The Singapore People’s Party will not be releasing a full response to the ministerial pay review until the parliament debate of 16th January , because there are two major points that the Party are studying more deeply.
The first point is the recommendation for the ministers’ pay is to be pegged to the specific number of the top 1,000 earners. It intrigues us as to how this new peg will play itself out for the next 5 years, compared to the old formula.
The second point is on the performance indicators (or KPIs) for the ministers’ bonuses. The main KPI for the Minister for Transport, for example, should be the quality of Singapore’s public transport system. His KPI should not be the general state of the economy, as is provided for in their new National Bonus.
If the Government’s decision is still to match ministerial pay to the top earners of the private sector, then their measures of accountability and KPIs must also match the rigour of the private sector. This is only for the good of Singapore.
Nevertheless we note that the Prime Minister’s mandate to Mr Gerard Ee’s committee was specifically limited to comparing ministerial salaries to private sector salaries. That conclusion was already set before the committee met, unfortunately. The Singapore People’s Party pushed for a stronger public service ethos to be emphasized in any review of ministerial pay, but this committee was just doing its mandated job.
Mrs Lina Chiam, NCMP
Singapore People’s Party
