Civil servants certainly deserved to be paid competitively. Many of them are capable, possess good qualifications from reputable universities and can be said to belong to the 2nd stratum of the society with regards to status. While many civil servants may not be in the same class as doctors, lawyers and investment bankers, they are nevertheless very well above average and in the spectrum of professionals, fare better than engineers and teachers (who are technically civil servants but basically just a group of people who cannot survive beyond the school environment and enjoy whining & whining all the time).