When I read Pritam's speech and watch the "cross-fire" between DPM Teo and Gerald Giam, I could not stop feeling that WP has totally lost its plot.
What's the difference between pegging wages to Admin Service superscale (MR4) vs entry level senior civil servant MX9 grade? Apparently they don't really know that the civil servant pay is highly pegged to each other in hierarchic order and in return, the salaries were again pegged according to "market competitive rate" which basically means, in principle, what WP has proposed is totally the same as what PAP has been doing all this while!
This is proven by the fact that MR4 is 5 times of MX9 which is why WP ends up with the exactly the same number, $55K for basic monthly pay. WP is just like a blind man taking a walk round and round, coming back to the same point but insisting that they are walking the different path as PAP!
Politically speaking, they have failed badly in letting PAP to paint them into the corner by saying, hey, WP is no different from PAP! So next time, please shut up about high ministerial pay!
On top of that, Gerald Giam has exposed WP's weakness, they don't really know what they are talking about! They don't know how the civil service pay is being determined and just blindly use it as a peg and say it is different... but it is definitely no different!
What Gerald Giam should have said in retort is that if WP is to become the ruling party, the formula and principle in determining the civil service pay scale would have changed as well! That is to say, we are very different from PAP after all and please don't keep saying we are the same as you! But Gerald Giam failed miserably and didn't understand the art of Parry and Strike. He just basically walks right into the hole which is unwittingly dug by his own party with a slight push by DPM Teo!
Gerald Giam's inability to debate effectively was seen in his first cross fire with Vikram when he actually admits that WP's proposed basic monthly pay for entry level ministers are the same with what has been proposed by the review committee. What he should have done is to reiterate that when the whole package is taken into consideration, the quantum is totally different. He should have stressed on the fact that the bonuses are different, instead of replying directly to such a "trap question".
But I bet he has tried his best. The fault lies with an ill-thought proposal which lacks the depth in analyzing the political implications as well as the realistic implementation issue. Layman just couldn't be bothered with all those confusing figures and their argument will be all buried with those figures. The opponents will definitely amplified the obvious figures cited, the same $55k basic monthly salary. The indifference between pegging to MX9 and MR4.
Whoever behind them, the think tank and such should be shot for coming up with such disastrous proposal which eventually sinks the MPs during the debate. I am really dismayed at such performance and palm face when I see how WP members being slaughtered mercilessly in parliament these few days.
Goh Meng Seng