Sunday, April 5, 2009

"Bonus" need not be a dirty word in Kindness Month

"Mr Lim said people should not mistake a bonus as 'somebody getting something extra and undeserved and out of line with the current economic situation'. -- ST PHOTO: ARTHUR LEE CH." [Link]

Huh?

'We now operate differently from the past. So, let us not get overexcited whenever we see the word 'bonus' being used,' said Lim Boon Heng, Minister in Prime Minister's Office.

So what brought this about?

What has Singapore Kindness Month got to do with bonus? Especially bonuses paid to AIG executives in the USA?

Could it be certain CDC's 8 month bonus that's been hitting cyberspace lately that's eating up some PAP politicians? [Link]

Or could it be the latest Singapore embarrassment from Times on the highest paid politicians in this whole wide world? [Link - Times] and [Link - LittleSpeck]

I have almost given up bitching about ministers' obscene salary and wanting to give it a rest. However, with the latest from Lim Boon Heng on bonuses, I can't help but venture into my pet peeve again.

I must agree that BONUS is not a dirty word. It's as clean as the whiter-than-white incorruptible salary of the Singapore Mintsters which has been justified by the many receiving it.

I'm neither 'overexcited' by the word bonus nor am I having an orgasm over the mintsters' salary but I need some Viagra to understand why "public anger arose in the United States over large bonuses paid to executives of failed American corporations because of the economic downturn" has got to do with 'Singapore Kindness Month'?

Bonus like salary is not dirty.

It's only obscene when it makes a mockery of national service, nation building and civil service.

Or are we being 'unkind' to Mr Lim Boon Heng, his bosses and colleagues in highlighting their achievement of being the best paid in the world?

So who is the 'somebody getting something extra and undeserved and out of line with the current economic situation'?

Singapore minister?

Being honest is being kind.

feedmetothefish

5 Comments:

At April 7, 2009 at 11:17 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr Fish, Ah Loong,MM,SM and all the stooges shamelessly overrating and overpaying themselves, so any kind of monetary reward can never be a dirty word.

The top 30 highest paid politicians in the world are all from S'pore, and none of these blockheads have a clue to solve this economic crisis.

Same goes for those getting 8 months bonus, Lim Boon Heng should be proud to prove to us folks the outstanding performance done by the recipients of such bonus.

 
At April 7, 2009 at 8:10 PM , Anonymous The Reservist said...

ah lim is basically saying that he and his "ownself praise ownself" bosses and colleagues are god's gift to Singapore, so when occasionally, through some slip of the tongue or unpurified local reports like the french cooking course or international news like the Times report that we citizens got wind of their obscene base salaries and bountiful bonuses, to please not be jealous but be kind & gracious to them just as they have been kind to us.

How so?

You see, they may each be paid many times more compared to President Obama or Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner but as our Great Leeder pointed out, we mustn't compare. No, no! Instead, look at our leaders' immense kindness and sense of patriotic duty, it so overflows that they are foregoing earning BIG MEGA bucks in the private sector. The millions we pay them is only a teeny weeny fraction of their real worth lah.

Sob, don't you feel the kindness coming through?

But of course, what goes round comes around lah.

If it's real and sincere kindness that our leaders have shown us, I'm sure it'd be returned.

If not, well, you go figure.

 
At April 8, 2009 at 8:53 AM , Anonymous PAP is a dirty word said...

can members of a despotic regime ever understand what kindness mean ? so this kindness month thing is just crap! coming from hypocrites !

why not have honesty month, followed by transparency and accountability month ?

the PAP and their ball-lickers might as start a list of all the virtues they do not have and then try to promote them each month.

these pricks will tell us "despot" is not a dirty word and pay in "millions" is not a dirty number.
but i know for sure "PAP" is a dirty word.

 
At April 11, 2009 at 7:47 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

should the day come when the pappies are booted out, we must take back those money they have given themselves,
we can show kindness by not imposing fines but charging interests at market rates.

 
At April 12, 2009 at 9:06 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

It always baffles me why any public servant (yes, ministers are our public servants) needs so much pay.

If their heart is in serving the people, then the obscene pay would not have arisen.

Who are they serving?

 

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