"Singapore Budget 2015: Ministerial salaries have not risen in past three years - The ST 10 Mar 2015
SINGAPORE - Political salaries have not gone up in the last three years even as the benchmark they are linked to has risen by around 3 per cent per year over the period, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Tuesday.
The House had, in 2012, endorsed recommendations from an independent committee to link ministerial salaries to the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singaporean citizens, with a 40 per cent discount to reflect the ethos of political service. Since then, this benchmark has risen in two out of three years, and dropped slightly in one year. Overall, it rose 3 per cent per year, said Mr Teo.
Mr Teo was speaking during the debate over the budget for the Prime Minister's Office. MP Edwin Tong (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) had asked whether it was timely to review the framework by which political salaries are determined."
Edwin Tong, the MP, the lawyer who defended (and is still defending?) Kong Hee and some of the CHC leaders (the same Kong Hee that Roy the Blogger got into troubles when comparing PM Lee's handling of CPF to his handling of the Building Fund), asked about the political salaries structure.
Hmmm, interesting question.
Passed a certain accumulation of wealth, is there still thrill and trophy-winning feeling when you get a pay rise in the FIXED Salary portion?
I think not. I hope not. With the property cooling measures working so that young Singaporean couple who want to start a 3-kid family can afford a HDB and/or a private property on their own, the S$1.1m per year will buy these office holders many good properties after every other year.
But then we ALSO know that a house or many houses NOT a home made.
So, I am sure DPM Teo is NOT hinting, which a lot of people seem to have jumped to conclusion, that the ministers need a Fixed Pay adjustment?
Before I leave this topic, I URGE sincerely that the government, especially DPM Teo, who is in charge of total salary package of Public Servants, to make CLEAR distinction between Fixed Salary and Variable Bonuses EVERYTIME he mentioned 'salary of the ministers or the public servants'.
For FIXED salary, there SHOULD NOT be any more increases AFTER a certain amount.
For variable bonuses, HOPEFULLY they can make it TRANSPARENT on HOW theirs, if any, are provided. e.g. what are their KPIs, what are their ACTUAL performance vs. the KPIs set.
We all know that when the WRONG KPIs are set, they ENCOURAGE the WRONG behaviours JUST to achieve KPIs!!
To borrow something that Minister Khaw had said recently in parliament: 'It will be like committing political hara-kiri IF the ministers are looking at fixed salary increment' given the many 'shortcomings', as some of the contributors wrote: MRT breakdowns continued, SMEs still struggling with productivity despite the incentives, some matured willing and able Singaporean PMEs still cannot find matching jobs/pays, etc.
SINGAPORE - Political salaries have not gone up in the last three years even as the benchmark they are linked to has risen by around 3 per cent per year over the period, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Tuesday.
The House had, in 2012, endorsed recommendations from an independent committee to link ministerial salaries to the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singaporean citizens, with a 40 per cent discount to reflect the ethos of political service. Since then, this benchmark has risen in two out of three years, and dropped slightly in one year. Overall, it rose 3 per cent per year, said Mr Teo.
Mr Teo was speaking during the debate over the budget for the Prime Minister's Office. MP Edwin Tong (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) had asked whether it was timely to review the framework by which political salaries are determined."
Edwin Tong, the MP, the lawyer who defended (and is still defending?) Kong Hee and some of the CHC leaders (the same Kong Hee that Roy the Blogger got into troubles when comparing PM Lee's handling of CPF to his handling of the Building Fund), asked about the political salaries structure.
Hmmm, interesting question.
Passed a certain accumulation of wealth, is there still thrill and trophy-winning feeling when you get a pay rise in the FIXED Salary portion?
I think not. I hope not. With the property cooling measures working so that young Singaporean couple who want to start a 3-kid family can afford a HDB and/or a private property on their own, the S$1.1m per year will buy these office holders many good properties after every other year.
But then we ALSO know that a house or many houses NOT a home made.
So, I am sure DPM Teo is NOT hinting, which a lot of people seem to have jumped to conclusion, that the ministers need a Fixed Pay adjustment?
Before I leave this topic, I URGE sincerely that the government, especially DPM Teo, who is in charge of total salary package of Public Servants, to make CLEAR distinction between Fixed Salary and Variable Bonuses EVERYTIME he mentioned 'salary of the ministers or the public servants'.
For FIXED salary, there SHOULD NOT be any more increases AFTER a certain amount.
For variable bonuses, HOPEFULLY they can make it TRANSPARENT on HOW theirs, if any, are provided. e.g. what are their KPIs, what are their ACTUAL performance vs. the KPIs set.
We all know that when the WRONG KPIs are set, they ENCOURAGE the WRONG behaviours JUST to achieve KPIs!!
To borrow something that Minister Khaw had said recently in parliament: 'It will be like committing political hara-kiri IF the ministers are looking at fixed salary increment' given the many 'shortcomings', as some of the contributors wrote: MRT breakdowns continued, SMEs still struggling with productivity despite the incentives, some matured willing and able Singaporean PMEs still cannot find matching jobs/pays, etc.
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