CiViL sErViCe PaY iNCrEaSe...

This picture was taken from the Mr. Brown website, which he took from asiaone... See how happy they are... Well, who isn't, knowing that there will be a pay increase for them...

The hot news of this season undoubtedly belongs to the proposed/planned/decided pay increse which the government has announced in parliament recently...

The rationale: Have competitive pay to retain top talents to govern the country... In order to retain these top talents, the salaries will have to be measurable to the top talents in the private sector, so as not to have a talent drain like in the economy boom days back in the 90s... With that, the measurement is made on the top 8 earners in the private sector, or something like that...

Fine, you justify that you have to retain these talents to ensure that you have the best people in the government... And in so doing, you actually made a study of the top earners in the private sector, and pay your government competitively... But isn't the comparision a tad too skewed?

How many people, in the entire country, enjoys such luxurious pay? Probably juz the CEOs and the top bankers etc... And by comparing the salaries to these people of probably juz 0.1% in the entire country, how fair/skewed is your measurement?

Secondly, being a MP or minister is by choice, and is a public service... The term public service, means you volunteer your services in the name of helping the people of your country... The citizens look up to you... Since it is a public service, how can you justify with the FAT allowances and pay that you receive... And how logical is it that you actually compare your pay with the top 8 professionals in the private sector?

Thirdly, the civil servants' pay comes from the taxes of the people... With higher pay means more funds will have to be collected/set aside to make up for the money... Doesn't it mean more taxes will have to be collected/sacrificed for other better uses? So who, in the end, benefits/suffers? What with the upcoming GST hikes as well?

The future of the public services looks promising, but the citizens, bleak...

And lastly, the most venom question... If in order to retain top leaders in the government, you have to pay top dollars, then may i ask, how 'corrupted' is your government?

*Disclaimer: The above remarks/comments are juz my personal two cents worth...