Never a politically convenient time to raise salaries, but unreasonable to leave them unchanged for 15 years: PM Wong

"There is never going to be a politically convenient time to adjust political salaries," said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Parliament on Thursday (Sept 10) as he wrapped up the debate on a revised political salary framework and the Government's response to it .

It will not be right to defer for the third time an adjustment to the wages of political office holders and MPs, he said, citing a widening increment gap.

"The larger it becomes, the harder it will be to correct later on," he said.

"If every difficult circumstance becomes a reason not to act, then we will keep putting the issue off, and there will come a point where restraint ceases to be prudence and becomes neglect."

On Tuesday, PM Wong announced that an independent committee has proposed raising the salary benchmark of ministers at the MR4 grade to $1.8 million. The figure had remained at $1.1 million since 2011.

But ministerial wages will not immediately match the benchmark when the framework takes effect on Oct 15.

Instead, a one-time adjustment of up to 9 per cent will be made on salaries.

Elaborating on his decision, the prime minister said on Thursday that it would not be right to automatically increase the salaries of all ministers, whose salary ranges are different.

"But neither is it reasonable to leave their salaries unchanged indefinitely," he said, considering that the salary structure has been frozen for 15 years.

Under the new framework, an MR4 minister earning the current reference annual salary of $1.1 million will receive a salary of about $1.2 million with the full nine per cent adjustment.

There will not be further special adjustments to bring the renumeration to $1.8 million. Further increments will be based on performance.

$1.8m benchmark should not be changed on the basis of 'politically awkward'

PM Wong also turned down the idea of picking a benchmark lower than the figure proposed by the committee.

"If we appoint an independent committee to determine the appropriate benchmark, we should not then arbitrarily change its conclusion because the number is politically awkward," he added.

According to him, the MR4 reference salary would be $1.5 million only if inflation is accounted for.

To determine the benchmark figure, the committee used a formula which took reference from the top 1,000 Singaporean earners and applied a 40 per cent discount for the ethos of public service.

"The benchmark does not mean that we intend to recruit our political leaders only from these 1,000 individuals," PM Wong clarified.

"The benchmark is a reference point. It seeks to capture, in a broad and objective way, the opportunity cost faced by the sort of people we hope will step forward for political service."

He said that accepting the new benchmark while making measured adjustments to salaries is "a right balance".

"This is fair and responsible both to the office holders serving today and to Singapore's need to continue recruiting capable people to serve in the years ahead."

He stressed that the PAP Government "does not believe in using higher pay as an incentive to draw people into politics".

"No one should enter politics for money. Competitive salaries do not create the motivation to serve, but they can make it possible for someone who already has that motivation in the first place to step forward," he stated.

There will be "consequences" if Singapore cannot attract high-quality leaders to join politics, he said.

"Over 15, 20, 25 years, the difference will be visible in the quality of political leadership, in the decisions the Government makes, and eventually, in the quality and effectiveness of the civil service as well.

"And by the time such deterioration becomes obvious, rebuilding the system will be much harder, perhaps even impossible."

PM Wong told Parliament that he will also consider whether more information on the distribution of salaries and individual performance bonuses can be disclosed.

Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh had called for the Government to do so in an earlier speech.

But PM Wong cautioned against this becoming "a public popularity contest".

"That is not going to be productive, and that's not how I want the Cabinet to operate. I do not want ministers working in silos, focusing narrowly on their own issues or building up their own profiles," he said, emphasising a need for teamwork.

lim.kewei@asiaone.com

“调整政治薪酬永远不会有政治上合适的时机，”总理黄循财周四（9月10日）在国会结束关于修订政治薪酬框架及政府应对措施的辩论时表示。

他表示，鉴于工资增长差距不断扩大，第三次推迟调整政治官员和议员的工资是不合适的。

他说：“问题越大，以后就越难纠正。”

“如果每一个困难的情况都成为不采取行动的理由，那么我们就会一直拖延，总有一天，克制不再是谨慎，而是疏忽。”

周二，黄循财总理宣布，一个独立委员会提议将MR4级部长薪酬基准提高至180万新元。该数字自2011年以来一直维持在110万新元。

但该框架于 10 月 15 日生效时，部长级官员的工资不会立即与基准持平。

取而代之的是，将对薪资进行一次性调整，调整幅度最高可达 9%。

总理周四进一步阐述了他的决定，称所有部长的工资范围各不相同，因此自动提高所有部长的工资是不合适的。

“但考虑到工资结构已经冻结了 15 年，无限期地维持他们的工资不变也是不合理的，”他说。

根据新框架，目前年薪为 110 万美元的 MR4 部长，在获得 9% 的全面调整后，年薪将达到约 120 万美元。

不会再进行任何特殊调整以使薪酬达到180万美元。后续的薪酬增长将根据绩效而定。

不应以“政治上尴尬”为由更改180万美元的基准线。

黄循财总理也拒绝了选择比委员会提议的数字更低的基准的想法。

“如果我们任命一个独立委员会来确定合适的基准，我们就不应该因为这个数字在政治上尴尬就随意改变其结论，”他补充道。

据他所说，只有考虑到通货膨胀因素，MR4 的参考薪资才能达到 150 万美元。

为了确定基准数字，委员会采用了一种公式，参考新加坡收入最高的 1000 名人士，并考虑到公共服务精神，给予 40% 的折扣。

黄循财总理澄清说：“这一基准并不意味着我们打算只从这1000人中选拔政治领导人。”

“基准是一个参考点。它旨在以广泛而客观的方式，反映我们希望挺身而出从事政治服务的那类人所面临的机会成本。”

他表示，在接受新的基准的同时对薪资进行适当调整是“一种恰当的平衡”。

“这既对现任官员公平负责，也符合新加坡在未来几年继续招募优秀人才的需求。”

他强调，人民行动党政府“不相信用更高的薪酬来激励人们投身政治”。

“任何人都不应该为了金钱而从政。优厚的薪酬并不能激发人们为人民服务的动力，但它可以使那些原本就有这种动力的人挺身而出，”他说道。

他表示，如果新加坡无法吸引高素质的领导人加入政坛，将会产生“后果”。

“15年、20年、25年后，这种差异将体现在政治领导的素质、政府的决策，以及最终公务员队伍的素质和效率上。”

“等到这种恶化变得显而易见时，重建系统将变得更加困难，甚至可能是不可能的。”

黄总理在国会表示，他也会考虑是否可以披露更多关于薪金分配和个人绩效奖金的信息。

工人党主席普里坦·辛格曾在早前的一次演讲中呼吁政府这样做。

但黄英贤总理警告说，不要让这变成“一场公众人气竞赛”。

“那样做不会有成效，我也不希望内阁那样运作。我不希望部长们各自为政，只关注自己的问题或提升个人形象，”他强调团队合作的必要性。

lim.kewei@asiaone.com