SINGAPORE: In a social media post on Wednesday (Sep 9), food guru Kf Seetoh weighed in on the salary increase for Singapore’s political office holders announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Parliament the day before.
They will be getting a raise of as much as 9% beginning Oct 15. For ministers in the lowest tier, it would mean an annual salary of around S$1.2 million. It is the first increase in ministerial salaries since 2011.
Mr Seetoh shared a screenshot from Mothership of a table of the various roles, along with their current salaries and what their revised salaries will be after the increase is implemented.
“Nice increments,” the Makansutra founder wrote, adding, “Now more will step up to the political fray as it’s more financially rewarding. Don’t misconstrue, it’s hard work. BUT, what’s your KPI? Even a small company boss has to be accountable.”
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for political leaders should not be social media likes and votes, argued Mr Seetoh, but should have to do with making life in Singapore “successful, likeable, and liveable.”
To accomplish this, Singapore’s leaders need to spend time on the ground with Singaporeans, since that’s “where you hear ideas and the pain points of your voters,” he added, going on to underline the current challenges faced by both jobseekers and employers, such as high operating costs, AI replacing “smart nation” jobs and “no one wants the plentiful blue-collar work that abounds.”
“It makes entrepreneurs think twice about getting their feet wet,” Mr Seetoh observed, adding, “the ‘tap on foreign blue-collar workers will be further tightened’; this promise is well kept and enforced.”
He also brought up an unattributed anecdote of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew having wondered what it would take for Singapore to produce someone like Tony Fernandes, who purchased AirAsia in 2001 for RM1 and two years later, had transformed it into a profitable low-cost carrier.
Mr Seetoh added, “I think he’s still wondering.”
As for entrepreneurship as the answer to AI, he noted that this may go against the character of Singaporeans, whom he described as “largely smart, wired, mathematical geniuses, conscientious and risk averse,” and expressed concerns over younger generations being able to afford housing, which has become more expensive as they face job losses.
He also noted that while cities across the globe “have festivals and carnivals that a whole nation and their foreign friends and tourists flock to,” such as Mardi Gras or Loy Krathong, this is not true of Singapore, which only has the National Day Parade for some citizens and River Hongbao and Chingay for tourists.
“We don’t have a cultural festival of any sort that makes us proud and eager for it.. One that’s of, for and by the people – some govt support would be nice. Anyone in charge?” he wrote, suggesting that Swing Singapore along Orchard Road could be brought back.
“It can be done if there’s willpower up there. Music, food, dance, arts and crafts, shopping… we have it all. Make your KPI transparent. Let’s celebrate it together. You can’t do it alone,” Mr Seetoh added. /TISG
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