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Tommy Koh's Facebook post, criticizing the Straits Times biased reports on the recent IPS conference, has now become viral. In his message, the veteran diplomat questioned the newspaper's decision not to include a photo of the exchange between Professor Cherian George and Dr. Janil Puthucheary on diversity management policies.
Newspaper editor writes that torch against veteran Singapore diplomat Tommy Koh talks about Straits Times "biased" report on IPS conference on inequality
In addition to criticizing the local newspaper for not giving more prominence to the discussion about professors Cherian and Puthucheary, Dr. Koh also criticized the Straits Times for failing to refute the assertion made by the minister Josephine Teo at the same conference that a minimum wage could lead to unemployment and clandestine jobs. . Dr. Koh told the minister that "her story is contradicted by the experiences of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong who have adopted a minimum wage."
Inequality is a "problem of success" that it is "very difficult to overcome": the Minister of the Workforce, Josephine Teo
Mr. Lim Boon Heng, former minister and current chairman of Temasek Holdings, also responded to Mr. Koh in office and refuted the diplomat's assertion on the minimum wage. Mr. Lim stated that "the evidence on the minimum wage is at best mixed" and that he "learned early in my union career that the best welfare we can offer a worker is a work".
Mr. Lim, who was General Secretary of the National Congress of Trade Unions (NTUC) for 13 years, until his retirement from active politics in 2011, said:
"… The evidence on the minimum wage is at best mixed. Some studies show that the minimum wage leads to a higher unemployment rate, but advocates of the minimum wage are not satisfied with these studies.
At the beginning of my union career, I learned that the best well-being we can offer a worker is a job. Everything else is complementary, what we should do where it is reasonable and feasible.
I then realized that every worker hoped that this year's income would be better than last year's.
And for this to be sustainable, there has to be a growth in productivity.
So we explained to union leaders and workers that we needed to help increase productivity. In other words, let's make a bigger pie together than argue over how to slice a pie. Even if the share remains unchanged, workers earn a higher net salary.
Today, how should we look after the interests of workers, especially low-income workers?
Prescribing a minimum wage is intuitive, but may not be the best solution. I believe that employers should subscribe to the United Nations goals for sustainable development. If employers adopt the values that underlie these goals, they will pay fair wages to workers.
Companies will then set the right conditions when outsourcing work and not just getting the lowest costs. We must look at how we outsource the work.
Although we should never forget about low-income workers, in this era of disruption, we must realize that job mandates will be shortened for a wide range of jobs. Journalists now realize that their jobs are not secure. The old social pact will not be. So we have to find what will work.
For me, this is a new pact that provides training and retraining for which government, employers, unions and workers all have a role to play.
And we need to review our social security provisions, as there will be more short-term, self-employed jobs.
One parent told me that he had advised his children not to look for job security, but to look for ways to get a steady income. It has a lot of ramifications. "
Dr. Koh responded to Dr. Lim and asked him if he agreed that every Singaporean in the labor market would earn a living wage.
"… First of all, does he agree with my moral position that every working Singaporean should earn a living wage?
"Second, if he does, does he agree that many of our low-wage workers do not receive a living wage?
"Third, is there agreement that when the market fails, the state must intervene to ensure a fair outcome?
"Fourthly, is there agreement that the low wages paid to these workers are not due to their low productivity but to the fact that we have recruited about one million poorly paid foreign workers to compete with our workers? ?
"Fifth, is there agreement that the progressive wage model has not yet raised wages to a level that allows our low-wage workers to live in dignity?"
Dr. Lim did not respond to Dr. Koh at the time of writing this article. Other influential sociopolitical commentators, however, took part in the debate on the minimum wage.
Inderjit Singh, former MP for Ang Mo Kio RCMP, wrote on Facebook:
"I think the idea that a minimum wage will reduce employment is outdated. Why will employers be willing to continue to settle in Singapore despite a minimum wage system? The answer lies in the many other values we have as a country – infrastructure, security, stability, connectivity, and so on. These benefits far outweigh the impact of a minimum wage. It worked in many countries. I do not see why that can not work in Singapore. I have advocated for the minimum wage a few times in Parliament. The government already recognizes the need to implement PWM in two areas. If we believe that cleaners and security guards need a minimum wage, why not use all low-wage workers in all sectors? I also spoke about it in my 2014 message in response to the President's speech. Here is what I wrote:
"… Although social assistance schemes and safety nets are necessary, I feel that they are not tackling the root cause of the problem: low wages." The progressive salary model is a good start for legislating on a sector minimum wage. I urge this government to further develop this model and to include more sectors. By ensuring that all Singaporeans earn a living wage, they would become more self-reliant and reduce their dependence on the government, even to reach a comfortable standard of living. "
Other influential economists also took part in the debate on the minimum wage and said that they saw no strong conceptual or practical reason why we could not have a minimum wage in Singapore. One of them added: "We are still far from considering this, which suggests that it is more a question of state ideology than of pragmatic calculation".
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