Kopi Kosong

by scrobal
22 April 2007

130416.45

Part 17 - the salary issue

Behind the Guardhouse - 28C, high humidity and the smell of cut grass in the air.

Old Man: Why the long face, Bro. Hven't seen you for awhile.

Pres: I am not happy and its obvious that the President's office has been made use of.

Old Man: You mean the salary

Pres: Yes. When the President's salary was raised to 2.8M, I thought it was because no one wanted the office after the last presidential election debacle but I had no idea that you guys wanted to raise your salary.

Old Man: Be realistic bro. Thats politics. We floated the idea and we did not get any resistance so it was the next step. At the end, we need to attract and keep our limited talent.

Pres: You know last month I went back to my home in Ceylon Road and some idiot threw eggs at my front door. My wife was so mad. I placated her by telling that the Canadian Geese had their compass distorted due to global warming and couple of eggs fells on their way to the summer grounds.

Old Man: And she bought it.

Pres: Don't change the subject. You know that I have been getting the middle finger from the postman to the rojak seller at Joo Chiat food centre. Even the Vietnamese hookers along Joo Chiat give me the evil eye.

Old Man: Don't complain, you also got increase and nice one at that.

Pres: You are fucking senile. I am 89 years old this year. What am I going to do with 2.8M. My day is made when I get up in the morning and my dick does a mari kita. It is now as frequent as the Krakatuo eruption. As the president, I can't go to nightclub, go massage or even go casino when it opens. For $3000, I can eat what I like for a whole month and still go lots of spare change.

Old Man: Ok, lets be serious. What is wrong paying our talent what they deserve.

Pres: You want to be serious, lets then be fucking serious, you arsehole.

Old Man: Hey Bro, watch your tone. Why so angry.

Pres: I already have sleepless mights thinking about what I did during the Japanese occupation and now this.

Old Man: Lets hear your arguments

Pres: I am not going to waste my time with arguments that are obvious and that has already been raised by the general public and foreign press.

Old Man: Fine, I thought I heard it all.

Pres: For starters, you mentioned Hen, Viv and Balaji salaries in their previous vocation. How about zeros like Yeo Guat Kwang and the majority who actually got a windfall. Lets be open about this. Are you telling me that they were actually earning more. That guy can't even get a job that he has to rely on CASE. What about the leeches that are paid by NTUC and various GLCs. Why can't they find a job and still be an MP. Remember the best performing MPs did not rely on tax payers. Cheng Back, Soo Khoon were outstanding, they ran their own business and practise.

Old Man: Lets stick to the benchmark that we set.

Pres: In case you are not aware, the man in the street has never accepted the benchmark. Those are vocations that come with risk. It involves professional and entreprenuerial risk. You are a surgeon, you carry out the wrong procedure, you are dead. You are lawyer and you give the wrong advice, you are a goner. There are bodies that marshal their professions. Who marshals the PAP. Also bear in mind, only a select few in the resepctive professions earn that high. When they fail, do they get to join Keppel, are they given a job with NTUC, so ask yourself, is it a fair comparison.

Old Man: You yourself know that it hard to get good people to take up politics.

Pres: That because you threathen every interested person with your knuckle duster and silly golf rules. Obviously the talent pool where politics is concerned is empty. It is clearly monopolistic behaviour. You hide behind the very rules and conditions that you create, you build insurmountable barriers and then you cry wolf that no one wants to venture into politics. Only the desperate like Raymond Lim will do a wayang with Roundtable and its non-partisan crap and wait for the invitation.

Old Man: I don't agree

Pres: Obviously you won't agree. Let me take another argument. How about computing your total benefits like taxes paid by expats. Lets total up the costs of providing you the Istana, golf course, gurkhas for both Istana and your other house. A ballpark figure will come to a couple of millions. Let not forget SIA.

Old Man: Hold your horses. I paid for the entire SIA costs to bring my wife back.

Pres: We all know that. Its the direct cost. Will SIA do the same if you are the best paid lawyer, doctor or stockbroker. As far as SIA is concerned they got better things to do then to provide special services. They do it for you because of who you are and you earned it. Thats the trapping of the office. No one begrudges you. Now if you want to play by the market then everything needs to follow the same principle.

Old Man: You can;t expect the PM and the cabinet to work in a commercial building.

Pres: You always claiming to be above board and transparent. Reveal to the people of Singapore the actual costs of housing you and letting you enjoy the trappings of your office. Let them decide.

Old Man: Bro, you are making me a sad man. I am truly hurt. This, from you of all persons, I never expected. Did I not build Singapore. Did I not make Singapore proud. You know me, I gave up a lucrative career for the what I believed in.

Pres: No one is taking anything from you. You deserve the recognition and the accolades. The first 3 decades were marvellous. But ask yourself this. what did the PAP do in the last and this decade. Why the sudden need to pay so high. The fact that we have the highest paid politicians in the world should tell you that something is wrong. Did the rest of world get it wrong. Did the Scandinavians get it wrong.

Old Man: It my blood and sweat bro.

Pres: Now its like you are believing your own bullshit. I firmly believe that there are good and outstanding people out there who can get the job done. Unless you believe that you spent the 4 over decades screwing the education system and the culture. Which is it. You can't have your cake and eat it.

Old Man: What about protecting our reserves. Whose is going to do it.

Pres: You are talking as though there we never had any reserves for the first few decades. Suddenly there seems to be an urgent reason for this to be looked after.

Old Man: You know very well that we are at the cross roads. We take the wrong turn and we are kaput.

Pres: The foreign press and I heard about your kaput theory a dozen times over the years. Maybe we have to learn the hard way. Maybe its time for you to take a break and see if your legacy has a firm foundation. As it is, Singapore is a single party system like many that we see in Africa. If PAP becomes greedy, you and I know that we are doomed as there are no safety brakes, no alternatives or no recourse built in. Its the PAP or bust.

Old Man: You know that I went into this not for popularity but to get the job done.

Pres: Alamak, except for Sularno and few crackpots, the other leaders are the same. Driven by ideology and the desire to help their fellow man.

Old Man: What is your point.

Pres: The majority of world leaders are the same. Many were capable men of finance and industry. Some were born with the silver spoon, yet they chose public office for greater good. Money is not a factor. Your argument about Clinton is frankly laughable. Why don't you ask Hen to gone on the lecture circuit after his term. Obviously he will get peanuts as the markets will determine his value. The fact remains that during his presidency he received much less than any of the PAP ministers.

Old Man: Bro. late in the night, time for supper.

Pres:Sorry, no appetite. I am heading back, good night.

Old Man: Jesus! Why so like that.

Pres: Look, one of these days my wife will realise that the thing about the Canadian geese is bullshit. I then have to raise my sarong and run for my life. In the meantime, I have to find space to breathe and eating is not in the immediate agenda. So spare me.