TODAY: Recapture the ideals, vision of 1965, urge MPs

Parliament

DERRICK A PAULO
derrick@mediacorp.com.sg

HE HAS spoken fiercely in favour of the market peg for civil service salaries. But when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was quoted and referred to by Members of Parliament yesterday, they invoked the ideals he stood for rather than his hard-headed pragmatic approach.

As the final six MPs - out of 30 in all - spoke on the civil service salary revisions, the issue of how the ideals of a public service ethos square with a monetary emphasis came most sharply into focus.

Nominated MP Thio Li-ann argued passionately that Singapore, especially its post-1965 generation, needs a "unifying vision that transcends the joint pursuit of material wealth". "Civic virtues like loyalty, sacrifice and perseverance sustain hope that a nation will endure and become great," she said.

She cited how Mr Lee, on Aug 9, 1965, spelt out a vision of a country founded on the principles of "liberty, justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of a people in a more just and equal society". So, in the "overwhelming, market-oriented" approach to public office salaries, she asked, are "intangible values for nation building" being discounted?

Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim also quoted Mr Lee on how "political leadership should have passion, commitment and share the same dreams as the people", a comment to explain why foreign talent could not run Singapore.

While she agreed with him here, she questioned if the current salary benchmark for ministers is the way to achieve this. "If we're seriously unable to interest good people in public office, we must ask why other countries can do it and we cannot. Is it just the money or the fact that we have not invested in creating a culture of high-public-spiritedness?" she asked.

It was not just non-ruling party MPs who spoke on the importance of ideals. Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah Group Representation Constituency), asked: "How many lives and livelihoods are at stake if our policymakers become too comfortable and disconnected from the realities of ordinary Singaporeans?

"This post-65 idealist would like to see leaders coming forward with a heart to serve, honestly and compassionately, who will put aside personal interests for the interests of Singapore."

Straits Times: Sylvia Lim: Ministers will be out of touch with citizens

PARLIAMENT

BY ZAKIR HUSSAIN

NON-CONSTITUENCY MP Sylvia Lim yesterday pointed out that ministers' pay was likely to rise further in future, a rise she felt would put them out of touch with average citizens.

It would, she added, work against the national interest as leaders may face problems getting people to make sacrifices for the country.

A few years from now, she ventured, the benchmark "may require us to endorse each Cabinet minister's pay for $3 million or $4 million annually."

"As these pay packets are funded from taxes, including poor people paying goods and services tax, how far is the Government prepared to go with this? Does it have a threshold of unconscionability?"

The median monthly income of $2,170 was what a minister earned in just half a day, while a graduate's median wage of $4,450 took a minister a day to earn, she noted.

As the salaries move up to 88 per cent of the benchmark by the end of next year, a minister would earn in two to three hours what the average worker made in one month, she said.

"Does the Cabinet not feel a tinge of discomfort drawing taxpayers' money at such a rate?" she asked.

"At such rates, can ministers and Singaporeans share the same dreams?"

Ms Lim, chairman of the Workers' Party, reiterated her party's position that political office holders' salaries should be benchmarked against what their counterparts in successful countries get.

It was a logical comparison, she argued, because similar skill sets and responsibilities funded by the public were being compared.

Public service had to remain an undertaking for which people are prepared to make sacrifices in exchange for the benevolent power to improve the lives of others, she added.

"If we corrupt this by money, we can be efficient but never a country of high ideals," she said.

Nominated MP Thio Li-Ann expressed a similar concern with the emphasis on market-based pay, noting that leaders' wealth could spawn discontent and alienation.

"One's sense of duty must perhaps co-exist with other motives, but where does prudence end and avarice begin?" she asked.

"I appreciate the need to pay ministers well, but in devising an appropriate formula, there is a need to be vigilant, in the light of public unhappiness, to strike a median between austerity and excessive prosperity."