MM Lee has spoken
Which means that it is probably going to be the end of this ministerial pay hike debate. Some quick thoughts about this:
MM has always been a pragmatist which in short basically means, "what works is right" - and this has been proven more often than not over the last 40 years or so. The fact of the matter is, he gets more stuff right than wrong - and this earns him the moral authority to speak. Think about it, if a scholar-just-turned-MP would to utter words like:
"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." http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/268475/1/.html
... you can be sure he'll be heavily censored (think: Wee Shu Min episode).
In other words, who says what may be more important than what is being said. MM Lee gets away with some tough statements simply because he is MM - whether one likes it or not.
Having said so, I think the government is going down a very slippery slope with its emphasis on economics. A friend of mine, who is a PSC local scholar - is now actively trying to find ways to leave the civil service - simply because the pay does not match up to what he could earn if he had work in the financial sector (he's a pretty brilliant guy, for that matter).
This means that values like "duty, honour, country" - values which ultimately safeguard the future of Singapore - can go down the drain. After all, such ideals cannot be quantified - and remain intangible - as far as our materialistic system goes.
As such, let's not be overly surprised why so many of our brightest folks leave the country. The brutal fact is: they are simply paid better. And we have been taught (or at least, brought up to believe) that money is what that ultimately matters.
"We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful" (CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man)
MM has always been a pragmatist which in short basically means, "what works is right" - and this has been proven more often than not over the last 40 years or so. The fact of the matter is, he gets more stuff right than wrong - and this earns him the moral authority to speak. Think about it, if a scholar-just-turned-MP would to utter words like:
"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." http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/268475/1/.html
... you can be sure he'll be heavily censored (think: Wee Shu Min episode).
In other words, who says what may be more important than what is being said. MM Lee gets away with some tough statements simply because he is MM - whether one likes it or not.
Having said so, I think the government is going down a very slippery slope with its emphasis on economics. A friend of mine, who is a PSC local scholar - is now actively trying to find ways to leave the civil service - simply because the pay does not match up to what he could earn if he had work in the financial sector (he's a pretty brilliant guy, for that matter).
This means that values like "duty, honour, country" - values which ultimately safeguard the future of Singapore - can go down the drain. After all, such ideals cannot be quantified - and remain intangible - as far as our materialistic system goes.
As such, let's not be overly surprised why so many of our brightest folks leave the country. The brutal fact is: they are simply paid better. And we have been taught (or at least, brought up to believe) that money is what that ultimately matters.
"We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful" (CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man)
posted by Benjamin Ho at
10:06 AM
2 Comments:
And I thot you've sworn off long posts? hehehe...
It's music to my years - not your long post, but the ministers' pay hike :) I think they deserve every penny for having made what Singapore is today. Your example of the PSC scholar friend who is contemplating to leave the service because of inadequate pay compared to what the private sector is able to pay him is the very reason why the gahmen is reviewing the ministers's salary.
Let's not talk about serving the country.... I think it's time we "get real".
A good post, Ben. If the country keep on banging 'money, money, money' into the citizens' head, they shouldnt expect 'loyalty' or other 'virtue' back.
The IR, 4D, and other economic means dull the conscience of its citizen.
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