JUDGE MY GOVT BY ITS RESULTS: PM

The Rhetoric

“The price of a good government is $34 million a year – just $11 per Singaporean a year – or the cost of five plates of char kway teow per citizen.”
– Straits Times, July 1, 2000

“A million dollars for a minister seems a lot when compared with the salary of a worker. But $34 million for all the ministers and political office-holders is a tiny drop when compared with the increase in GDP that a good government can produce…”
– PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, July 1, 2000

The Reality

The Singapore economy contracted by 2% in 2001 (Singapore Department of Statistics). Singapore has undergone two recessions in three years – 1998 and 2001. December 2001 figures show that 101,800 persons are unemployed.

Judge your govt by its results, Mr Goh? OK.