What great PR skills!

I hope that Singaporeans will not be stupid enough to believe in this PR stunt. Knowing full well that if he doesn't do something to appease the people, in the next elections, things will go very wrong for the PAP (which most of us think, will go very right for Singapore).

Wouldn't it have been easier to just give that increment amount to charity in the first place? Oh yea, you can't do that. If you do that, you can't show that you are a wonderfully generous and caring person. I mean, it is so much easier to show that you are kind and compassionate when you give away your own money (money which you don't need) then if you just put it in the Singapore budget for charity.

But I really doubt Singaporeans will be smart enough to see through this. I really doubt that anything will change in the next elections because for a very simple reason, we are not only stupid but very gullible and the gahmen knows which buttons to press so that we'll vote them in again.

So after the PAP comes into power again in 2011, this will once again happen. We stupid peons will rave and rant about they wanting to increase their pay to 4.5 million, and after they do that, a great PR stunt (like this one) will be done again and we stupid peons will forget everything and believe in the love and compassion of our PM and ministers. And we'll vote them in again.

As my friend believes, we'll never learn.

Further reads:
PM Lee's Sacrifice | New Direction in the Justifications

Today
12 April 2007

THE BUCK STOPS HERE
-------------------
Decision to hike ministerial pay was 'most difficult', but a necessary one to make: PM

Lee U-Wen
u-wen@mediacorp.com.sg

BY PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong's own admission, this is not the best of times for the Government to be grappling with an issue as sensitive as a pay hike for ministers and civil servants. Certainly not when the income gap in Singapore is seen to be widening, and not everyone is enjoying the benefits of the returning good times. In fact, some speakers during the three-day parliamentary debate on the issue even wondered whether Mr Lee and his ministers had undermined their moral authority to govern by giving themselves such large pay increases.

So, when Mr Lee took the floor yesterday to wrap up the debate, he decided to address just such concerns: Minutes into his two-hour long speech, Mr Lee said he would freeze his pre-increment salary of $2.5 million for the next five years, promising to donate any increase in pay to charity.

That means a donation of at least $3 million, or a minimum of $600,000 in each of the five years. Under the phased pay revisions announced on Monday, Mr Lee will draw a salary of $3.1 million this year, a 25.5-per-cent jump from what he drew last year.

The Prime Minister said he did not expect other ministers to follow his lead.

"I'm the one carrying the ultimate responsibility ... I know that ministers and MPs already support various worthy causes, but it should not be an ostentatious display of how self-sacrificing they are. That is a private matter for them to decide at their own discretion," said Mr Lee.

While his decision is likely to win applause from many, one MP asked whether some Singaporeans may view it negatively.

Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) said: "I fear that there may be people out there who take his magnanimous gesture as a retreat and a face-saving admission that the policy (on ministers' salaries) is flawed."

Responding, Mr Lee reiterated that it was his personal choice.

In his speech, Mr Lee said he agreed with MPs who had argued that joining the public service required "sacrifice and selflessness".

Still, he added, choosing the right people for the job was "not an auction" to show who was willing to make the bigger financial sacrifice.

In a speech that was at times emotional and peppered with anecdotes from
his own 23-year career in politics, Mr Lee spoke about his fears of
Singapore getting a corrupt premier in the future.

"I'm worried about somebody wanting to be Prime Minister, hoping to be
paid not a single cent but still collect $400 million - under the table
..

"We don't expect ministers to earn as much as top earners in the private
sector, but it must not be too far out of line with what is earned
outside," said Mr Lee, who also shared with the House that he turned 55
this year and has drawn his CPF.

On the timing of the pay hikes - less than three months before the Goods
& Services Tax will be raised by 2 percentage points to 7 per cent - Mr
Lee conceded that the timing could have been better.

But then again, he said, there is "no good time". The last major salary
revision was seven years ago, and there was a growing "urgency" to close
the gap on the private sector benchmarks in order to ensure that the
public sector would continue to attract, and retain, top talent.

"Politically, this is the most difficult decision for me to take ... It
was Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew who
encouraged me to do it. They know the importance of having good ministers
to help them with their work."

Mr Lee also touched on the link made by many MPs between ministerial
salaries and public assistance payouts for poorer Singaporeans.

"When you make such comparisons, the problem can become very emotional ...
General welfare is something we can promise, it's very easy and popular.
It's like having a God of Fortune giving out money and everyone is happy.
You don't need very capable ministers to do that," he said.

However, if the Government were to tread down this path, it would suffer
"long-term repercussions", he said. "The wiser approach is to grow the
economy, and use the fruits of growth to implement policies that truly
improve the lives of the poor."

Mr Lee also paid tribute to 94 MPs in the House, whose monthly allowances
have each been raised from $11,900 to $13,200. He said the lawmakers here
compare well with parliaments in other countries.

And while Mr Lee had said the buck stops with him when it comes to
donating his salary increment, one MP - Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC) -
announced at the end of the session that she would follow his lead.