MM to Low: Is comparison valid?

HE HAS not spoken in Parliament since 2005, but he felt compelled yesterday to weigh in on the nation's hottest debate.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew rose to pose a question to opposition MP Low Thia Khiang, who had just claimed that Singapore could pay lower salaries to its civil servants like Finland, Denmark and Switzerland, and still run a country efficiently and without corruption.

MM Lee, the architect of the civil service salary benchmark, asked if Mr Low was 'comparing apples with apples'.

Did the MP consider Singapore to have a relatively high population compared to its resources?

Had the governments of those three countries brought the standard of living of their people up 'multifold times from Third World to First World in one generation', or maintained the quality of government and leadership that sets the tone for the whole civil service and the whole country?

And could a Swiss, Finnish or Danish government bring about the results that Singapore has brought about in their own countries, let alone bringing them and their system into Singapore?

Mr Low replied that these countries were 'not anything that is lousier than Singapore' in terms of living standards or government performance.

And while they had different conditions compared to Singapore, Mr Low also noted that the Republic has also been looking to emulate the Swiss standard of living.

This is the rest of their exchange:

MM Lee: The Member has not answered my point. Is he saying we are comparing apples with apples? Is he saying that the system of government in Finland, Denmark and Switzerland can bring (them) from First World to a superpower? Does he realise that...our external trade is 31/2 times that of our GDP, higher than Hong Kong at three times, and that if this economy ever falters, that's the end of Singapore and its First World status?

Denmark, Switzerland and Finland are part of Europe. They can fail and you are still caught in a European situation. If you fail here, you go back to a South-east Asian situation. Just look around you.

Mr Low: Is the MM saying that without paying such a high salary, we are bound to fail? I do not think even if we pay top-earner salaries the present government can bring Singapore up to a superpower.

MM Lee: I am putting a simple question and ask for his clarification. He has compared Singapore as if it were a Denmark, a Switzerland or a Finland. Their system, their governments never produced the kind of transformation that we have, and their system and their government have a broader base. It can afford a mediocre government.

The Singapore base is less than 700 sq km and when we started, it was less than 600. Could the system in Denmark, Switzerland or Finland produce a transformation as in Singapore?

Mr Low: On what basis does MM think that the same system in Denmark and Switzerland put in Singapore will not be able to transform Singapore into what we are today?

I have no claim that it will happen, but I would like to know from the wisdom of MM, why he thinks that it will not.

MM Lee: I would like the Member to explain why he thinks Singapore is comparable to Denmark, Switzerland or Finland.

Look at the size of the country, the location of the country, the resources of the country and the history of the people. Then look at Singapore, its size, its history and the nature of its population.

To make the transformation from what we were in 1959 or 1965, whichever the starting point, to what we are requires an extraordinary government with extraordinary government officers to support it.

If you go back to an ordinary system that exists around us, then you will go down to those levels. It is as simple as that. There is no guarantee that Singapore with less than 700 sq km can maintain this position.