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Comments: Mellanie Hewlitt
Sg_Review
16 Sep 2011
Below is a self-explanatory letter that was sent to the Straits Times and copied to Mr Gerald Ee (who heads the committee to review Ministerial Salaries), which was never published;
This message was forwarded to you by WeeSoon@...
Date: 15 Sep 2011
From Goh Wee Soon
To: sphcorp@...
To: Gerard Ee
Re: PAP Ministers Salaries a National Embarassment
Dear Sir, I recall some time in May 2011 that a committee was purportedly set-up to review and address the very lucrative salaries paid to our ministers. This has been a long overdue exercise and brings back to me a discussion that I had with some of my younger staff during the financial crisis in 2008.
You may recall that the 2008 financial crisis hit many private companies and banks very hard. Many of us were forced to either down-size our departments or effect pay-reductions to contain operational costs. My bank (a state aided European bank) was no exception and as a department head I had the burden of either letting go redundant staff and informing existing staff that there would be delays in bonus pay-outs and temporary pay-reductions during this period.
As was expected the news was not well received especially amongst staff who were laid-off. However what was totally unexpected was the reaction of the remaining staff who were spared from the retrenchment exercise. Not only were they not grateful, several even asked why they should take a pay-cut. And it was even more glaring that such objections came, not from the older married staff members with children to support and heavy financial responsibilities, but from the younger, single and more impressionable employees.
I tried in vain to explain that this was a temporary situation and that we should all be grateful of having a job in these difficult times and that money was not all that important as we should derive satisfaction from the value we add to the team. The response from 2 young twenty-something year olds was loud and immediate:
"Who says money is not important. This is Singapore, look at our leaders and Ministers, they are paid million dollar salaries. Our leaders themselves are doing this for the money. They definitely don't work just for the love of the country. Who are you to tell us otherwise?"
I was left speechless for a moment to counter this argument as there was truth in these words. But after a moment's reflection I replied;
"Yes this is Singapore and yes we have million dollar salaried ministers. But ask yourselves these questions. Do you respect them? Can you expect to turn to them in tough times like these? Do you want to be like them at all?"
They were strangely silent as I think they did not expect such a politically in-correct reply from me. I pressed on:
"Do you know what will happen to Singapore as a country if all the citizens here adopt the same attitude as our million dollar ministers? We will cease to exist as a financially viable business center tomorrow!"
I have copied Mr Gerard Ee in this email in the hope that he can take the above incident into account in his assessment of ministerial salaries. This is sending the wrong message to our citizens, especially the younger generation as they will adopt a mercenary attitude towards all things in existence and we simply inculcate such shallow and material values.
I have never been so ashamed of our leaders before. And I share this with you and with SPH knowing full well that this letter and its contents will never be published. But I do hope that you give some thought to this in your review process.
Goh Wee Soon
Sg_Review
16 Sep 2011
Below is a self-explanatory letter that was sent to the Straits Times and copied to Mr Gerald Ee (who heads the committee to review Ministerial Salaries), which was never published;
This message was forwarded to you by WeeSoon@...
Date: 15 Sep 2011
From Goh Wee Soon
To: sphcorp@...
To: Gerard Ee
Re: PAP Ministers Salaries a National Embarassment
Dear Sir, I recall some time in May 2011 that a committee was purportedly set-up to review and address the very lucrative salaries paid to our ministers. This has been a long overdue exercise and brings back to me a discussion that I had with some of my younger staff during the financial crisis in 2008.
You may recall that the 2008 financial crisis hit many private companies and banks very hard. Many of us were forced to either down-size our departments or effect pay-reductions to contain operational costs. My bank (a state aided European bank) was no exception and as a department head I had the burden of either letting go redundant staff and informing existing staff that there would be delays in bonus pay-outs and temporary pay-reductions during this period.
As was expected the news was not well received especially amongst staff who were laid-off. However what was totally unexpected was the reaction of the remaining staff who were spared from the retrenchment exercise. Not only were they not grateful, several even asked why they should take a pay-cut. And it was even more glaring that such objections came, not from the older married staff members with children to support and heavy financial responsibilities, but from the younger, single and more impressionable employees.
I tried in vain to explain that this was a temporary situation and that we should all be grateful of having a job in these difficult times and that money was not all that important as we should derive satisfaction from the value we add to the team. The response from 2 young twenty-something year olds was loud and immediate:
"Who says money is not important. This is Singapore, look at our leaders and Ministers, they are paid million dollar salaries. Our leaders themselves are doing this for the money. They definitely don't work just for the love of the country. Who are you to tell us otherwise?"
I was left speechless for a moment to counter this argument as there was truth in these words. But after a moment's reflection I replied;
"Yes this is Singapore and yes we have million dollar salaried ministers. But ask yourselves these questions. Do you respect them? Can you expect to turn to them in tough times like these? Do you want to be like them at all?"
They were strangely silent as I think they did not expect such a politically in-correct reply from me. I pressed on:
"Do you know what will happen to Singapore as a country if all the citizens here adopt the same attitude as our million dollar ministers? We will cease to exist as a financially viable business center tomorrow!"
I have copied Mr Gerard Ee in this email in the hope that he can take the above incident into account in his assessment of ministerial salaries. This is sending the wrong message to our citizens, especially the younger generation as they will adopt a mercenary attitude towards all things in existence and we simply inculcate such shallow and material values.
I have never been so ashamed of our leaders before. And I share this with you and with SPH knowing full well that this letter and its contents will never be published. But I do hope that you give some thought to this in your review process.
Goh Wee Soon
