Ministers & their pay raise...
Title: Singapore PM to freeze his pay for 5 years, donate pay hikes
Date: 11
April 2007 1643 hrs (SST)
URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/269709/1/.html
SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he will hold his own salary at the present level for five years and will donate any increases in his salary during that period.
He made the announcement in Parliament on Wednesday, as the House continues its debate on salary revisions for government ministers and civil servants.
Mr Lee said making a large adjustment in public sector salaries now is politically a most difficult decision.
But it is something that must be done.
While it is very difficult to get people to understand and emotionally accept it, he said the issue is absolutely critical.
"If we do not tackle it now, the problem will not go away; it will just get worse - we will be in serious trouble," he said.
After discussing it at length in Cabinet, and with Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in particular strongly encouraging him to do it, PM Lee decided to move now because of the overriding importance of keeping public sector salaries competitive.
The Prime Minister said that to make clear why he is doing this, and to give him the moral standing to defend this policy to Singaporeans, he will hold his own salary at its present level for five years.
The Government will pay him his full pay, because that is how the system must work.
But for five years, he will donate the increase in his salary from this and subsequent revisions. Mr Lee said he does not expect other Ministers to follow.
While it is a Cabinet decision, he told Parliament, he is carrying the ultimate responsibility, not them. So what the individual Ministers and MPs do is up to them.
Mr Lee said that he knows they already support various worthy causes. It should not be a public ostentatious display of how generous they are, but a private matter for them to decide at their own discretion, he said. - CNA/ir
Hmmm... While I'm not too pleased that my GST and liquor tax paid is going towards funding a bunch of monkeys ministers for managing this little red dot, well at least the PM's doing something which I wouldn't protest against.
Then again, who exactly will benefit from his donation? The schools? The various organisations? or????
This damn issue of ministerial pay hike right after the GST hike is dragging too long. It seems like it's been planned since day 1.
Why don't they just donate to 'Save the Moo Moo' fund where you monkeys folks can fund me & moi fellow moo moos for our tertiary studies so we can have less financial burden and afford to go for beer after class everyday.
Not to mention, at least we WON'T turn out to be an elitist. Like our dear Wee Shu Min from RJ. TSK! Elitist my head...
Oh well, so much for getting out of their elite uncaring faces.
As the saying goes, "You pay peanuts, you get farking monkeys."
Guess the monkeys we're paying now to run the place is costing us way too much, especially when peanuts are at 600k min each. Perhaps we shld pay them in bananas instead? =P
Labels: random ranting
CoW g0eS Mo0 m0o~! Mo0eD @ 6:30 pm
0 MoOeD~!!
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