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Think not of the ministerial pay hike in terms of dollars and cents, but about the kind of Singapore that you want, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Yaacob Ibrahim on Sunday.
Echoing the sentiments of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Dr Yaacob said that the unique case scenario that is Singapore does not allow for a wide margin of error.
“Really it’s not about me, it’s not about the Cabinet, but I think the best question for you to ask is the first question asked in Parliament: What kind of a country are we? What is Singapore?” he said.
Dr Yaacob was responding to a resident’s question on the link between the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike and the ministerial pay increment at a dialogue session with residents during his ministerial visit to Tampines Central.
“I always explain this to visitors. I say you go to the US, if you have a riot in New York, you can go and stay in Los Angeles. In Singapore if you get a riot in Bedok, you cannot stay in Jurong,” he said.
“The smallness of Singapore gives us a certain flexibility but ... our room for making mistakes is very, very narrow and ... if we get our policy wrong, I think that will be disastrous.”
Because of that, he said, continuity in leadership is required in governing the country. He cited the Government’s ability to overcome Singapore’s water issues as an example.
“Supposing the Government changes every five years, different policy, I don’t think we could have a sustainable water supply for Singaporeans,” he said. “Only because the Government has been on it for the last 40 years, the same Government, committed to the same outcome, we have been able to achieve resilience in our water supply.”
Explaining the GST increase, Dr Yaacob said it is needed “primarily because we have some long-term problems emerging”.
“In order to fund projects for low-income families, we need to be able to raise some revenue,” he said Dr Yaacob also defended the civil service, saying the good performers deserve the pay.
“Frankly speaking, you cannot find another civil service quite like it. It’s an ecosystem. ... Look at other countries — how the civil service is corrupt, inept, inefficient. Ours is on the ball. They get the job done.” - TODAY/ra
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