Nor was I moved to write on this even when I saw the report in the Straits Times last week wherein it said,

The Government yesterday announced a second phase of pay rises for top civil servants and ministers, which will see their salaries rising by between 4 per cent and 21 percent.

From Jan 1, ministers at the entry-level grade of MR4 will get $1.94 million in annual pay, up from this year's $1.6 million.

Administrative Service officers entering into the superscale grades will get pay increases of 4 per cent, raising their annual salary to $398,000.

[Snip]

With the changes, the Prime Minister will earn $3.76 million, up from $3.09 million.

-- Straits Times, 14 Dec 207, Salary revisions
for ministers and top civil servants

 

18 Dec 2007
Straits Times Print Forum

Pay rise for top civil servants timely

I read with great relief the article about ministers and top civil servants getting a 4 - 21 per cent pay rise next month (ST, Dec 14).

We can now be assured that only the most competent people will serve the country. With the rise in their remuneration, we have secured their steadfast service, as well as their continued fervour and dedication to fight for our cause. It could not be more timely. When inflation is soaring and some Singaporeans 'can barely stay afloat' (The Sunday Times, Dec 2), we need, more than ever, the best possible team of civil servants to lead us through the difficulties.

We cannot afford to lose them to the private sector, and have to retain them at all costs. This is especially so as these senior civil servants have been in the public sector for so long that they are likely to seek fresh experience in the private sector.

With the festive season coming, I hope that they will not forget to share the joy of receiving with the less fortunate. Therefore, I appeal to them to follow Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's lead in giving to the poor and spreading the blessings.

Agung Santoso Ongko

In every society, there will always be a group of 'sufferers'. The question is, 'How do you help them?' This question is always in the minds of our MPs and ministers.

Let us not begrudge the MPs and ministers their wages. Look around the region, where politicians squabble and the wealth of the nation is squandered while the people live in slums and squalor. Be thankful that you are a Singaporean, and ask yourself how you can help the 'sufferers'.

Low Lee Siang

 
Do you believe this? Or is this another case of "black information"?

People are moved to write to the press on many things, e.g. no taxis available despite waiting 45 minutes, ambulances turned away from hospitals because they have no more beds, or police refusing to arrest assailants even when they have clearly caused injury requiring stitches, but is it of such pressing concern to express one's "relief", as Ongko did, that our ministers are now being paid obscene salaries?

Is this for real? One more reason to not buy our newspapers.

* * * * *

1,011 people in Singapore were polled for the Singapore part of the survey, out of 11,344 worldwide.

Without that link I had little more to rely on than the reports in our local newspapers which highlighted how 48% of Singaporeans agreed that controls on the media are sometimes needed to preserve stability, while 43% felt that press freedom is non-negotiable. That would have been wonderful news for those who needed justification for the kind of media we have here.

Our local press did point out that Singapore was one of only 3 countries -- the other two being Russia and India, countries where indeed social, ethnic and religious unrest are very close to the surface -- that preferred controls over freedom, but I think we need to ask, is this an informed choice, or the result of a generation of brainwashing and scaremongering?

India has a very free press and people seem to have freely come to this opinion in the light of their national experience. Russia in the 1990s had a period of very free press too. Singaporeans have not experienced a free press for 40 years, so how do they know they don't want it?

Then this sentence in a newspaper report really got me:

Despite the fact that the media here was perceived "as less free than in any other country surveyed", 36 per cent gave the local press a high freedom rating. 

-- 'Today' newspaper, 11 Dec 2007,
Social stability is key: Poll

You notice how it was spun into good news -- "Despite the fact..."? Don't be fooled. The real fact is that "36 percent" was the lowest score of all 14 countries surveyed.

The survey question had asked participants this:

On a scale of 5 to 1, where 5 means "very free" and 1 means "not at all free", how free do you think the press and media is in your country to be able to report the news accurately, truthfully and without undue bias?

9% of Singapore participants gave a score of "5" as their answer, 27% gave a score of "4", adding up to 36%.

Here are the results from all 14 countries to the same question. We're bottom of the class again.

 
(Where the totals do not reach 100%, it's because of the "Don't knows". You'd notice that Singapore also has the highest percentage of "Don't knows": 10%. That's a very bad sign. Too many Singaporeans are apathetic, uninterested and uninformed.)

Our government likes to boast that our local mainstream media are free. The difference from the West, it is alleged, may be that here, they are also aware of their responsibility to report the news "fairly and accurately". The Western media's constant harping about the lack of freedom in Singapore is baseless, our ministers insist. 

Yet, when one goes out to poll 1,011 people here about whether our media are indeed free, Singaporeans give answers that are consistent with what the Western media says, not what the government says. Funny that.

© Yawning Bread