Ministerial Wage Debate: Look at proposals, don't dismiss them immediately

DPM Teo queries WP's choice of MX9 benchmark

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean has argued that contrary to the WP MPs' defence of their formula as being more 'people-up' and in tune with national wage levels, their benchmark in fact belongs to a small pool of senior officers whose pay is pegged to people of similar seniority in the private sector.

Only 1.2 per cent of the 76,000 civil servants across all services are of the MX9 (Superscale) grade or higher, revealed DPM Teo on Wednesday.

WP MPs had recommended treating ministers' salaries as multiples of the MP allowance, as ministers should be paid according to the principle that they are first and foremost elected MPs.

They proposed pegging the MP allowance to the starting salary of entry-grade senior civil servants outside of the elite Administrative Service.

Look at proposals, don't dismiss them immediately - Letter from Jason Lee

WHILE we have a relatively clean and efficient government, one that makes me proud to be a Singaporean, I am turned off by the actions of some backbenchers.

I have been following Parliamentary debates closely since 1997, and it is evident that some Members of Parliament from the ruling party never fail to jump on every opportunity to score political points.

In any case, should the Opposition not express alternative viewpoints or concepts, given that not many PAP MPs will, or can, do so?

Why the adversarial tone during salary debate? - Letter from Kelvin Quek

I READ and watched most of the coverage of the debate on ministerial salaries in the mainstream media and online and was disappointed by the unnecessarily adversarial tone and bipartisan accusations that marred an otherwise interesting and serious debate.

Ironically, most of the hostility originated from the People's Action Party's backbenchers.

A few of the PAP MPs clearly went overboard in their attacks on the Workers' Party's stance, in particular, the accusations that the WP was playing political games, withholding their best ideas from the committee and acting in the party's interest rather than the country's.

These were mainly the newer MPs who seemed eager to make an impression.

The ruling party should not give any impression that it treats the Opposition in Parliament as an enemy, and its MPs should not oppose the Opposition's arguments for the sake of opposing.

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