This time it was not the government that dished out the punishment but the chief executive of Comfort, a public-listed taxi operator. (The company is associated with the trade union movement, NTUC, which in turn is linked to the government.)

Managing director Goh Chee Wee was upset by what he considered a “vicious and personal attack” on him by Business Times reporter Christopher Tan.

In an internal memo to his staff, Goh instructed that the reporter be barred from all company events after his two offending articles.

In the first, Tan had reported that Goh received S$1.43mil in remuneration last year, a figure that shocked Singaporeans in a hard-hit economy where everything is coming down.

Tan then followed up with an analysis titled: “Is Goh Chee Wee deserving of S$1.43mil package?”

It noted that Comfort’s earnings had come from taxi rentals and Goh had made property investments in the late 1990s that lost money.

Like in America, the question of high management payments has become a sensitive matter in economic-troubled Singapore.

The ban provoked an angry public reaction and was shortly lifted by Goh.

In another controversy involving another government-linked company, ST Assembly Test Services had paid its former chief executive, Tan Bock Seng, “consulting fees” of S$465,000 a month for six months beginning January.

It went undisclosed for months allegedly due to an oversight. Bock Seng was also paid S$1.8mil bonus in recognition of his services.

The benefits were paid while the company, Asia’s No. 2 chip tester, had just reported a loss of S$38.6mil in the second quarter.

While neither party has committed any offence, the sums involved were large enough to shock many Singaporeans.

With workers suffering pay cuts and the worst job losses in history, company profits weakened and share prices remaining in a black hole, it is poor timing for high executive pay anywhere.

There is already a strong backlash against this trend in America, where the remunerations involved far overshadow even the worst case in Singapore.

For years, Singapore’s corporate culture had closely tracked that of America, including the exorbitant way its corporate executives were paid.

In an effort to turn themselves into global entities, several Singaporean banks and government-linked companies had offered top dollar in recruiting world talent from both East and West.

Some were evidently overpaid in relation to their performance. Subsequently, a few left.

Singapore was not alone in the high paying game. From Tokyo to Taipei, Milan to Mexico City, executive pay was – and still is – rising and sweeteners such as bonuses and options were being stirred into the mixture.

But two factors are currently forcing a slowdown: the economic downturn and a public revolt against excesses in America.

Recent cases of corporate greed in Enron, Qwest Communications and 21 other companies whose accounting is under investigation have resulted in a public backlash.

Even before the collapse of Enron, shareholder and employee representatives worldwide had already been taking a much larger interest in CEO pay.

In America, CEO greed has been soaring out of control. According to Business Week, the average executive of a major US corporation made 42 times more than a typical factory worker in 1980. By 1990, that ratio was 85 times and in 1998, it had reached a staggering 419 times.

At this rate, the average CEO would make the salary equivalent of more than 150,000 American factory workers in 2050.

The former head of Apple Computer, Gilbert Amelio, is a great example. As the Wall Street Journal noted in its executive pay report, Apple lost nearly US$2bil during Amelio’s brief tenure of 17 months.

About 3600 employees lost their jobs. Amelio’s golden parachute included US$6.7mil in severance pay plus other compensation.

In whatever society, excessive CEO payments have an implicit message: the chief deserves nearly all the credit for the company’s success.

In the crazy world of corporate compensation, some excesses are taking place that should not. CEOs, for example, rake in millions through good times and bad while workers are downsized and get pay cuts.

Wall Street executive Julian Robertson says it well: “Everybody here is overpaid, knows they are overpaid and is determined to continue to be overpaid.”

Banker J.P. Morgan feels that the proper ratio “between the top people and the rank and file should be 20-fold, post-tax. Beyond that, you create social tension.”

Proponents say that competitive payments are necessary. As corporations become more multinational, they have to compete for talent. And that can cost plenty.

“Big companies are starting to realise that they’re in an international market for staff,” says a consultant who specialises in executive compensation in Europe.

“When you have a multibillion-dollar market cap, you don’t want to get a second or third-choice CEO. Paying a really skilled CEO a lot of money can still be a bargain in the long run.”

Japanese CEOs, including those running large worldwide companies, come out looking like paupers compared to their American counterparts.

Their average earnings range from US$300,000 to US$500,000 on average, with bonuses averaging a measly 10 percent. Remuneration in Singapore is larger by comparison.

In fact, Singaporean bosses in major companies are the second highest paid in Asia, next to Hong Kong.

The latest survey shows executive remuneration in the republic is 37 times the average employee earnings compared to 38 for Hong Kong.

Other ratios are: Thailand (23 times), Australia (22), Shanghai, China (21) New Zealand (16), Taiwan (15), South Korea (11) and Japan (10).

Singapore, like other cities, are pressurised by the American practice to raise their defences to hold on to talents.

One factor calls for special caution here. Many of the large corporations are government-controlled.

In normal companies, public investors act as guardians against excesses; but with these Temasek-controlled ones, the duty rests with the government.

Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

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