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Singapore slashes leaders' pay to quell anger
Jakarta Globe - January 4, 2012
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who promised the salary review to ease public anger, will take a 36 percent cut in basic pay to 2.2 million Singapore dollars ($1.7 million). That is still the highest salary of any elected head of government in the world.
President Tony Tan faces even tougher times, with a potential 51 percent salary cut. Observers might consider him well-paid at 1.5 million Singapore dollars for a ceremonial post.
Salaries for government ministers will be reduced by 37 percent to an annual 1.1 million Singapore dollars.
Still, public officials in Singapore, with a population of 5.1 million, could be the envy of their peers. By comparison, US President Barack Obama – leader of a country of 312 million people that also has the world's most powerful military and top economy – earns $400,000.
Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang earns roughly $543,500 annually. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard currently earns about 367,000 Australian dollars ($380,000) a year but is in line for a 31 percent rise.
The People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965, has been on the defensive since its share of votes in the 2011 election fell to 60 percent, an all-time low.
Among the hottest issues facing the PAP was ministers' high pay, which the government has justified as necessary to attract talent from the private sector and to deter the corruption that afflicts other Asian countries.
All cabinet members are still entitled to a "national bonus" of up to three months' pay if targets are met on economic growth, employment and improvement in Singaporeans' incomes.
Critics swamped online forums to slam the scheme, which was recommended by an independent committee whose proposals Lee has agreed to implement.
"A good measure of a country's socio-political advancement is how a government helps the lowest rung of the society," Dawei Yan wrote on the Online Citizen, a socio-political Web site. "I still believe the pay structure should be pegged to the lowest 1,000 wage earners in Singapore."
The opposition said linking leaders' salaries to what they could earn in the private sector meant they only focused on the rich. The Singapore Democratic Party has proposed that ministers earn a multiple of pay levels for the lowest 20 percent of wage earners.
According to data from the Ministry of Manpower, the income of Singaporeans in the bottom fifth was flat or negative in the 10 years to June 2010.
Singapore has the world's highest concentration of millionaire households, with 15.5 percent boasting at least $1 million in investable assets according to the Boston Consulting Group, but also has one of the widest income gaps among developed economies.
Political analyst Seah Chiang Nee said the salary cuts indicated a "serious effort to address people's concerns" but that the government should be more transparent about bonuses, allowances and other perks.
A more transparent system would be to publish how much the ministers earned before in total, including all the perks, and how much they will receive under the new guidelines, he said. (AFP, AP, Reuters)
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