Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Fact: U.S President George W. Bush earns S$605,200 annually
Fact: Singapore Cabinet Ministers currently earn S$1,200,000 annually (1.6 time more than the President of the United States)
Fact: Singapore Prime Minister currently earns S$1,940,000 annually
Fact: A proposal that will see the wages of Singapore Ministers increase by a whopping 86% is pending.
Fact: That will mean an approximate S$1 million increase in annual salary for each minister, not including bonuses.
This means that the average income in Singapore will be a mere 2.7% that of a minister. And all these in the midst of the widening income gap in Singapore and the 2% rise in GST.
This will no doubt be a heavier strain for the taxpayers, and of course, questions are being asked.
Where does the 2% rise in GST go?
Is it neccessary to pay government officials this much?
The 2% GST rise, according to the government, will go to help the lower income group. How?
"By making the higher income group pay more for the products and services they buy"
If anyone has any brains, he or she would be able to figure out that it helps the poor a lot, as in the most in the world! NOT!
It is the lower income that actually suffer. Take a look at this scenario.
A lower income group family is forced to buy things at a higher price because of the GST hike. But their pay does not increase because the boss claims that he cannot afford it due to the GST hike.
A middle-high income family buys things at a higher price because of the GST hike. Their pay is not affected by much because they have higher income and is able to sustain themselves.
How is that beneficial to the lower income group?
By giving more money to the poor, the Government says.
In the recent Budget debate, the issue of social welfare provided to the elderly and destitute was raised.
Member of Parliament (MP) Lily Neo said: "My single constituents told me that they needed to skip one meal a day to live on the $260 per month."
The response?
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said that "An elderly recipient, living alone, currently receives about $260 a month. We will increase that to $290 a month."
WOW!
The Government is going to increase the allowance of a poor elderly living alone by $1 a day! So that is what they do with the 2% GST! Giving a measly dollar to poor old people who cannot afford 3 meals a day!
Where does the rest of the money go?
Where else? Most of it would be to the Minister's pocket.
Is there a need to pay them so much?
Yes, according to PM Lee. A high pay helps reduce corruption in the government, and it also helps attract and retain the brightest talents in the market.
But hasn't Singapore been doing fine without the soon-to-be over the top wage increment?
If a Minister is truly sincere about wanting to help Singapore, he or she would not want such a high pay and instead give up the pay for the poor and needy.
Of course, this has called into doubt the sincerity of the current batch of politicians. Do they even want to help Singapore?
For example, in Finland, their Prime Minister is paid a sixth of what our PM is currently paid, and yet, their economy is doing well, they are ranked 2nd in transparency (beating Singapore). This proves that even with low wages, corruption can still be avoided.
There is also a suspected political agenda behind the move to the obscene proposed pay rise.
With PAP taking 82 out of the 84 seats, one can tell that this monumental increase would benefit PAP more than any other party. The other parties? They get their pants sued off by the sue-happy PAP, funded by their already outrageous funds.
A huge suspect point about the wage is that they are regulated by the Governemnt itself. There is a special formula code named MR4, so claims the Minister for Finance (PM Lee). It is set at one third of the 24th and 25th high-flyer in the private sector. Further details are not released.
The reluctance to release more information may also mean that other details are left out.
For example, bonuses. How much bonus does a minister get each year? 2 months? 4 months? A year?
Or the provebial 'peanuts' from the NKF case?
As a famous latin quote goes: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", which translates to "Who will guard the guardians" in English.
Who will regulate the Government's actions? Who is allowed to stop them if their actions go on to become tyrannic?
(All statistics are accurate as of 11th April 2007, including conversion rate and are from the below sources)
Sources:
http://www.singapore-window.org//sw07/070405RE.HTM
http://www.singapore-window.org//sw07/070405AT.HTM
Fact: Singapore Cabinet Ministers currently earn S$1,200,000 annually (1.6 time more than the President of the United States)
Fact: Singapore Prime Minister currently earns S$1,940,000 annually
Fact: A proposal that will see the wages of Singapore Ministers increase by a whopping 86% is pending.
Fact: That will mean an approximate S$1 million increase in annual salary for each minister, not including bonuses.
This means that the average income in Singapore will be a mere 2.7% that of a minister. And all these in the midst of the widening income gap in Singapore and the 2% rise in GST.
This will no doubt be a heavier strain for the taxpayers, and of course, questions are being asked.
Where does the 2% rise in GST go?
Is it neccessary to pay government officials this much?
The 2% GST rise, according to the government, will go to help the lower income group. How?
"By making the higher income group pay more for the products and services they buy"
If anyone has any brains, he or she would be able to figure out that it helps the poor a lot, as in the most in the world! NOT!
It is the lower income that actually suffer. Take a look at this scenario.
A lower income group family is forced to buy things at a higher price because of the GST hike. But their pay does not increase because the boss claims that he cannot afford it due to the GST hike.
A middle-high income family buys things at a higher price because of the GST hike. Their pay is not affected by much because they have higher income and is able to sustain themselves.
How is that beneficial to the lower income group?
By giving more money to the poor, the Government says.
In the recent Budget debate, the issue of social welfare provided to the elderly and destitute was raised.
Member of Parliament (MP) Lily Neo said: "My single constituents told me that they needed to skip one meal a day to live on the $260 per month."
The response?
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said that "An elderly recipient, living alone, currently receives about $260 a month. We will increase that to $290 a month."
WOW!
The Government is going to increase the allowance of a poor elderly living alone by $1 a day! So that is what they do with the 2% GST! Giving a measly dollar to poor old people who cannot afford 3 meals a day!
Where does the rest of the money go?
Where else? Most of it would be to the Minister's pocket.
Is there a need to pay them so much?
Yes, according to PM Lee. A high pay helps reduce corruption in the government, and it also helps attract and retain the brightest talents in the market.
But hasn't Singapore been doing fine without the soon-to-be over the top wage increment?
If a Minister is truly sincere about wanting to help Singapore, he or she would not want such a high pay and instead give up the pay for the poor and needy.
Of course, this has called into doubt the sincerity of the current batch of politicians. Do they even want to help Singapore?
For example, in Finland, their Prime Minister is paid a sixth of what our PM is currently paid, and yet, their economy is doing well, they are ranked 2nd in transparency (beating Singapore). This proves that even with low wages, corruption can still be avoided.
There is also a suspected political agenda behind the move to the obscene proposed pay rise.
With PAP taking 82 out of the 84 seats, one can tell that this monumental increase would benefit PAP more than any other party. The other parties? They get their pants sued off by the sue-happy PAP, funded by their already outrageous funds.
A huge suspect point about the wage is that they are regulated by the Governemnt itself. There is a special formula code named MR4, so claims the Minister for Finance (PM Lee). It is set at one third of the 24th and 25th high-flyer in the private sector. Further details are not released.
The reluctance to release more information may also mean that other details are left out.
For example, bonuses. How much bonus does a minister get each year? 2 months? 4 months? A year?
Or the provebial 'peanuts' from the NKF case?
As a famous latin quote goes: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", which translates to "Who will guard the guardians" in English.
Who will regulate the Government's actions? Who is allowed to stop them if their actions go on to become tyrannic?
(All statistics are accurate as of 11th April 2007, including conversion rate and are from the below sources)
Sources:
http://www.singapore-window.org//sw07/070405RE.HTM
http://www.singapore-window.org//sw07/070405AT.HTM
posted by The Wordsmith at
11:38 pm
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