My thoughts on Ministerial Pay Hike

I was utterly wrong. I have been harbouring this thought that the PAP government will not announce a 2^nd ministerial pay hike but they did as “promised” in the end.

In my previous post “Glory for Nation or Money”, I mentioned many people are unhappy with the rising cost of living and the few unpopular policies (Annuity Scheme, GST Hike etc) that were announced some time ago and the ruling elites are running a risk of losing that delicate “bond” with Singaporeans. So I wonder, why would they even think of pushing through with the 2^nd wave of ministerial pay hike now?

To be frank, I cannot accept the government’s repeated justification that it must pay high to match the average salary of the top 8 professions’ earners to attract and retain talents in the government. As many bloggers have pointed out, if there is a need to entice potential candidates of ministerial quality with huge monetary rewards to join the government, it might as well be better for these people to remain where they are in the private sector as serving the nation is ultimately different from “serving” shareholders.

But why is the government unable to attract and retain talents? I think the main reason is not because good people are put off by the “low ministerial salaries”. Neither is it because good people dislike PAP. It is a problem with Singaporeans who are generally politically apathetic, unpatriotic and greedy. Imagine if we have the entire population who is truly concerned about the running of the country, theoretically there would be more elites who are willing to serve the nation whether or not the government provides huge monetary rewards.

What we need to do now is not to continue increasing ministerial salaries to obscene levels but to make more Singaporeans engage in discussions on social issues. When more people care about what’s going on in Singapore, surely some of them would feel the urge to come forward to do something about the problems that the country faces. An active citizenry is important for the survival of Singapore in the competitive world of the 21^st century.

The new ministerial pay structure can be found on The Straits Times "Ministers, top civil servants to get 4% to 21% pay rise in Jan"

Why Press Freedom in Singapore matters?

I think we are taking the values of free speech and free press for granted. While I do not deny we need to engage in self-censorship for issues like terrorism and official secrets to maintain Singapore’s national security, it is however our mainstream media’s role to provide the most accurate and the most unbiased information for all Singaporeans without any risk of intimidation by our government to prevent our journalists from writing about sensitive or embarrassing issues such as Singapore’s fast widening income gap, rising cost of living, foreign talent policy and Temasek’s foreign investments etc.

However, if our journalists decide not to take on an investigative role but instead adopt self-censorship in their news reporting in the name of “nation-building”, allowing the government to control any information to release to the public or withhold any undesirable piece of information so that the government can carry on with their agenda without any external pressure, the journalists are doing their readers a disservice as they are assuming the released information they have in hand is 100% accurate. And when they publish those “facts and statistics” in the newspapers, people will believe every single word that they read as truths.

Therefore, in order for our mainstream media to remain objective, it must be able to legitimately criticise the government and inform the public in the most complete and responsible manner. It is more important that we suffer small ailments or hiccups as early as possible than to cause Singapore to suffer major setbacks should any government policy fails in the future.

Cracks appearing between Singaporeans and Immigrants

Cracks are already appearing between Singaporeans and the new settlers who have come as permanent residents, not just between different ethnic groups, but also within races.

Ill feeling towards foreigners is beginning to surface in this most unlikely of places – cosmopolitan Singapore – attributed to the record influx of immigrants. By tradition, Singaporeans with their own migrant history have been open about foreigners from east or west, which has led to a recent mass arrival of settlers and visitors.

More than a million have arrived, mostly during the past decade, and although they have brightened the economy, they are also starting to incur a social cost as well as increasingly sparking friction with locals. Despite land reclamation, Singapore remains a small city, one of the densest in the world. The pressure is testing the tolerance level of Singaporeans, who are struggling to cope with a widening income gap and rising prices. Already one third of the 4.68 million people here are foreigners, not to mention the nine million tourists who arrive annually.

It has prompted warnings from leading figures, the latest from Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. According to him, cracks are already appearing between Singaporeans and the new settlers who have come as permanent residents “not just between different ethnic groups, but also within races.” People are showing less trust towards one another. Goh said “the new residents did not mix easily with Singaporeans” and the latter, in turn, “tended to leave the new-comers alone.”

Earlier, retired and respected civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow said if he had his way, Singapore would think twice before pushing for a 6.5 million population. Questioning the rationale, Ngiam said in an interview published in the governing party newsletter that Singapore does not need numbers but talent.

The 70-year-old said: “If we do it wrongly, it will change our economic and social system.” He stressed the need to appeal to people’s hearts. “Otherwise, Singapore will become just a six-star hotel where guests stay in good times and flee when times are bad. We will never become a nation,” he said.

Singapore’s mainly middle class, stressed by a widening wealth divide, is deeply worried about the large inflow. “Foreigners are viewed as threats to locals’ livelihoods, they are viewed with suspicion and envy,” a surfer posted.

A pivotal part of immigration is the successful luring of wealthy foreigners to settle here. It is doing wonders for the economy, but is also aggravating inflation and widening the income divide. If Singapore were not careful, it could split into two or three parts, warns Foreign Minister George Yeo. “And that third Singapore is the big chunk of people squeezed in the centre, between the poor and the rich,” he said.

“This group is the most vulnerable. If they feel the high life is out of their reach, frustration can set in. And being more mobile than the lower-end group, they can be tempted to vote with their suitcases. That is an option the other group doesn’t have.”

These warnings show growing government awareness that the speed to expand the population, if not the strategy itself, may threaten social harmony. Several incidents between foreigners and locals have stirred emotions, reflecting the current sensitivities.

These are minor everyday happenings in a crowded city that would have gained little attention if they had involved only locals, but were blown up into hot issues because foreigners were involved. In the latest case, Singaporean Michelle Quek said a Caucasian and his wife or girlfriend attacked her and her friend after her schoolbag “accidentally hit the woman”.

She said a quarrel ensued, which resulted in the Westerner holding up her friend by the arms, lifting her off the floor and dropping her onto the floor. She herself was punched on the nose. A couple of angry bystanders confronted the Westerner and stopped him from leaving, nearly causing more mayhem.

Singaporeans were also enraged when three young British tourists mocked an elderly rickshaw rider because he couldn’t pedal fast enough for them, then posted a video of the struggling old man on You-Tube.

Titled “The Slowest Taxi in SE Asia” it showed the trio squeezing into the small rickshaw, poking fun at the 76-year-old rider throughout the 10-minute trip. One remarked, “God, he’s in fifth gear” and every one laughed. They ran off without paying. Scores of Singaporeans bombarded the visitors, expressing what they would like to do to them. “Don’t come back to Singapore,” wrote one. “We will be waiting for you.”

Westerners are, of course, not the only people who are affected. In fact the bigger issue is the tens of thousands who have flocked here from China and India. Last year a record 70,000 foreigners were admitted; this year the figure is set to be higher.

Verbal insults have become a frequent phenomenon on the Internet between Singaporeans and some of the better-educated permanent residents. So far there have been no major incidents but the underlying resentment has given rise to fears that a small incident may one day flare up into big trouble.

Some aliens find it difficult to find accommodation; others get a cool reception from office colleagues. The government and community representatives have organised citizenship ceremonies and social gatherings to make the newcomers feel welcome. Leaders often extol the role of foreign talent in nation building.

Respected blogger redbean wrote of a growing potential for xenophobic tension. “For those who have to face the foreigners daily in all his living activities, when every citizen has to fight for his space and the air he breathes, tension is likely to build up and break out.”

The article was written by Seah Chiang Nee and obtained from The Star

The future is bleak: Rising Prices and Widening Income Gap

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced on Tuesday that Singapore’s economic growth is expected to slow to 4 to 6 percent in 2008. So what is in place for us? The weakening economy, rising costs in goods and services and an ever widening income gap between the rich and poor are together constructing a bleak future. As the article written by Wolfgang Reuters on Spiegel Online International noted: “It inevitably brings higher unemployment, a decline in government revenues and growing poverty.”

Our country is becoming more and more globalised but the onslaught of globalisation has caused many who are older, unemployed, less educated and less privileged to become the state’s rising disenchanted in an environment of rising costs and widening income gap.

Goods and services are getting more and more expensive. Every now and then, we hear news about increased prices of products. Online media has also aggregated list of price increases. This apparently high inflation which our government has constantly denied always has the most drastic impact on people with lower incomes, who need to spend a larger percentage of their disposable income on ordinary consumer goods than high earners. In addition, prices of oil have also hit record high levels. When oil prices go up, everything else will follow. As if coping with all these hikes is not bad enough, to rub salt into the wound, the government hiked the GST from 5% to 7% since July this year. Till now I still do not see how the GST hike could have benefited the poor as what they have claimed.

As Singapore becomes more affluent with record number of millionaires, poverty is still not something of the past. As much as our leaders try to convince us that Singapore does not have beggars, we still see them roaming the streets. Many seemed to have “evolved” into empty can and used cardboard collectors for resale back to manufacturers to earn mere pittance.

Some people have raised the inequality flag. Mr Brown, for one, has written an article “S’poreans are fed, up with progress!” for Today newspaper sometime ago to illustrate the whole issue. Martyn See, who is another, created a very touching short film named “Nation Builders” and brought out the harsh reality of how the poor eke out a living in our cosmopolitan society.

We may have lived in illusion, dreamed that we live in a wonderland, but the worst is yet to come: When the economic crisis strikes, more Singaporeans will join the league of poor and bankrupted. Let us hope you and I will not be the unfortunate ones.

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