Singapore, long ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, is now having to come to terms with recent corruption charges against former Transport Minister S. Iswaran.
The total amount of favors he allegedly received (US$298,000) has been derided as “pocket money” by local standards, but the incident brings the issue of ministerial pay in the city-state back into sharp focus. It became.
Singapore’s political officials are among the highest paid in the world. Running a country is far more important than running a company, so why shouldn’t the salaries of prime ministers and ministers be on par with those of chief executives and chief operating officers of large corporations? , the realists argue. Is there much more at stake than just profits for shareholders?
More importantly, a high salary helps alleviate the urge to accept or request bribes.
A counter-argument to this argument evokes the altruism and personal sacrifice that many feel should be an essential part of public service. Dangle huge compensation packages to draw the wrong kind of idealist people into government.
Additionally, the perks, privileges, and prestige that come with these high positions should be reward enough.
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Paying civil servants higher salaries to curb corruption is not an innovation in Singapore. The Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who reigned from 1722 to his 1735 years, instituted a wage model called the . yang ren yinIt is literally the “silver of honesty” and hopes to keep officials on the straight and narrow.
One of the enduring characteristics of imperial Chinese officials was their sexual orientation. Although some honest civil servants were held up as models of integrity, they were a rare breed in China’s millennia-old bureaucracy.
For every honest official who wore “stainless, wind-filled sleeves,” there were hundreds who kept their hands firmly in the till.
The basic salary of officials in imperial China was never large, and it was insignificant during the Qing Dynasty. Seventh-ranking officials, such as district judges, took home 40 to 50 taels of silver annually. First-class officials received less than four times that amount.
Based on the cost of living at the time, the salary was only enough to maintain a modest lifestyle, and in the case of low-ranking officials and large families, it was enough to sustain a hand-to-mouth existence.
Whether in China or anywhere else, there was pressure to maintain appearances and a tendency to compete with, or at least compare, one’s peers.
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To achieve this objective, Chinese officials have devised several ways to supplement their income. From skimming public funds, such as taxes collected from citizens and funds disbursed by the central government, to accepting or even openly soliciting bribes from almost everyone.
For most of China’s past, these practices were tolerated until they became too serious to ignore.
The serious-minded Yongzheng decided to stop this when he became emperor.In his 1722, the first year of his reign, he yang ren yinLike Singapore’s policymakers two and a half centuries later, they believed that higher wages meant lower levels of corruption.
amount of yang ren yin Salaries ranged from 10 to 100 times the official’s base salary, but the culture of corruption was so deeply ingrained in the Chinese mindset that it ultimately failed to “cultivate integrity.”
As Yongzheng learned, to be honest, just paying officials is not enough. The entire bureaucracy and the people it serves must also not tolerate any despicable behavior by its officials.
Mr. Iswaran’s case must therefore be considered in the context that society’s general aversion to corruption is sufficient to bring a case against him, even though the risks are relatively low.