Lim Swee Say mum on expected pay hike for ministers

By Eugene Yeo, Senior writer

If one just take a glance at the misleading Straits Times headlines today “Pay cut for civil service ?” without reading the entire article, one may have the impression that the entire civil service including our rich ministers are taking the moral lead of cutting their pay packages during this difficult time.

It was reported in the article that “A significant part of the annual pay for a senior civil servant or minister takes the form of a GDP Bonus, which is linked to growth in the gross domestic product”.

From my limited understanding, there is a difference between one’s monthly pay and end year bonus.

The civil service may receive less bonus, but their monthly pay is still unaffected. Both Mr Tharman and Mr Lim Swee Say have kept mum when asked directly if the ministers and senior civil servants will take a pay cut.

This is what they say:

Mr Tharman: “We’re not here to grandstand”

Mr Lim Swee Say: “From the labour movement, I think we will not be surprised (if) the public sector sees a wage cut because with the GDP declining, that must factor into the flexible component of wages.”

Now are we any wiser after listening to what our brilliant ministers have to say ?

What is so difficult of clarifying clearly if they are going to reduce their monthly pay packages which is expected to be raised from the current 77 per cent of a salary benchmark to 88 per cent. The benchmark is set at two-thirds of the median pay of the top eight earners in each of six sectors.

The pay hike was implemented in the year 2006 when our economy is booming. Since Singapore is now in recession, shouldn’t the ministers’ salary be re-adjusted to the pre-2006 level ?

For example, if a minister is receiving S$150,000 monthly now, it should be reduced to S$100,000 or less to save costs for the government. I am sure our ministers can still survive with a monthly salary of S$100,000.

Since the civil service salaries are now pegged to the private sector as a benchmark, then they should follow the latter’s example to reduce the pay and even retrench under-performing civil servants and ministers.

In short, the PAP ministers cannot have their cake and eat it. If they expect us to pay them salaries which commensurate with the private sector, then they should adopt standard practices of the private sector during times of economic downturn.

Why do we need 4 ministers in the Prime Minister’s office ? Can’t our highest paid Prime Minister in the world govern the country on his own ?