[AFP] Singapore PM's salary stuns White House official
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WTF?!?!Originally posted by LazerLordz:Singapore PM's salary stuns White House official
On Monday, the Singapore government had announced a fresh 25.5 percent pay hike for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, boosting his salary to 2.05 million dollars per year.
Damn our ministers are over paid. High salary doesn't mean no corruption. =P -
Yew's World
So Harry tell me about Enron oops I mean Temasek Holdings PTE Ltd
Well Mr Young i'm not telling you about the first 30 years trading thats confidential
You mean corrupt Harry
Well Mr Young we're not corrupt we just have our own way of doings things
I see Harry well no i don't actually because you concealled the financial statements for the first thirty years so I only see three out of thirty three years trading seems rather odd to me.
Oh no it's not odd its even Mr Young..... 10%
What on earth are you talking about Harry
Well Mr Young we came up with this brilliant idea so were in the 90% club
What are you talking about Harry ?
Well Mr Young the citizens know 10% so if all goes wrong it all seems the same because they never knew the other 90%
We'll use that to build a White House and call it Coca-Inne -
Did they (SG govt) announce their 12 months bonus?????Originally posted by strangeangel:Our Ministers get a lot of perks too - they are civil servants too and if i recall correctly civil servants get alot of perks (e.g - medical bills etc.) And yes, unlike Bush, our Ministers are transparent about their pays - but the extent and degree of transparency is still questionable. I believe most Heads of State in general get perks and other freebies which they may consider unimportant to let the public know about, but which may actually be of some importance to the public.
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Oh no!!! You cannot pay them too low....otherwise, they will all become corrupted. They are all indispensable Gods of Singapore.Originally posted by wave24:Why the hell they need so high pay for?? Half of their salary should go
to the lower income workers pay or to the charity to help the needy.
Its not as if the minister hav eat 10kg of rice at one go...At the end of the day,
how tired,hungry or stress they are,they can only eat the same amount or quantity
of rice their stomach can take...??
Talking about charity,did they ever donate b4??
Anyone remembered them doing so..??
OOOh I forgot,after all the donation will go back to their salary!!
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Greed knows no boundariesOriginally posted by Matrix_:WTF?!?!
Damn our ministers are over paid. High salary doesn't mean no corruption. =P
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I remember watching the U channel "just shoot" - the host mentioned at the end of the show, it good to earn and save as much as you can when you are young because there is a lot of unknown in the future. I strongly agree hence it's ok to make the good out of it while you can. Why no. -
aiya i don't think it really matters lah. as long as everyone has a paying job and singapore is peaceful.
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Their noble virtues lacklustres when they earn such a high salary given the electoral process and politics is a square restricted. In a country where only the white uniforms get to speak and hear themselves most of the time...where is the fair square....restricted!
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True. I agree. But to put it in a better way, the salaries of cabinet ministers are high so as to attract more people to venture into politics and prevent corruption.Originally posted by Lowclassman:Oh no!!! You cannot pay them too low....otherwise, they will all become corrupted. They are all indispensable Gods of Singapore.
Think again, without PAP, we may still be living in kampung under Malaysian rule and become second class citzens. -
Who says so???Originally posted by tanjun:True. I agree. But to put it in a better way, the salaries of cabinet ministers are high so as to attract more people to venture into politics and prevent corruption.
Think again, without PAP, we may still be living in kampung under Malaysian rule and become second class citzens.
What about Taiwanese??? Aren't they are better than us.
I really appreciate their technologies and ways of life there as compared to SG!!! I hate SG govt!!! -
Oh. Please do consider before putting your hatred onto somebody because it requires pretty much effort. I am not going to say SG govt is gd or anything. You have your reasons of hating it. I have mine too. However, what I feel about SG govt is that they are far sighted, efficient but they focus too much on packaging instead of the contents inside the package itself.Originally posted by Lowclassman:Who says so???
What about Taiwanese??? Aren't they are better than us.
I really appreciate their technologies and ways of life there as compared to SG!!! I hate SG govt!!!
Every govt has its strengths and weakness. -
More like we are paying for legal and acceptable corruption. After all, it is not consider corruption if it is legally and forcefully acceptable.Originally posted by carrotsoup:We have to pay to prevent corruption. You know.
It's like the robber saying you have to pay me, if not I will rob you.
More like the robber saying; I am not robbing you, I am just taking away your $$ so that you won't be rob. -
lol x1000. who defined law? it is them who defined it, anything they say is law. And they use law to sue others. LOLOriginally posted by EarlNeo:More like we are paying for legal and acceptable corruption. After all, it is not consider corruption if it is legally and forcefully acceptable.
More like the robber saying; I am not robbing you, I am just taking away your $$ so that you won't be rob. -
wahz..25.5% increase only ar??after all gst n other tax drain so much of our meager pay liao..only 25.5%??is it typo actually is 255%??a PM doin not really tat much gets 2m+/year..amazing...y my daddy not lky??haiz
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far sighted??so thats y they have the legitimate excuse to raise taxes to cover higher medical costs for the elderly??they dont see its a vicious cycle that will only get worse??Originally posted by tanjun:Oh. Please do consider before putting your hatred onto somebody because it requires pretty much effort. I am not going to say SG govt is gd or anything. You have your reasons of hating it. I have mine too. However, what I feel about SG govt is that they are far sighted, efficient but they focus too much on packaging instead of the contents inside the package itself.
Every govt has its strengths and weakness.
greying population leads to higher costs of living cuz Govt will not feed ppl who have no use to them leads to everything more expensive leads to younger gen dont dare to spawn more kids leads back to greying population...
thats pretty damn far sighted... -
And yet they say they are providing service and its dedication to the nation? So highly paid - who don't want to "give" service. Pay so high to prevent corruption. After they get used to this high pay - do we have to keep adjusting it higher and higher so that they constantly will not feel tempted?Originally posted by tanjun:True. I agree. But to put it in a better way, the salaries of cabinet ministers are high so as to attract more people to venture into politics and prevent corruption.
Think again, without PAP, we may still be living in kampung under Malaysian rule and become second class citzens.
I don't think anyone would disagree with what PAP has done in bulding up the nation. But that doesn't mean they are Gods and always 100% right and unlike God must be paid so extremely high so as not to be tempted! -
As the propulation increase,
I wonder should they increase the salary some more
in case some say current pay only for old propulation, now
got more propulation, should auto pay hike???
i no no lah. so i ask lor. can or not?
cannot har ? tell me leh. tell me leh.
well done folks! enjoy. -
Singapore announces 60 percent pay raise for ministers
By Seth Mydans
Published: April 9, 2007
SINGAPORE: How much money does it take to keep a Singapore government minister happy? The government says a million dollars is not enough, and on Monday it announced a 60 percent boost in ministers' salaries, to an average of 1.9 million Singapore dollars, or $1.26 million, by next year.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will see his pay jump to 3.1 million Singapore dollars, five times the $400,000 earned by President George W. Bush.
In this nation where the bottom line truly is the bottom line, the argument goes, you've got to pay to get them and you've got to pay to keep them.
"If we don't do that, in the long term, the government system will slowly crumble and collapse," Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean told reporters last month.
As the minister who oversees the civil service, Teo announced the pay hikes Monday, saying: "We don't want pay to be the reason for people to join us. But we also don't want pay to be the reason for them not to join us, or to leave after joining us."
It is a pay system created in 1994 by Singapore's founder, Lee Kuan Yew, pegging the salaries of government ministers and top civil servants to the money they might earn at the top of the private sector.
Defending the system last month against an unusual public yelp of pain, Lee Kuan Yew painted a horrifying picture of a Singapore governed by ministers who earn no more than ministers anywhere else.
"Your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is," he said, "your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries."
Singapore has one of the most efficient and corruption-free governments in the world.
It is Asia's second-richest country after Japan, with a gross domestic product per capita of about $31,000, and Lee said it could well afford to pay its leaders top dollar.
The total of the salaries before the increase amounted to 46 million Singapore dollars a year, he said, or 0.13 percent of government expenditure - 0.022 percent of gross domestic product.
Under the government's formula, ministers are to be paid two-thirds of the median of the top eight earners in each of six professions: accounting, law, banking, engineering, multinational companies and local manufacturing.
There has been no public sign of discontent among the men and women who run Singapore, but last month the prime minister noted that they were earning just 55 percent of this benchmark.
"We don't want pay to be the reason for people to join us," Teo said Monday in announcing the pay hikes. "But we also don't want pay to be the reason for them not to join us, or to leave after joining us."
Talk of the impending pay increase drew an outcry here for weeks that included letters to newspapers and an online petition that has collected more than 800 signatures.
The average Singaporean earns something over $2,000 a month, and the government has voiced concern over a widening gap between rich and poor.
The ministerial raise comes three months ahead of a 2 percent increase in the sales tax.
Mohamad Rosle Ahmad wrote in a letter to the editor: "I am sure Enron and Worldcom paid more than top dollar for their top executives, and look where their companies are now - six feet under."
Lee Kuan Yew, whose title is minister mentor, said naysayers like this need a reality check.
"I say you have no sense of proportion; you don't know what life is about," he said last month.
"The cure to all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government," Lee said. "You get that alternative, and you'll never put Singapore together again."
He presented himself as an example: "A top lawyer, which I could easily have become, today earns 4 million Singapore dollars. And he doesn't have to carry this responsibility. All he's got to do is advise his client. Win or lose, that's the client's loss or gain."
The Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying his current salary as minister mentor was 2.7 million Singapore dollars.
Money may buy happiness for a government minister, but some Singaporeans suggested that other motivations should also come into play for government service.
"What about other redeeming intangibles such as honor and sense of duty, dedication, passion and commitment, loyalty and service?" asked Hussin Mutalib in the Straits Times' online forum recently.
Carolyn Lim, a prominent writer, suggested in an essay in The Straits Times that Singapore needed a little more heart to go along with its hard head. "Indeed, a brilliant achiever without the high purpose of service to others would be the worst possible ministerial material," she wrote.
"To see a potential prime minister as no different from a potential top lawyer, and likely to be enticed by the same stupendous salary, would be to blur the lines between two very different domains."
The minister mentor brushed aside concerns like that.
"Those are admirable sentiments," he said. "But we live in a real world." -
now that they've stunned the official, they're going for the kill by increasing their pay again
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Not Even 1 year :
Title : Top public sector officers to get 4% to 21% pay rise in January
By :
Date : 13 Dec 2007 1838 hrs (GMT + 8hrs)
SINGAPORE : Top public sector staff will have a second round of salary adjustments on January 1 next year. Their annual salaries will rise between 4% and 21%.
The group, comprising 351 people, includes administrative officers, as well as political, judicial and statutory appointment holders.
This exercise is a continuation of the government's announcement in April this year to adjust salaries in phases for the public sector. The pay will also be more closely tied in with individual performance.
Salaries in the public sector have lagged behind those of the private sector, despite the first phase of adjustments announced in April. To make public service pay more competitive, further revisions will be made based on two salary benchmarks.
Those under the MR4 benchmark, such as entry level ministers and senior permanent secretaries, will see their annual salaries increase by 21% to S$1.94 million, comprising a 14% increase in monthly salaries and a rise of some two months in performance bonuses. The revision will include a 7% imputed pension for those at the more senior level.
Public service officers under the SR9 benchmark for entry level Superscale Grade will also see their annual income go up by 4% to S$398,000 to come up on par at 100% of the benchmark.
Allowances for Members of Parliament will rise 4% to S$225,000 a year since their packages are pegged to the entry Superscale Grade.
Salaries of those in the MR4 grade are pegged to two-thirds of the median salary among the top eight earners in six professions, namely multinational corporations, bankers, lawyers, accountants, local manufacturer and engineers, while the SR9 grade is pegged to the annual salary of the 15th top earner, aged 32 years old, in the same six professions.
The Minister-in-charge of Civil Service and Defence Minister, Teo Chee Hean, said in a statement that the latest adjustment follows the April announcement.
He said the public sector salaries move with the market and that private sector salaries have increased significantly. Mr Teo said the civil service needs to follow suit in order to attract and retain good people.
The average resignation rate for the Administrative Service for the last three years was 3%. This year, 13 officers have left the service to date. This brings the resignation rate to 5.5%.
The Public Service Division (PSD) said the attrition rate has risen but has not reached serious levels. However, it added that the division should be proactive to retain able officers in the public service.
These revisions will cost the government S$27.6 million a year, of which S$17.5 million will be for the political, judicial and statutory appointment holders.
The Public Service Division said the latest changes will help public sector pay reach the stated target of 77% of private sector benchmarks by the end of this month.
The government said it will monitor the benchmark movements and make further adjustments by end-2008 to 88% of private sector benchmarks.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said in April that he will donate his wage increases for the next five years to charity.
Mr Lee will donate S$500,000 to charity next year. This is based on the difference between what he receives in 2007 and his salary level before the April 2007 revisions. The same principle will apply for his earnings in 2008. - CNA /ls -
More! More! More!
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this is insane.. price of petrol and taxi fare goes up, their salary goes up as well. bloody hell man.
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Inflation goes up by 5%.Originally posted by nyox:this is insane.. price of petrol and taxi fare goes up, their salary goes up as well. bloody hell man.
Their salaries go up by 21%.
Woohoo. -
Shiok or not?Originally posted by charlize:Inflation goes up by 5%.
Their salaries go up by 21%.
Woohoo. -
Being an elite sure has its privileges in Singapore.Originally posted by LazerLordz:Shiok or not?