I find the majority of blogs, tweets, comments, etc about Singapore government to be extremely negative, contrary to the truth. It has come to a stage where it is becoming unhealthy. A new online citizen, with all these negative publicity would naturally have an incorrect perception. And this spiral effect will snowball to undesirable consequence.
My aim is to tilt the online biasness towards a more balance view. Let's be very objective. And I would want more online Singaporeans who share the same views to "speak up". Join me to silence the unreasonable few Singaporeans. We should improve Singapore in the correct approach.
Take the recent news on recommendation of ministers pay cut and how comments from Grace Fu is being criticize all over the blogs. I think it is painful enough for someone to accept a pay cut by 30%, regardless the salary, and they can't even protest to their boss. And to further criticize them is just uncalled for. These bloggers are simply unreasonable.
My take on ministers salary -
1) If you want the best to take charge, then pay them well. If you envy their high salary and think you can do a better job, then join the government. These are not Roman times when only nobles can hold office. The ministers are also Singaporeans like us. And our society is based on meritocracy. It's just like you if you envy your CEO salary and thinks he/she is doing a bad job, what do you do?
2) I would rather pay the office holders to do their job than to have them think of other source of income. Look at the countries around us. Aren't you glad we don't have politicians accepting bribes. I am extremely surprise that well travelled Singaporeans don't realize how lucky we all are.
3) If you peg the salary to the top private sector, you are signaling that you want the cream of the population to run the country. Unless Singaporens do not want the most capable Singaporean team to run the country, I do not know how else we should peg the salary. Ask yourself this, if your enemy hire killers to end your life, would you pay for the best to protect yourself? Please do not forget that the Government is responsible for our security, and much much more.
The Singapore government is not perfect. But neither is any government in the world. Our role is to ensure we have the best team to lead the country and once that is in place, let them do their job. We can help by providing constructive feedback but ultimately, the government should be responsible to make the best decision for Singapore as a whole.
