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Charles Tan
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Vantage
After
all the talk, what are we going to do about the pay hike?
Charles
Tan
17 May 07
The
increase of the ministers' salaries have generated so much
controversy and distrust from the ground that when Prime Minister
Mr Lee Hsien Loong announced his decision to donate his increment
to charity, it was met with cynicism. Many saw it as a public
relations exercise to reduce the damage that the pay hike had
inflicted.
Of course the local newspapers, trying to
soften the blow, devoted several of its pages to reports,
"analyses" and readers' letters defending the pay hike.
Not unexpectedly, much of the coverage focused on peripheral
issues such as the implementation of the pay rise, the
sensitivity and timing of the pay rise, and alternative systems
of deriving ministerial salaries.
With such "robust"
debates in the media, one might be forgiven to think that the
media in Singapore is pluralistic. This could not be further from
the truth, as the real issue was not debated - how our ministers
are already overpaid as it is even without the increase. No
dissenting views proposing that ministerial salaries be reduced
to saner levels were published.
Besides cutting
ministerial pay, we need to review the pay formula and the logic
of linking ministerial salaries to top earners in the private
sector.
Instead, ministers' salaries should be related to
other factors that affect society's welfare and well-being. These
should include income disparity, cost of living and the increase
in salaries amongst our workers to cope with these increases.
Other areas factors such as diplomatic relations with
other countries, the state of civil society, the level of
political participation (not just in elections), the general
level of happiness among Singaporeans, and the amount of
discrimination in the workplace could be used to assess the
amounts ministers ought to be paid.
While
such factors are admittedly difficult to assess vis-a-vis
government performance, they nevertheless form important
indicators which help to give citizens an idea of how well the
Government is doing, not just in economic terms, but also with
regards to the well-being of the general society, especially the
disadvantaged and the poor.
By using these indicators,
the ministers would create and modify laws and policies that are
more caring and sensitive towards the people.
After all
the talk is done, however, the question that remains is: What can
we do about the recent ministerial pay increase?
Let's
start with the Opposition. For too long, critics have accused it
for being unable to pose a serious challenge to the PAP. The SDP
has even been accused of focusing on democratic or human rights
issues while neglecting economic issues that concern the people.
Yet,
for as long as I can remember the SDP has actively campaigned
against our ministerial salaries and related bread-and-butter
issues.
During the last elections, SDP candidates
repeatedly raised the issue of the ministers' pay during the
rallies as well as matters such as the rising cost of living,
increasing unemployment, the foreign talent policy, and the
growing income disparity. These subjects were the front and
centre of our campaign flyer. The New Democrat, the
party's newsletter, has devoted pages since the 1990s to
protesting against the huge salary package that the ministers
give themselves annually.
Singaporeans have also spoken
out against the matter. They registered their displeasure by
communicating their opinions to grassroots leaders, wrote letters
to the press and/or their MPs, and even signed online petitions
to urge the Government to reconsider its decision to increase
ministers' salaries.
Yet at the end of the day, the
Government has not relented on this issue. As we all know, this
will not be the first nor last time that the ministers will
increase their salaries.
In a few years' time, all the
debates about the issue will be well forgotten and the ministers
may well decide to give themselves another raise.
Without
a powerful Opposition to oppose these measures, Singaporeans will
have to live with the pay increases for the ministers.
The
only solution therefore, is for citizens to be active in
supporting the Opposition and to participate in civil society. In
short, we need to think out of the (PAP) box and not just focus
on elections to the exclusion of everything else.
Don't
just sit back and complain. Support the Opposition.
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