Leadership by example

Business Times March 12 1998

BG Lee said,"So when a scholar breaks a bond, it is not a matter of just
liquidated damages. It involves deeper issues . . . moral integrity, a sense
of shame at breaking a solemn personal undertaking." 

The Straits Times (Singapore), May 22, 1996

* Cannot rely on self-sacrifice to attract  ministers
  
SINGAPORE cannot rely on having self-sacrificing individuals of the Mother
Teresa ilk come forward as leaders, Senior  Minister  Lee Kuan Yew said in 
Parliament yesterday. 
  
   It had to set in place a system to ensure that capable people entering
public service would be well rewarded.   
  
   "Let us not do the Singaporean a disservice ... They are honest,
honourable, committed men, but they are not Jesuits, they are not Mother Teresa. They 
have children, who will grow up, some will be successful, some will not be."   
  
   Mr Lee was responding to a point by opposition MP Chiam See Tong that  
Singapore should not rely on using high  salaries  to attract leaders.
  
   Mr Chiam also argued that leaders needed moral authority, and that the
public perceived that  ministers,  who were already paid well and could take part in 
profitable property transactions, were not making enough sacrifices.  
  
   In reply, Mr Lee asked: "Do I understand you that in order for people to   
respect me, I must be poor?"   

   Mr Lee pointed out that Singapore could not depend on being able to attract
enough able, self-sacrificing men to serve in Government for the future.  
  
   Nor could Singapore continue to "depend on the accident" of  ministers 
having wives who could provide well for the family, which he himself had  
enjoyed.  
  
   This was why he had urged Prime  Minister  Goh Chok Tong to implement a
system to peg  ministers' salaries  to private sector earnings, as he was 
convinced Mr Goh would not be able to attract candidates of ministerial
calibre into politics otherwise.  
  
   Singaporeans live in the real world, and capable leaders would want to be  
able to provide well for their families and for their children's future, he   
said.  


   The Straits Times  
  
December 4, 1993  
  
SECTION: Parliament; Pg. 29   
 
THE need to strike a balance between preserving a sense of public service 
and compensating able men adequately for serving in public office was a
running theme throughout the debate on ministerial pay yesterday. 
  
   Several MPs who rose to speak on this issue expressed support for the pay  
increases, but voiced concern and unease over the money factor.   
  
   They felt that using high  salaries  to attract talent for political   
appointments would undermine the notion of politics as public service.

   Perhaps the debate was brought up most vividly by Deputy Prime  Minister
Lee  Hsien Loong,  who said few men would be so idealistic as to give up all their
pay and "run the country as a religious order and a calling". 
  
   Brigadier-General (Res) Lee agreed that the altruistic motive was ideal,
but argued one had to be realistic. "Now, I think we can find one or two such 
people. Can we find 81 to be MPs?"
  
   Arguing that the public needed to be convinced of the pay increase, Mr Heng
Chiang Meng (Cheng San GRC) used the same imagery, pointing out that in their 
eyes, money should not play a big role.