Candidates drawn to service not salary, claims Joseph Wong

Fixing the ministers' pay below the upper levels of the private sector will actually help attract the best candidates, the Secretary for the Civil Service argued yesterday.

Joseph Wong Wing-ping said on Metro Radio that ministers should be attracted by the prospect of serving society. The proposed pay package of $3.7 million a year for the 11 policy ministers is dwarfed by the median $6.6 million package paid to chief executive officers, according to a survey of 56 companies carried out by the Government.

'Those who are willing to work as ministers are willing to bear the responsibility [of serving society],' Mr Wong said.

Mr Wong also sought to play down fears that making the head of the civil service a political appointee could hurt the service's neutrality.

'The minister will be selected from among the civil servants and be familiar with the civil service system . . . But more importantly, the minister will consider not only the civil servants' viewpoints, but also the interests of the Government and the public.'

He said the main civil service unions had expressed their general support for the new system at a meeting with him on Wednesday.