Million dollar-salaried Singapore ministers are celebrating the “end” of Circuit Breaker (CB) early this month: the 3 months pay cut announced in March will end in June.
In March, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the ministers are taking no pay for three months to “show solidarity” in the coronavirus outbreak that has caused massive job and business losses:
“The Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers and other political office-holders – as well as the President – will take a three-month pay cut to show solidarity with Singaporeans in this difficult time. It is in times of crisis that the true character of a nation can be seen. We are all in this together, and we must all look after one another in these trying times.”
That March announcement was made before the CB measures were extended on May 7, and again unofficially extended today (June 1).
Minister Heng Swee Keat did not make any announcement on further pay cuts.
Dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is the world’s highest paid politician, at S$2.2 million a year, or five times the United States President’s. The Singapore Cabinet cost a total of S$52 million a year in salaries alone.