Singapore ministers get first raise in 15 years

KUALA LUMPUR (AP):

Singapore’s ministers, already among the world’s highest paid, are getting a raise for the first time in 15 years, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, explaining that the government cannot attract top talent into politics if salaries remain unchanged.

Wong told Parliament yesterday that under a revised salary framework, the benchmark annual pay for a minister at the lowest grade will rise to SG$1.8 million (US$1.42 million), from US$868,330. The prime minister’s benchmark salary will jump to US$2.8 million from US$1.7 million, he said.

The government ministers who will receive raises are elected lawmakers who lead ministries and help make national policies, while allowances for other lawmakers also will increase.

But Wong said ministers and other political officeholders will not immediately move to the new salary benchmark. Instead, they will get a one-time adjustment up to nine per cent, beginning on October 15, with the increase depending on performance and responsibilities.

Wong expects most ministers at the lowest grade to earn about US$1.06 million by the end of the current term. Salaries thereafter will vary by performance and responsibilities, rather than automatically reaching the benchmark of US$1.42 million, he said.

He didn’t say how much his salary would be, although a nine per cent adjustment would raise it to US$1.89 million. Wong said he would donate his entire salary increase to charity for the next five years.

Political pay is a sensitive issue in Singapore as ministers earn far more than most citizens and the prime minister’s salary is among the highest for national leaders worldwide. The government has defended the system as necessary to attract capable people from the private sector and public service, and to maintain a clean government.

Singapore chose to deal with political remuneration openly, with no hidden salary components or perks outside the published framework, Wong said.

“Good government did not come naturally to Singapore. It was built deliberately over many years. And there is nothing automatic about sustaining this,” he said.

The government understood why Singaporeans scrutinise ministers’ pay, but argued that the issue could not be avoided simply because it was uncomfortable. Ministerial salaries had increasingly fallen behind comparable earnings in the private sector and civil service, making a review necessary, Wong said.

The salary framework uses the median income of Singapore’s top 1,000 citizen earners as a reference point, with a 40 per cent discount applied to reflect the nature of political service.

The new salary scheme would give Wong and future prime ministers “a better chance of persuading capable Singaporeans to step forward, and of building the strongest possible team for Singapore”, he said.

The new framework will be reviewed every five years, the government said.

The current political salary framework was established following a 2011 review and debated in Parliament in 2012. Salaries were cut by about 36 per cent under that review as the public expressed concern over political pay. A subsequent review in 2017 recommended adjustments, but the government decided not to implement them. A review scheduled for 2023 was deferred.