Sunday, May 8, 2011

Minister's pension

A letter explaining the pension paid to ministers has been posted in SGEP. Here is the direct link.

Dear Kin Lian
As an actuary, I am sure you can easily quantify the amount paid out in a year or the amount needed to be set aside for this pension.  It would probably run into billions a year and the public has a right to know.   Let not forget this amount is for life and pay out of our tax money.

I am not against pension system.  I think it is a good social safety net for all Singaporean.   Previously, public servants are getting a pension because their remuneration are lower than the private sector so it is a way to compensate them.   However, since CPF was implemented decades ago, still PAP does not have a transition mechanism to migrate the pension system for Ministers to CPF system.   

While I think that we may not be able to stop these pension payment to those who have retired due to contractual reasons, we should at least push the govt to review the system so as not to burden our future generations with such huge financial obligation.   As you are keenly aware, The longer we wait, the compounding effect of this financial burden will increase astronomically.

Steve