Civil Servant Pay Rise

This topic has been a hot thing in Singapore. Everyone ranges from students to elderly are discussing whether it is good to give a pay rise to the civil servants. However, I feel that most of us, including the press and media are focusing more on the ministers and high ranking officers. Thus I will like to set my perimeter to the normal civil servant like teachers, policeman and service officer in various government departments. Indeed, civil servants are paid lesser compared to the private sector employees. In addition, private have more benefits in terms of paid leaves, medical benefits and non-wage benefits. Although some may say that civil servants' jobs are "iron bowls “. But I can assure you that it is a wrong idea as the ineffective and inefficient people will be asked to leave the jobs. And most of the high ranking officers will have to pass through a lot of tests and trials before they can assume the positions. And their actions must be honest and clear as they represent the government, which give no leeway to mistake and abuse of power. Thus the civil servants must uphold a higher order of conscious and attitude.

Civil Servant don’t enjoy the following:1) No concession bus rides2) No concession MRT rides3) Bus fare up = they are affected5) Cab fare up = they are affected6) GST up = they are affected7) They pay taxes just like every other Singaporean8) They have never-ending work to do9) On top of doing work, they are cursed by Singaporeans who think civil servants are not affected by all those above.10) Subjected and must comply with the Civil Servant Instruction Manual which has several hundred pages.

This give us a idea that civil servants do not have more benefits. Instead they have to suffer more than others. Moreover, I feel that civil servants are very noble as they are willing to serve the community and their aim are not the money but the chance to serve us. So, the least we could do is to give them a small pay rise to overcome their needs.