Not an indictment, but a point of caution

"Why then the unabated public unhappiness over the public sector pay formula?... First, the system can make policy-makers lose touch with the ordinary Singaporeans whom they are supposed to serve... The problem is not the income gap as such, but the sense of entitlement with which the ruling elite receives those high salaries.

The biggest worry is perhaps Singapore's elite scholar class of officers in the administrative and uniformed services. The top performers in this group start their relationship with the public sector at age 18, when they are wooed with lucrative scholarships. Then - unlike even the most able recruits of top private sector firms, who enter their jobs worrying about whether they will be confirmed - the scholars start work with an eight-year bond that they know the government is more anxious to adhere to than they are to honour. With the debate over salaries, retaining such individuals has been portrayed as a matter of the highest national interest. Never having been tested in the private sector, they can only take the government's word that they would excel in practically any field and therefore deserve top dollar. Political office-holders at least have elections and their grassroots responsibilities to remind them that they answer ultimately to the humble citizen, and that the public does not owe them a living. The scholar mandarins, on the other hand, function in an increasingly rarified environment from their late teens. There is a danger that by the time these individuals reach highly influential positions, some will imagine themselves to be god's gift to Singapore."

--Cherian George, Singapore the Air-Conditioned Nation (2000), pp.76-7

By the same vein, this extends itself to any common civil servant. Looking back at the recent batch of graduates, there is indeed a popular tendency to enter the civil service straight after school, not least because of extremely tempting pay scale and benefits. (A common honours graduate entering the teaching vocation, for example, can expect no less that $2,500, when most private sector entry positions can only fetch slightly less than $2k.)

I am sure most Singaporeans would not mind the crowning pay scales, as long as the public service delivers. However, such a substantial remuneration package tends to focus itself as the major, if not sole, object of the position, i.e. people join the civil service because of the pay and the security, and ignore other requisite aspects of the job.

The book was written as a reflection of the 1990s, but the concern is ever present. Hence a friendly word of caution to my fellow friends in NIE, the high pay does not come as a matter of fact, but as a deposit for excellent performance!