Will PM Wong address the astronomical ministerial salaries?
June 23rd, 2024 | 
Author: 
I refer to The TR-Emeritus opinion article, “Will PM Wong address the astronomical ministerial salaries” (June 14) by Mr Yoong Siew Wah.
It has always been a controversial topic which concerns about our top political leaders who receive their salaries that are many times higher than those foreign political leaders.
Our former prime ministers, Mr LKY and Mr GCT had argued in the parliament that our political office holders must be paid a salary which is pegged to or matched with the salary package of the top CEO of the private corporate world. Otherwise, we can only attract mediocre candidates or attracting no people of high calibre to join the politics.
Undoubtedly, the top and influential political leaders have to make hard, rational and wise decisions on many important policies, and these decisions will definitely be closely related to the future development direction and future of the country and the destiny and interests of the people. This reason has already justified that they deserve to draw a high quantum of salary.
However, how much or in what figure of the salary for the ministerial political holders is being perceived as “justified”, “sufficiently enough” or “not over successive” or “too low” has always remained as an arguable/debatable subject in the hearts of ordinary people.
Even some people argue that by paying a salary package of mediocrity to politicians will create some risks for them to corrupt and lacking of passion, motivation, vision and commitment to serve the people and nation? Anyway, it is quite subjective too. It all depends upon an individual’s character, basis of morality, values and beliefs as well as capability.
Last but not least, another interesting but perplexed subject is that the total land area of Singapore is approximately 734.3km² as at end December 2022, but it has in total five mayors, each responsible for the CDC in a specific district. If comparing with the city of Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China which has only one mayor with a land area of 6340.5 square kilometres. And, each of our Mayor is not paid a “peanut”of salary.
Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)
Posted in 
COL here is ,in my sincere opinion,not just a “supply chain” issue but mostly “POLICY-DRIVEN” and closely related to HIGH MINISTERIAL PAY.
GREED HAS DRIVEN OUR COL $KY-HIGH.
WHY SIMPLY ASSIGN BLAME TO supply chain?
If so,WHY ARE PROFIT$$$ ESCALATING SO FAST?
GOVT AND ITS AGENT-ENTITIE$ ARE NOT HONEST.
Even DBS BANK escalated.
What supply chain.
And,AT NTUC FAT-PRICE $upermart,prices of items are not of “co-operative” kind???
Some,if not many,of the items are priced even higher than other retailers.
WHY IS IT SO when NTUC FAT-PRICE CAN BUY IN BIGGER BULKS than any of the retailers here?
Why are the “savings” from bulk-purchase not passed down to SGS(consumers) who are mostly from more ordinary backgrounds compared to JASON’S OR COLD STORAGE clientele?
GREED IS A MAIN CAUSE TO OUR HIGH COL.
And,as SECONDARY MARKET HDBs escalate beyond $1M ,$1.5M onto $2M,the G can CONveniently PEG DIRECT SALE HDB at MUCH HIGHER PRICES for “obvious” rea$ons???
Medical costs are ri$ing fast too.
It is time the G plays its ACTUAL(REAL) ROLR OF A PUBLIC NATURE RATHER THAN MEDDLES LIKE A PRIVATE SECTOR BUSINESS OPERATOR.
ACCOUNTABILITY MUST BE MORE GENUINE UPHOLDING TRUE INTEGRITY ,NOT BY WORDS BUT BY SOLID ACTIONS.
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In Singapore, they added, a robust framework can be developed for welfare that would prevent abuses and help the truly needy.
“Singapore should do more for its citizens, and the citizens should not hesitate to expect greater support from the state.
“There is no point in the government expecting its citizens to have more babies when day-to-day life is already challenging, wages remain static, and the cost of living continues to rise,” u/nabeelcreed added.
https://theindependent.sg/singaporean-says-transitioning-to-welfare-society-would-boost-population-address-high-living-costs/
Also urgently look into planning for a welfare state to truly help the needy!
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Straits Times: Let’s broaden definitions of success to go beyond academic, material achievements: PM Wong
It is not convincing for the HIGHEST PAID POLITICIAN ON THE PLANET to talk about “redefining success” beyond material achievements.
1) How does PM Wong and his colleagues in Cabinet define their success? Top political post? Highest salaries on the planet?
2) What happened to the Swiss Standard of Living promised by PAP over twenty years ago?
3) Where is the openness and transparency in government needed for (real) accountability?
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If they replace 90% of their pay with ordinary medals (not diamond covered gold medals) of achievement, then we believe.
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We are struggling with living costs and he is talking about the 5Cs. He is definitely not with us.
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https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/04/26/anwar-returns-khazanah-allowance-reiterates-decision-to-forgo-pm-salary
Anwar made a promise as PM of Malaysia that he will not accept any salary/pay/allowance until the country’s economy has fully recovered. Lots of sinkies would think this is yet another wayang by a Malaysian politician. But how I wish I can hear such wayang from SG’s MIW. In my dream (or nightmare), I can vaguely hear SG ex-PMs/current PM replying when asked to sacrifice their salaries.
GCT: This is not the right way to resolve the issue, we need to study this problem carefully and address it properly.
LHL: We must be very careful and responsible so as not to set an extremely dangerous precedence.
LW: Without a proper salary, I will not have the strength to play my guitar.
Oh, will SG ever have a PM like Anwar? A PM who truly cares for the common people? We managed to make the highest position in SG (that already attract power hungry and fame-seeking folks) into also the most lucrative paying job in the public sector. A sector already known for its above average staff benefits. Guess who will be interested in this job? Yes, this job will now attract all kinds of power-mad/attention-seeking and, most importantly, money-grabbing candidates. Why did LHL overstayed for 20 years? Guess how long LW will overstay? So, wait long, long hor.
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Dr M also promised to remove GST.
Yes, he removed the GST by renaming the G to S and Malaysian get SST…
I believe this is something that Malaysians will never forget.
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Your IQ is limited to alphabet comparison.
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Mr Teo KL did not mention ( perhaps on purpose ) there are indeed one 市长 but there are 7 副市长 in Shanghai.
https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E5%B8%82%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C
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You did not mention that Singapore one mayor earns more than Shanghai mayor and 7 deputies combined.
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If you insist and only focus on pay. Perhaps you help to breakdown the figures.
Then let us kiv the 2nd half of 2024 if Shanghai city ( not fully surrounded by sea and big land area ) flood or not in comparison to Sg ( fully surrounded by the sea and very small ). Who more worse. Then we know who’s really performing.
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Thats not true.
Salary wise Mr Teo KL’s comment already stated very clearly.
I did not deny.
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‘PAP mandate strong:
Mr Teo KL did not mention ( perhaps on purpose ) there are indeed one 市长 but there are 7 副市长 in Shanghai.’
What kind of comparison is that? Shanghai’s population is 30m!
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Overpaid and under-worked.
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Please go ahead and come up with a meaningful comparison.
上海市下辖16个区，总面积6340.5平方千米 …
机构设置
播报
编辑
上海市人民政府共设置工作部门36个，其中办公厅和组成部门26个，直属特设机构1个，直属机构9个。此外，设置部门管理机构7个。 [3]
办公厅
上海市人民政府办公厅
组成部门
上海市发展和改革委员会
上海市经济和信息化委员会
上海市商务委员会
上海市教育委员会
上海市科学技术委员会
上海市民族和宗教事务局
上海市公安局
上海市民政局
上海市司法局
上海市财政局
上海市人力资源和社会保障局
上海市规划和自然资源局
上海市生态环境局
上海市住房和城乡建设管理委员会
上海市交通委员会
上海市农业农村委员会
上海市水务局
上海市文化和旅游局
上海市卫生健康委员会
上海市退役军人事务局
上海市应急管理局
上海市审计局
上海市市场监督管理局
上海市地方金融监督管理局
上海市人民政府外事办公室
直属特设机构
上海市国有资产监督管理委员会
直属机构
上海市体育局
上海市统计局
上海市医疗保障局
上海市绿化和市容管理局
上海市机关事务管理局
上海市民防办公室
上海市人民政府合作交流办公室
上海市人民政府研究室
上海市人民政府参事室
部门管理机构
上海市粮食和物资储备局
上海市监狱管理局
上海市城市管理行政执法局
上海市房屋管理局
上海市药品监督管理局
上海市知识产权局
上海市道路运输管理局
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Meaningful in what sense ?
You only look at one aspect and thats salary. And i never deny that.
If PRCs officials really underpaid and over worked.
How you explain about the floods ?
How come we overpaid and underworked, Sg dont see the kind of level of floods. Dont forget are we not totally surrounded by the sea water and Sg just a little red dot small island?
What about Shanghai stock exchange index dropped below 3000 pts again ? Not only stock market drop. 股市, 汇市, 债市 and 楼市 all drop !
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@ Clap3:
At the end of the year we will look at the results.
Result will speak for itself.
For example, China so good why you still 死赖在 Sg ? And you been saying that for 10 years. Illegal migration you also walked there right ?
Like some Sg already relocate to Malaysia mentioned in some other post.
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Look at the responsibilities. One takes care of vouchers. The other is almost the PM of a mid-size country, minus the military and foreign relations work.
What more is there to compare?
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They raised the GST to increase their own salaries. They`ll be moving the lawn on their critics soon as they did after each election.
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@ What more is there to compare.
Well many. For example.
HK 背靠祖国 under China 从乱到治到興.
2023 HK theres 1092 suicide cases.
Whereas Sg only 322 cases.
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If you desperately want to change the topic, please say so. We were comparing mayor pay and performance.
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And your IQ is limited to judging a book by its cover.
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No lah.
Just that you are cherry picking – Pay. As for performance you can act blind and deaf to all the floods, bridge collapse, road’s opening up, houses collapse, suicide rate ( 中金郑雯露 jump or others jump off bridge ) , stock market currency market property market bond market slump, …..
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Yes, we believe you that mayors are responsible for currency market. Yes, by given food vouchers instead of cash, they must have somehow influence the currency market. Poor Sinkies cannot exchange them for ringgits and get better value for money up north.
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Please don’t say bad things about India.
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Seriously,any public policy that impoverish or disadvantage our own sgs while enriching “guests”(PRs,FTs,etc) cannot be a good policy even if it enriches the govt coffers.
Take HDB POLICIES.
The policies for PRs are less stringent than some groups of citizens.
Why penalise our own citizens like elderly who need to downgrade and buy HDB?
Why not put restraints on PRs instead?
GST/CDC VOUCHERS ARE NOT SOLUTION TO HIGH COL AND ESCALATING INFLATION.
“FREE” VOUCHERS lead to additional price increases due to vendors’ greed that gives rise to add-on inflation much more than supply chain issue does in many instances?
Last 20 years saw many sgs getting marginalosed even as the G helps 3rd world economic scavengers to get rich here via labour and housing policies ,for examples.
Even a thing like allocating the $100B covid extra budgets benefitted non-sgs much more than many needy but deserving sg-nation builders?
This is errant policy practice,i would humbly but firmly opine.
Time for new PM to unwind some of the anti-citizens policies made over last 2 decades or so.
TALKING ABOUT U-TURNS.
START WITH U-TURNING BAD PUBLIC POLICIES FIRST.
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Clap, clap, …
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Rather than the state existing for the sake of the citizens and society, the ciitizens and Singaporean society are working very hard to benefit the PAPigs party with millionaire lifestyles and salaries. Part of the reason why our country is a very boring place to live in is because our gerrymandered political elites has not developed the country to be an interesting place to live as they have been busy spending their high lives abroad and having their fun there. So they don’t care why the locals are left with nothing. The parks here have nothing in them. Hort Park doesn’t even count as a park. Many things here are exaggerated to be something when it’s not. Botanic Gardens has nothing. Take a look at parks overseas. Start reducing their salaries so they’ll work for Singaporeans instead of the other way around.
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If all these PAP jiak liao bee ministers are replaced by betterer, cheaperer, AI.
100% cost of living in Singapore will go down by half.
There is too much pork fat in government.
Why is there a need for so many ministers, Mayor etc. To run a 700+ km square island state?
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