$860,000.00 Joke Is on Us!

Imagine this conversation between a confused Singaporean and a Minister:

Citizen Lost: "Wow, Mr Minister, you all very lucky hor, walk here walk there, shake hands here, shake hands there, speak a few times in Parliament, make us wait long long for you as Guest of Honour in this RC Event, then you get million dollars salary every year. Shiok, huh?"

Minister: "Hey, don't anyhow say. Can or not? No lah, you think suka suka we can get million dollars salary, meh? It's not us who decide how much we get, you know. It's Mercer who helped Gerard and his Team decide our $million pay. Hello, we paid Mercer $860,000.00 for only small job done. How can you grudge us ministers for getting $million pay for full year's full time job? Hello, we also must come up with policies to help you poor lost citizens, you know. Aiyah, you think minister job easy meh? Like now I come to your RC Event, I late 45 minutes, you all also buay song (Hokkien for 'unhappy'). Hello, today is Sunday I also kena work and make appearance. Don't say I say, but because of Mercer's "technical expertise on human resource and remuneration issues" that I can get my current $million pay. So don't think I greedy ok? Don't blame PAP ok? I have to sacrifice a lot to be PAP minister, ok?" [Link]

The above imaginary conversation came from the tricky headline I read below:

"Ministerial pay review panel did work on a voluntary basis.
The committee that reviewed ministerial salaries last year did its work on a voluntary basis, and its eight members were not paid by the Government, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Tuesday.

But it paid about $860,000 in consultancy fees to Mercer Singapore, the human resources firm that assisted the committee with the review.

The company was engaged for its technical expertise on human resource and remuneration issues, said Mr Teo. It was selected from three companies that submitted bid proposals.
Mr Teo revealed this in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Workers' Party MP Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC)."
The above came from ST [Link].

Blimey! The headline read so charitable but the truth almost blinded me!

So which part of the Singapore Budget does this $860,000.00 comes from? The PM's Office? In fact, it does not matter. Ultimately, the money comes from us, the taxpayers.

With all the song and dance of how the budget should be spent, does one realise where the money is coming from?

• The joke of spending $1.1 billion on PTO
• The joke of granting $60,000 to those whose household income of 1,000 can buy a 2-room HDB flat
• The joke of our extravagant Defence Budget where we have jet fighters sitting pretty in Arizona desert? and elsewhere
• The joke of our stingy budget for the poor, the disabled and the needy old
• The joke of our scholarship money of MOE going to PRC and other countries instead of our own children
• The sick joke of CPF where rightful owners can never withdraw their hard earned cash savings unless they are sick, old (65 or above) or dead! Oh, they have to pay an additional admin (protection money) fee to use their CPF Medisave when they are sick!

The jokes go on and on and on. . . It is a shame that if not for noises from cowboy bloggers and opposition MPs, nobody will care to comment or question on the scheme of things. Things are so opaque and horrendous when we seriously think about it! Sadly, the election rhetoric of 'serving the people and not to lord over us' sounds so hollow as we slowly but steadily uncover the charade that's played before us.

If not for Pritam Singh of Workers' Party, we would not have been wise to this fact (joke) of $860,000.00! My sincere appreciation to him for this enlightenment that we need more opposition MPs for more transparency and truth in Singapore.

Talk is cheap. Whatever money they boast of, it comes from us, the citizens of Singapore. Through our Income Tax, GST, CPF, HDB mortgages, ERP, Maid and Foreign Workers' Levies and other ingenious ways of parting money from it citizens, the government, in its political way, put itself in the limelight as the good cop. Surprisingly, 60% of Singaporeans still buy into it!

Fair is fair. Much as I would like to bitch about this waste of good money ($860,000.00), it's worth noting that, at least, the amount spent after the review has helped to reduce the total expenditure of ministers' salary compared to the previous. However, if not for the greed and the wrong assumption that money buys everything, this disgraceful episode would not have come to pass.

With the culture of kiasu (fear of loss), kiasi (fear of death), kia bo lui (fear of no money) and kia chenghu (fear of government) so entrenched in Singaporeans for more that 40 years, it is difficult to change. However, there are some (and there will be more) who regardless of being rich or poor; powerful or not; regardless of the colour of their skin; regardless of their religious or non-religious belief will (through the votes, blogs, emails, coffeeshop conversations and other means) change the status quo for the better.

The elite government has to change its apathy for empathy.
If not the people will change the government.
That is for sure!

feedmetothefish