what you pay is what you get

The current hot topic lately is regarding the pay hike of the Selangor state government’s representatives. From conventional media to online forums, many people from all walks of life including political leaders have been giving their two cents on this issue. Most of the comments are the pay hike is too steep and comes at a bad time whereby the country is facing financial constraints.

No doubt at a glance, the pay hike of reaching more than double for some is indeed excessive. However, let’s dissect further and imagine the state government is actually a multinational corporation. For a multinational corporation, hiring the best people for the job is crucial. This is to ensure the operation of the corporation runs smoothly and efficiently and at the same time generate good revenue and profits. These personnel are being paid based on market value and sometimes even higher based on their competencies. Look at huge corporations like Apple, Microsoft and most of the international banks. Their executives are paid handsomely. These corporations are generating good profits even with the pay package they are dishing out for their personnel. Why is this so? Just a simple check with the Human Resource executives will paint a clearer picture. In order to find the right people for the job and also talented ones, the pay package is the main tool to attract them. They are being paid for their worth and the benefit they bring to the corporation. The pay factor also increases morale and spur the personnel to work harder besides being useful in retaining talent. The shareholders would not have any problem with this either.

Let’s come back to the Selangor state government representatives. For the almost five years in control of the state government, Selangor now has a surplus of funds exceeding the previous state government immensely. If in a corporation point of view this is similar to having generated a huge profit. So is it wrong to reward the “personnel” with higher pay based on their competency? By increasing their pay, they are entrusted with the responsibility to work harder to generate more income for the state and to serve the people better. Is not this a good thing? If they fail, we can always revert to the corporation way of demoting them or even “firing” them during the next General Election by us rakyat as the “shareholders”.

Let’s us now apply this concept to the Barisan Nasional representatives and their allies which are the loudest voice of criticism. They are right to certain extent when they say that if the similar pay hike is implemented in a BN-controlled state all hell will break loose. Why is this so? Let’s move back to the corporation point of view. Since BN is in control for decades of the federal government, the country’s debts have being rising rapidly, costs of living is increasing, public security level is decreasing, misuse of public funds is horrifying and many more. A corporation that is losing money, losing reputation and embezzlement, of course all hell will break loose from the “shareholders” if the “personnel” are given higher pay.

We should look into the bigger picture rather than restricting our view within a box. The current Selangor Menteri Besar is a corporate-trained person. Thus we should respect his executive decision so long everything remains well in the state of Selangor. As the common saying goes, what you pay is what you get. If you pay peanuts you will only get a monkey. God bless Selangor.