S'pore cannot afford "revolving door" style of govt: MM Lee
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 04 April 2007 1918 hrs

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SYDNEY: Singapore cannot afford to have a "revolving door" style of government where top leaders change every five years.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said the country needs good, competent people who will stay.

And this is why they must be paid market rates.

Mr Lee was speaking to reporters in Sydney at the end of his visit to Australia and New Zealand.

From parliamentary secretaries to ministers, the top level in the civil service is paid a total of S$46 million annually.

That is 0.13 percent of the total government expenditure or 0.022 percent of GDP.

On Monday, the civil service pay review will be announced in Parliament.

The Minister Mentor warned that the Singapore economy would be in jeopardy if it does not pay top dollar for top people.

He said if this S$46 million was cut to maybe S$36 million or S$26 million, the country would save S$20 million but in the process, would jeopardise an economy of S$210 billion.

"So for the average family earning S$1,500-S$3,000, we are talking of astronomical figures but for people like me in government, to deal with the money which we have accumulated by the sweat of our brow over the last 40 years, you have to pay the market rate or the man will up stakes and join Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers or Goldman Sachs and you would have an incompetent man and you would have lost money by the billions," said Mr Lee.

While other countries may have leaders who are paid less, Mr Lee said rewarding Singapore leaders well is a system that has worked and is above board.

He said: "If you are going to quarrel about S$46 million – up or down another S$10 to S$20 million – I say you don't have a sense of proportion."

And when it comes to benchmarking, Mr Lee said his own annual income, which is S$2.7 million, is a fraction of what the top managers in the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) earns.

He said: "The cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government... your asset values will disappear, your apartments will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other persons' countries - foreign workers."

When asked to comment on the perception that political leaders should not be in it for the money, and instead, be ready to make that extra sacrifice for the good of the people, the Minister Mentor said it is an admirable sentiment.

But he added that it had taken much persuasion to get leaders like Dr Ng Eng Hen, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Dr Balaji Sadasivan, who had lucrative practices, to give it all up to join politics, with no guarantee of success. - CNA/so