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A Facebook message from visiting ambassador Tommy Koh, accusing the Straits Times of "biased coverage" of a forum in which he took part, generated many online discussions, which turned into a debate. in a debate between him and the former head of labor, Lim Boon. Heng if Singapore should have a minimum wage.
In his message yesterday, which generated more than 1,500 actions in 11 hours, Professor Koh also asked why the Straits Times did not publish a panel of a panel bringing together the Minister of State. Transport and Communications and Information Officer, Janil Puthucheary, and Professor Cherian George, it was because it was "against our national interest".
He was referring to the newspaper's coverage of the 30th anniversary conference of the Institute of Political Studies (IPS) that took place Thursday and Friday at Marina Bay Sands.
Professor Koh chaired a dialogue on the first day of the conference and participated in the discussions on the second day. Labor Minister Josephine Teo and The Straits Times editor Chua Mui Hoong participated in the roundtable on Friday.
In his message, Professor Koh wrote: "I would like to ask the Straits Times why it had photos of the speakers and moderators of sessions 1, 2 and 4 but not 3? A photo of Janil Puthucheary and Cherian George is- she against our national interest?
"I would also like to point out to my friends at the ST that their biased reporting on the conference discredits our media.
"For example, the newspaper reported Minister Josephine Teo's argument that the minimum wage could cause unemployment and illegal employment, but I do not refute the fact that this story is contradicted by the experience from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong who have adopted a minimum wage, and I think the current disruption in Singapore's income is a moral shame.
"Many of our workers do not earn a living wage and live in poverty." The progressive wage model has improved wages in some sectors of our economy, but workers in these sectors still do not earn a living wage. Kuan Yew was considering income distribution that looks like an olive.
"Today, our income distribution looks like a pear. Think about it."
During the conference, Professor Koh's response to the Minister also elicited a response from both parties, citing arguments to defend their positions. This was summarized in the ST report.
The print edition of the Straits Times yesterday devoted an entire page to the conference and a separate report on each of the discussions. Stakeholder photos, including Professor George, were made with ST reports online, but not all images were in the print edition due to lack of available space on the page.
Warren Fernandez, editor of the Straits Times, emphasized in his response to Professor Koh.
Fernandez, who is also editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings' English / Malay / Tamil press group, said: "Professor Koh is well known and respected by many of us in the Straits Times. remarks seem all the more regrettable. "
He added, "Our online reports contained photos of the speakers, and our report printed on the panel with Professor George began with his comments, not those of the Minister, nor any of their photos."
ST, he said, has never made any effort to suppress Professor Koh's views.
"We have also devoted many pages to reflect Professor Koh's views on all sorts of topics, from the minimum wage to the repeal of Section 377A to his reflections on foreign policy."
In her response to Professor Koh on her Facebook page, ST's editor, Ms. Chua, stated that ST was the first article to publish her essay on the minimum wage in 2010.
Fernandez said that Ms. Chua "plans to gather the speeches of several speakers at the IPS forum in the editing of this document published Monday."
"So to suggest that we deliberately remove the views that might be at odds with the ministerial comments is unfounded and unfair," he said.
Professor George, who responded to Professor Koh's message, said that he understood "the limits of the space reserved for newspapers" and jokingly said that the absence of his photo with the Dr. Janil "could have been an aesthetic decision".
He stated that he was more struck by how the cover of his group discussion with Dr. Janil had been described as "critical" in the media.
"It did not seem that way, and I'm sure the minister did not think so, there were more points of agreement than disagreement, and the disagreement was civil and respectful."
Meanwhile, the President of Temasek and former Minister Lim responded to the calls of Prof. Koh in favor of a minimum wage.
"With all due respect, Professor Koh, the evidence on the minimum wage is at best mixed," he wrote, noting that studies have shown how the minimum wage can increase unemployment.
Instead, it was better to focus on productivity growth.
"In other words, let's make a bigger pie together, rather than fight for how to cut a small pie, even if the share remains unchanged, the workers earn a higher net salary."
Professor Koh responded with a series of five questions, beginning with whether Mr. Lim agreed with his moral position that every working Singaporean should earn a living wage, he was doing so, Mr. Lim agrees that many low-wage workers are not paid for this.
Professor Koh added, "Third, is there agreement that when the market fails, the state must intervene to ensure a fair result? Fourth, is there agreement to to say that the low wages paid to these workers are not due to their low productivity, because we have recruited about a million poorly paid foreign workers to compete with our workers?
"Fifth, is there agreement that, until now, the progressive wage model has not raised wages to a level allowing our low paid workers to live in dignity? "
Mr Lim answered by his own question asking Professor Koh if he would agree that there are studies showing the harmful consequences of the minimum wage.
"Several years ago, NTUC drew the government's attention to the" working poor. "One proposal, which the government did not accept, was to remove some jobs only for Singaporeans, just as we would do it for taxi drivers.
"Instead, the government offered a salary supplement, first as a test, then as a permanent one". This solution was not intended to distort the labor market, nor to impose on employers a wage cost that they did not consider viable.
"This prevents the premature transfer of activities out of Singapore to other countries where the cost of labor is cheaper," says the government, "to ensure that low-income workers have a decent income."
"Yes, Prof, the government takes its responsibilities seriously, and yes, we should periodically review the amount of the wage subsidy.
"So, Prof, we have an alternative to the minimum wage, and I think it's superior."
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