Much delayed publication of excellent comment

First of all, many apologies for not publishing this comment made 3 days earlier in this post

Here it is:

I read with interest Mentor Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s remark in Singapore’s Parliament that Denmark, Finland and Switzerland can afford mediocrity in the remuneration of their ministers.

I shall restrict my observations to Denmark and Finland.

These 2 Nordic countries reward their leaders, in both the private and public sectors, somewhat less handsomely than Singapore. Despite this, I would suggest that both countries’ governments are by no means mediocre, and neither have they evinced any indication of being able to afford it.

Finland has managed to weather the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90s, a market for 20% of its exports, in no small part due to its successful transformation from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy. Its leading multinational, Nokia, is the market leader in the mobile telecommunications industry, with a global market share of 36% in the manufacture of mobile phones (Q42006) and revenues of €41.121 billion (2006). While most of the credit for this success story can be attributed to the Finnish private sector, Finland’s government had a significant role to play in creating the optimal framework for the flourishing of the technology sector. From the mid 1960s onwards, there were special efforts to expand higher education, with a law on higher education passed in 1966, the result being that Finns are some of the most well-educated people in the world.

The Finnish government was also instrumental in pushing for the promotion of GSM as the European mobile telephony standard, based on the Nordic countries’ experience of NMT, an earlier, pan-Nordic standard. The early adoption of GSM in Finland provided the platform for Nokia’s global breakthrough. Decades before the global liberalization of telecommunications markets in the 1990s, Finland’s telecoms market had already been liberalized, and thus had possibly the world’s most competitive market for telecom operators and equipment makers. Credit for this is in no small part due to the role of the Finnish government. Finland devotes a higher percentage of its GNP to research and development than most countries, and the role of the government has been critical, especially in the early 90s, where public-funded research increased despite recession.

In the case of Denmark, the government made the decision in the 1970s to intensify research into renewable energy. Important research was carried out at Risoe, the government research centre, into wind energy. It took political courage to subsidize feeder tariffs for wind turbine-produced electricity. That decision has paid off handsomely. Today, Danish-based companies have a global market share of ca. 50% in the manufacture of wind turbines, an industry with global annual growth rates of 30%, and estimated revenues of €10 billion (2006, est.). Indeed Denmark’s Vestas has recently set up engineering and research facilities in Singapore.

In more general terms, I would submit that both countries’ systems and governments are not mediocre, and are like Singapore’s, acutely aware of not being able to afford it. Rather than Europe being there to catch Finland and Denmark should they falter, both countries have been net contributors to the European Union budget since their accession. Mediocrity is not a hallmark of either society either. In the last 30 years, both countries, despite their small populations, have produced individuals who have won Olympic gold medals, Oscars and Nobel Prizes. They have produced New Economy pioneers, for example Finland’s Linus Torvalds, the creater of Linux (an open-source operating system and competitor to Microsoft’s Windows) and Denmark’s Janus Friis, co-founder of Skype (a peer-to-peer telephony application).

In conclusion, both countries’ positions as globally competitive economies and high-achieving societies have been attained against the backdrop of low corruption levels, and high levels of trust between citizens and government, and seemingly despite high taxes and comprehensive welfare states. This has not required stratospheric levels of remuneration of government leaders and officials.

Mr. Gregory Glen
Holstebro, Denmark

Delayed justice.

April 25, 2007
Court suspends accused's driving licence ahead of trial

By Khushwant Singh

NEARLY two years after he crashed a sports car he was test-driving, resulting in the death of a sales executive, 26-year-old Regan Lee Da Wen had his driving licence suspended by a district court on Monday.

Having taken him off the road, at least temporarily, the court then charged him with causing the death of 22-year-old Ms Angelia He Xueli by driving dangerously.

The charge against Lee carries a mandatory jail sentence of up to five years. He could also be permanently disqualified from driving.

Lawyers said it is unusual for the court to suspend someone's licence before their case has been heard. Usually, drivers are disqualified only after they have been convicted, but Lee created a stir when he asked car enthusiasts last month in an online forum for advice on two high-performance cars he was eyeing - a Volkswagen Golf GTI and a Subaru WRX STI-S.

His remarks sparked calls for him to be banned from driving until the case had been investigated.

The purchaser with an oil storage firm also faces at least two civil suits.

Ms He, a sales executive, was a passenger in the Mazda MX-5 convertible Lee took out for a test drive in October 2005. Just minutes into the drive, Lee lost control of the $110,000 sports car along Paya Lebar Road.

It veered to the right, mounted a centre island, crossed onto the other side of the road and smashed head-on into a BMW, before flipping over and hitting a van.

Lee escaped unhurt, but Ms He, the only child of an odd-job worker and a bakery assistant, died in hospital.

The owner of the BMW, 46-year-old sales manager Raymond Lim, is claiming $29,000 from Lee for repairs to his car.

Mazda's insurers admitted full liability late last year, but the amount of compensation Mr Lim and his family will get for their injuries has yet to be finalised. The lawyers are also awaiting a specialist's report on his wife's neck injury.

Besides severe whiplash, she suffered concussion and bruises on her face and spent five days in hospital. Their son, now nine, is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. An aunt, who was in the car, fractured her shoulder blade and also spent five days in hospital, while an uncle escaped with no major injuries.

Mr Lim said he still suffers back and shoulder pains. 'I can't stand up straight. Doctors tell me it's strain,' he said. The van's occupants, a couple, escaped unhurt.

Ms He's parents, who are also suing Lee, could not be reached for comment.

Lee has been released on $10,000 bail. A pre-trial conference will be held on June 18 to discuss arrangements for the trial.

Rubbish.

Singapore's founding leader dismisses gripes over pay hike

The debate over the million-dollar paychecks of Singapore's cabinet ministers is "rubbish" because the city-state needs to attract extraordinary people to run it, founding leader Lee Kuan Yew said in remarks published Monday.

"The biggest mistake any Singaporean can make is to believe that Singapore is an ordinary country and can behave like an ordinary country like Malaysia, like Indonesia, like Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark," he was quoted by the Straits Times as saying over the weekend.

The blunt-talking former prime minister said the public furore over the decision to raise cabinet ministers' base salaries by more than 30 percent to 1.05 million US dollars per year was "completely unreal."

"I say, 'rubbish,'" he told 400 members of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) on Saturday.

Singapore, with its lack of natural resources and small population, needs attractive packages to draw talented people into public service or the country's future prosperity would be at risk, Lee warned.

"The problem we now face is how to attract more talent, how to headhunt and to persuade the best to come into parliament," said Lee, 83, who remains an influential figure in the government with the title of "minister mentor."

"I see this place going for another 50 years, no problem. But you need top-grade government," Lee said.

The pay hikes for ministers and top civil servants, which take effect this month, have triggered a rare public outcry from normally reserved Singaporeans, who enjoy Southeast Asia's highest standards of living.

The pay increase boosted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's annual salary to 2.04 million dollars, five times more than the figure US President George W. Bush earns and more than eight times the salary of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The prime minister -- the son of the elder Lee, who now makes 2.01 million dollars -- said he will freeze his salary for five years and donate the pay increase to charity.

Ministers' salaries are calculated using a formula pegging them to the earnings of top business executives and professionals, including lawyers and bankers.

Officials have long maintained that high salaries are necessary to attract talented managers into government service and preserve Singapore's reputation as one of the most corruption-free countries in Asia.

Delayed justice.

THE man who caused the death of a sales consultant two years ago while test driving a sports car has finally been charged with reckless driving.

Regan Lee Da Wen, 26, appeared at the Subordinate Court on Monday, 18 months after the fatal accident.

Lee was test-driving the high-performance Mazda MX-5 in October 2005 with sales agent 22-year-old Angela He Xueli seated beside him.

He was travelling along Upper Paya Lebar Road towards Bartley Road when he lost control of the vehicle.

The car hit a central road divider, crashing into a black BMW, then flipping over and colliding into an oncoming mini-van.

The crash killed Ms He.

Lee was expressionless when the charge of reckless driving causing death, was read to him.

Straits Times Interactive understands that civil suits have also been filed against Lee by the victim's family and possibly other parties.

Lee is now out on bail of $10,000.

If convicted under the Road Traffic Act, Lee could be jailed up to 5 years.

Speaking to Straits Times Interactive, Lee's lawyer, Julian Tay, said his client has been haunted by the incident.

Mr Tay said he is unaware if Lee's license has been revoked but said he knows that Lee is 'no longer driving'.

Lee's pre-trial conference has been set for June 18.

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Its pure bullshit that Regan "has been haunted by the incident". If he's so haunted by it, would he still go out drinking and enjoying life and contemplating which high powered car to buy next?

For the uninformed, Regan Lee was recently exposed online by "legendkiller" in S'pore car forums as being the one involved in the Mazda salesgirl accident. His posts in the forum consisted of questions asking which sports car to buy next. All that after causing the death of a young woman who was an only child.

After the online exposure and furore, it is pretty amazing to find out that he WAS STILL HOLDING ONTO HIS LICENSE and driving!!! If anything is to be fixed, it is not the internet, but that loophole in the law and keep dangerous drivers off the road.

The beginning of the end?

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Martin Luther King Jr.

Tonight, we dine in h....

Friday April 13, 12:31 AM
Singapore PM in damage control on salary: analysts

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's offer to freeze his salary for five years is an attempt to appease rare public fury over plans to boost the salaries of ministers and civil servants, analysts said Thursday.

The Singapore leader told parliament on Wednesday he would forego the salary hike which would give him an annual income of more than two million US dollars a year, up from the 1.62 million dollars he made last year.

He would donate the difference to "suitable good causes," he said.

"It looks like an indicator that he is trying to calm the public," said Sinapan Samydorai, president of the Think Centre human rights group.

"After all this noise, then you announce it -- people will still be sceptical even though his intention may be good," he told AFP.

A cabinet minister said Thursday that Lee's decision to donate his salary increase was made "quite some time ago."

Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, told reporters: "This was not a decision made under pressure."

Lee's salary hike was part of a pay increase for cabinet ministers and civil servants announced on Monday.

His revised salary would be five times more than the 400,000 dollars paid to US President George W. Bush and more than eight times that of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who receives 240,000 dollars a year.

The pay increases provoked a rare outcry from normally reserved Singaporeans.

In a country where political rallies are banned without a permit and the media are closely linked with the government, many of the comments against the pay rise were posted on the Internet, where people can use pseudonyms.

"What a hypocrite our PM Lee is," said Annie, who was among a growing list of people to sign an online petition against the increments. More than 1,800 had signed by Thursday.

"One moment he wants to level up his and his ministers' pay, next moment he tries to be a good and caring person by donating his increment to charity for the next five years," Annie said.

Ministers' salaries are to be raised incrementally from 1.2 million dollars to 1.9 million dollars by the end of 2008.

"Him freezing his pay should be seen more as a gesture to control the damage," said Terence Chong, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

"He is trying to seize the moral high ground and also to deflect criticism that ministers lack the desire" to perform public service, he told AFP.

The move to increase ministerial pay comes amid a widening income gap and ahead of a hike in the goods and services tax by two percentage points to seven percent beginning in July.

"The reason why there is such dissatisfaction is because the hike has come at a strange time when the salaries of the average Singaporean seem to be stagnating and in some parts taking a dip," said Chong.

Lee and senior ruling party leaders said high salaries, pegged to the pay of senior private sector employees, were necessary to attract the best people to government and prevent corruption.

Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan, of the Singapore Democratic Party, disagreed.

"It must never be forgotten that parliaments are institutions of service, not avarice," Chee said on his party's website.

"The pay hike was a colossal misstep on the part of the government ... The PM is obviously now trying to undo, or at least limit, the damage."

A former MP, who did not want to be named, said ministers should follow Lee's lead to show they were serious about the bread-and-butter issues facing Singaporeans.

"I think not only the PM, but the whole cabinet, should do that to gain moral authority," he said.

When justice fails...

Respectable - Don McLean

Ah, it ain't so easy is it? You almost lost your place.
And perhaps you're wondering how you're going to cope with your disgrace.
Well your wealth is well established and your friends were never few,
And all the things they told you of you're finding to be true.
Well if truth can free the guilty while the innocent must die,
Then I respect, respect, respect the coldest lie.

And you talk of human justice while you drive on fancy wheels.
And you push them to their limit just to see how nice it feels.
Well it doesn't really matter if she's living or she's dead,
You just drive away forgetting that your bumper's dipped in red.
Well if that's the kind of justice that our hall of justice claims,
Then I respect, respect, respect old Jesse James.

And most cordially they caught you and they asked you to obey.
And they threw you into prison, just in case you could not pay.
Well King Arthur jousted Lancelot, who stole away his wife;
And your lawyers jousted with the court to save your precious life.
Well if living is what matters though you lie with every breath,
Then I respect, respect, the ones we put to death.

And you won your case most easily and soon you will be free.
But there will be a million more who lose their liberty.
Not because of what they did, but what they did not do:
They did not pay a lawyer or a judge to see them through.
Why, they had no friends to call on and they could not raise their bail.
Well if winning is what matters, I respect the ones who fail.