Shhh you hear it? Crackkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
JLB MPs and office-holders from parliamentary secretaries to ministers to prime ministers, basically anyone who is a MP will now no longer have pension if they meet certain conditions. Opposition MPs like the new WP ones too cannot dip into state purses in their retirement, except Low Thia Khiang and others who served more than 8 years as MP. In the first place, what is the cost of maintaining these former MPs on pension anyway, although the pension for a minister can be about 10% of the annual salary in some complex formula. Proportion seems fair and small but as we know ministers earn at least $1million, that's a fucking large amount! I forgot, is pension taxable?
Was this a big issue, the pension of MPs all the way to prime minister? Yes, considering that the public sector did away with pensions so as not to waste public funds, and Singapore is of course not a welfare state, so a teensy bit hard to justify that politicians alone could get to keep the pension.
LOL if politicians are in the same retirement boat like all of us with their pensions going poof into smoke, maybe now they would be more on the ball about CPF, its Life Plans and other retirement policies on a greying Singapore population. Being in the same rocking sampan goes a long way to build empathy. I bet this move to do away with pension is going to make some groups within the PAP unhappy and form cracks within its ranks.
Pensions for office-holders, MPs scrapped
AsiaOne
Monday, Sep 10, 2012
Singapore's Parliament today passed a bill scrapping pensions for office-holders and Members of Parliament (MPs).
This means government office-holders who turn 55 and remain in office may no longer collect pension. Those who have been accruing pensions have had the amounts frozen since May 20 last year.
With the Parliamentary Pensions (Abolition) Bill, new office-holders appointed on or after May 21, 2011 as well as office-holders who had served for less than eight years by that date will not be eligible for pension.
The Parliament also passed a bill removing its power to grant a pension to a former president. A provision to grant pension to the widow and surviving residents of the president or former presidents was also removed.
These changes were proposed in a White Paper on ministerial salaries that was endorsed last January and have already been put into effect administratively.
What did TCB says that it was actually removed when he was an MP, and how did it managed to be approved after he left.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they should have start from the time it was removed during TCB time.
What was removed? Pension scheme? But reinstated?
DeleteWell, this is one area where the Freedom of Information Act should be applied. The salary and benefits are definitely not state secrets or information which needs to be protected unless of course there is something to hide. Another is the net worth of the Ministers and their families because people no longer believe the self proclaimed "oracle" when it declared that "we did not enrich ourselves". With our transparency and accountability being questioned I think now is the time we demand how the government is being paid and the other is how people are being appointed, not only in the civil service but in the GLC as well.
ReplyDeleteHear hear!
Delete"I bet this move to do away with pension is going to make some groups within the PAP unhappy and form cracks within its ranks. "
ReplyDeleteThere probably won't be any crack. Many ways to skin a cat and even this idiot of a PM surely knows how to buy his supporters' votes.