Top dollar for star talent
WATCHING events unfold this week is like watching Halley's Comet, a rare occurrence which is nerve-racking for those in the finance industry but also a great learning experience for all mankind.
While the world is gripped by fear of a global financial meltdown, United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has yanked the financial market from near death with a huge adrenalin injection by proposing a trillion-dollar rescue plan.
Few know that Mr Paulson's net worth is more than US$600 million (S$860 million) and at one time he earned more than US$34 million a year from Goldman Sachs. At the age of 62, he really does not need to spend many sleepless night trying to fight bureaucracy and save the world.
Mr Paulson not only had a clear understanding of the situation, but also had a firm grip on the assets available to him to tackle the problem. He is legendary in his ability to take any problem head on. In this case, he not only roped in the bi-partisan US Congress to work together but also almost made them pee in their pants as he and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave a no-holds-barred report on the situation.
It is unlikely that Singapore will ever have the good fortune of Mr Paulson or someone of his calibre in our Ministry of Finance. Singapore's small pool of people and Singaporeans' pragmatic attitude have seen few top earners willing to sacrifice millions in pay to join government service. Not many are like Education Minister Ng Eng Hen and Law Minister K. Shanmugam who took a $2 million to $5 million pay cut to serve us.
It will always be a challenge for any government to fill its posts and we should not skimp on paying the right people to do the job. Many of us accept the need to spend more than $2 million to train a fighter pilot to defend our country. We must also understand that having the right person doing the right job at the right time is critical to the survival of our country. We always need talented people to defend our society and country. The contribution and sacrifice by these people to Singapore is priceless.
Syu Ying Kwok
WATCHING events unfold this week is like watching Halley's Comet, a rare occurrence which is nerve-racking for those in the finance industry but also a great learning experience for all mankind.
While the world is gripped by fear of a global financial meltdown, United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has yanked the financial market from near death with a huge adrenalin injection by proposing a trillion-dollar rescue plan.
Few know that Mr Paulson's net worth is more than US$600 million (S$860 million) and at one time he earned more than US$34 million a year from Goldman Sachs. At the age of 62, he really does not need to spend many sleepless night trying to fight bureaucracy and save the world.
Mr Paulson not only had a clear understanding of the situation, but also had a firm grip on the assets available to him to tackle the problem. He is legendary in his ability to take any problem head on. In this case, he not only roped in the bi-partisan US Congress to work together but also almost made them pee in their pants as he and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave a no-holds-barred report on the situation.
It is unlikely that Singapore will ever have the good fortune of Mr Paulson or someone of his calibre in our Ministry of Finance. Singapore's small pool of people and Singaporeans' pragmatic attitude have seen few top earners willing to sacrifice millions in pay to join government service. Not many are like Education Minister Ng Eng Hen and Law Minister K. Shanmugam who took a $2 million to $5 million pay cut to serve us.
It will always be a challenge for any government to fill its posts and we should not skimp on paying the right people to do the job. Many of us accept the need to spend more than $2 million to train a fighter pilot to defend our country. We must also understand that having the right person doing the right job at the right time is critical to the survival of our country. We always need talented people to defend our society and country. The contribution and sacrifice by these people to Singapore is priceless.
Syu Ying Kwok
