Addressing public anger over exorbitant ministerial salaries in Parliament today (Oct 1), Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean openly lied that the Opposition Workers’ Party (WP) support million dollar salaries for the ministers. The PAP leader said that the WP’s proposed formula rewards the ministers similarly to the tunes of a million dollars:
“But the Workers’ Party formula would have had a higher fixed component (of 81 per cent) compared to the White Paper’s proposal, and a smaller variable component (of 19 per cent). This means the WP would have paid out a higher portion of the salary – about S$880,000 out of S$1.1 million – regardless of individual performance or national outcomes, and even if the outcomes were not achieved. This would have made the link between salary and performance weaker…
The WP and government proposals are very close to in principle and quantum. Indeed if, if there were a WP government in power today, by their own formula, a WP minister would be paid essentially the same as what a minister today is paid.”
A check with WP’s parliamentary record revealed that WP leader Pritam Singh has actually called for the salaries to be lowered to around S$10,000 a month for the MPs (MX9 grade), S$483,900 a year for the MR4 Ministers and S$967,800 for the Prime Minister:
“The Workers’ Party proposed the MP peg to the MX9 level – the starting salary of entry-grade senior civil servants to the rank and file civil service… Ministerial salaries come next, and like many developed countries around the world you choose a suitable multiple that is politically acceptable to Singaporeans.”
Although WP Pritam Singh did not give the exact figure, the MR4 ministerial “multiple” turned out to be about 2.6 times the MP salaries, and the Prime Minister would draw double the amount of the MR4 minister.
Refer to 2012’s report here, it was stated that a MR4 Minister should only be getting S$483,9000 a year – and this is the part which Minister Teo Chee Hean applied his lie to and conveniently twisting the words of the opposition leader.
With 31 ministerial profiles in Parliament, Singapore’s dictatorship currently costs S$53 million a year. Dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong alone draws the world’s highest political salaries at S$2.2 million a year, while the puppet president Halimah Yacob draws the next highest at S$1.54 million a year.
Using a committee filled with government cronies, the dictatorship created a formula that provides bonuses based off low expectations of the economic progress. For example, the dictatorship need only achieve an unemployment rate below 5%, GDP growth above 2% and an income growth above 0.5% to enjoy a National Bonus of 1.5 months. The National Bonus has a maximum of 6 months.
Each Minister will also enjoy a Performance Bonus ranged from 0 to 14 months, which is determined by the Prime Minister. The dictator PM does not get Performance Bonus but he rewards himself by drawing the National Bonus twice.
Corruption is rampant in Singapore’s ruling party dictatorship, with the million dollar salaries approved by both the single party-dominated Parliament and the corrupted puppet President – whose salaries are similarly determined by the Prime Minister.
With their dominance in politics, few PAP MPs and Ministers concern themselves with attending Parliament and it is not uncommon to see a house with 80% of the seats empty.