SINGAPORE: The Opposition parties are not letting up on the issue of ministerial salaries, as they continued to shine the spotlight on what Government ministers are earning, on a day which commemorated the efforts of working men and women.
As Singapore marked Labour Day on Sunday, Opposition candidates called for a reduction in ministerial pay and took aim at the People’s Action Party (PAP) Government’s rationale of pegging the remuneration of Cabinet Ministers to the top six professions.
Suggesting that the ministerial salaries should instead be benchmarked at 30 times the median salary of the Singaporean worker — thus working out to almost S$1 million a year — the Singapore Democratic Party’s Michelle Lee said: "That would ensure it is in their interest to make sure your salary increases as well."
Also calling for greater scrutiny of the performance of the ministers and their ministries, Ms Lee, a candidate for Holland—Bukit Timah GRC, said: "CEOs are fired for their mistakes. Businessmen take risks and losses. So how can the private sector be a fair benchmark?"
Ms Lee had last Thursday criticised the "new PAP" for not matching up to its predecessors. On Sunday, she said: "It’s time for some corporate governance in our Parliament. The Government should answer to us. The old PAP knew this but the new PAP seem to have forgotten who they work for."
Mr Steve Chia, the National Solidarity Party candidate for Pioneer SMC, claimed the ministers "have lost their way". Said the former Non—Constituency MP: "Their focus is on themselves and their bonuses; their focus is not on (Singaporeans)." He proposed scrapping the GDP growth—linked key performance indicator (KPI) for ministers, and including other factors such as per capita income.
Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang took a dig at the shortage of candidates willing to jettison their corporate suits for the PAP’s white—on—white garb — a point conceded by the PAP leaders themselves — despite the attractive remuneration for key office holders. Only eight of the 24 new PAP candidates hail from the private sector, the same fertile ground from which the Opposition has unearthed a bumper crop for this General Election, Mr Low noted.
"So what happened to the high quality people from the private sector that the high salaries were supposed to attract? If high quality people from the private sector are turning to the Workers’ Party and other Opposition parties, it is a sign that good government does not necessarily require high salary," he said.
Singapore Democratic Alliance candidate for Pasir Ris—Punggol GRC Sidney Soon suggested that the number of ministers be cut and that the money saved on their salaries be used to raise the wages of the rank—and—file in the Civil Service.
Calling for ministerial salaries to be reduced, Reform Party candidate for Ang Mo Kio GRC Arthero Lim alluded to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s comments during his PAP rally speech on Friday.
Said Mr Lim: "(The ministers) say they should be paid so much because they are the elite. But even the Prime Minister had admitted that the Government has made mistakes so it shows they are not that great." (additional reporting by Ansley Ng, Christopher Toh, Ng Jing Yng, Tanya Fong, Lin Yanqin) —
TODAY
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http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4812260