Pay what pay?
According to Asia Times Online:
The government of Singapore in April increased salaries across the board, with lavish increases heaped upon the country’s ministers who clocked up a 60% pay increase. No, that’s not a typo, it was really that much, and that too from an already high base. The average salary of a government minister in Singapore, set at US$1.25 million, is about five times what a senior government functionary can expect to get in the United States, and between 20 and 50 times what an equivalent member of China’s or India’s government would expect, at least officially. [1]
Explaining the rationale for setting government pay at such high levels in Singapore, the country’s redoubtable founder said of the idea of paying Singaporean ministers the same as those in neighboring Southeast Asian countries: [2] “Your apartment will be worth a fraction of what it is,” he said. “Your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people’s countries.” The translation, for anyone outside Singapore, was that you’d have to risk becoming a poor Filipino maid or a corrupt Indonesian trader to question the right of Singaporean ministers to such gargantuan salaries. (See more at AsiaTimesOnline)
- This article started off as a Singapore Bashing but also ended with a neutral point across other countries. Is Singapore really overpaying their official? How long will they last? Are they recruiting the right people?
