Apr 11, 2007
AsiaOne

Peg salaries of ministers and civil servants to the private sector but they should be subject to the discipline of the marketplace.

This call came from six MPs in Parliament yesterday during the debate on the public service pay increases.They also wanted a bigger part of the ministers' and top civil servants' pay to be performance-linked.

Currently, 36 per cent of an Administrative Officer's salary is performance-linked, while that for ministers and senior permanent secretaries has been increased from 34 per cent to 47 per cent.

Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) suggested three tiers of assessment to appraise the performance of ministers and mandarins - performance of the country, ministry and individual.

Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines GRC) called for more rigour in the way ministers are assessd, as he felt there was "no established framework of disclosure" to determine the performance of each ministry, contribution of the minister and the effectiveness of their policies, according to a report in The Straits Times today.

He noted that currently, a minister's continuing stay in the Cabinet depends on his ability to give an account of and defend his ministry's policies.

"This is very much a hit and miss approach, which I cannot say is entirely satisfactory," Mr Sin said.

The downside to such an approach is that it becomes difficult for the public to get a full picture of the performance of a ministry or minister, unless there is a scandal or the auditor-general picks up an administrative lapse.

Mr Hri Kumar (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said a set of clear performance indicators will "reassure Singaporeans", so if public servants "do achieve these targets, no one can reasonably begrudge them what they earn".

Mr Michael Palmer (Pasir-RisPunggol GRC) said there should be more accountability for public servants, adding that under-performers should face the same "guillotine" that poor performers would face in the private sector.

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