao did many killings to unify china. It was not without blood. His face still on the RMB. If there is no commie, the world will be better. There will not be constant division.
ReplyDeleteCHina/ Chinese was already penniless after manchurian invasion. Thats when we have Lu xu and Sun wen.
ReplyDeleteb, don't be like the asshole who whole day talked about Mao killing millions during the Great Leap Forward. The GLP was an economic campaign meant to increase productivity, not to kill Chinese. If one cannot differentiate the intent and purpose of the GLP and the death of millions due to drought and famine, act of God, then it is futile and a waste of all the time and money put into education oneself.
ReplyDeleteThe death of Chinese due to Civil War was between Chiang's KMT, a totally corrupt regime and the Mao's CCP. Mao triumphed because of the support of the people, the peasants.
I hope you can get this part of Chinese history clearly in your mind and remove the prejudice and hate on the communist propagated by the West. China is a better country today and the Chinese people are living a better life, with pride and dignity, because of the CCP. The few opposition are just too insignificant to mean anything. The good of 1.4b people is definitely more important than a few thousand distractors supported and played up by the Americans and the West.
If China were to be ruled by the KMT till today, it would likely be a semi colony of the West and continued to be bullied and despised by the West.
Brilliant rebuttal by Redbean @10.42am.
ReplyDeleteChairman Mao is a "gift of God" to the Chinese people. The Great Helmsman steered the Chinese people out of centuries of humiliation as the Sick Man of Asia. Without Mao, "Chinese and Dogs Not Allowed" signs would still be displayed everywhere. The useless KMT could not even defend the Chinese people from Nipponese atrocities. Incidentally, Chairman Mao is a great fan of Bruce Lee.
In "Red Star Over China" famous author, Edgar Parks Snow recounted his interviews with Chairman Mao in Yenan. He predicted correctly that Chairman Mao would make China great again once the corrupted KMT is overthrown. General George Catlett Marshall of the famous "Marshall Plan" went to China to help negotiate a coalition government between the KMT and the Communists. He was thoroughly disgusted with the duplicitous Chiang Kai-Shek. He found Mao most sincere. Subsequently, the talks broke down and Mao went on to win the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteChua Chin Leng aka redbeanAugust 08, 2018 9:36 am
ReplyDelete///That is why economists are trying to look at China from the angle of purchasing power parity.///
At nominal value, China GDP in 2017 is US$12 Trillion, #2 globally.
Calculated on PPP basis, China GDP in 2017 is US$23 trillion, #1 in the whole world.