Asserting that Singapore ministers are overpaid, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has promised to push for a ministerial salary cut if they are elected into Parliament.
Highlighting the disparity between the pay an entry-level minister earns and the pay an average Singaporean earns in a Facebook post published on Thursday (28 Nov) that has garnered over a thousand reactions online, the party said:
“In Singapore, entry-level Ministers are paid around $100,000 a month. In contrast, the average Singaporean is paid around $4,563 a month. You, the hard-working Singaporean, will have to work for almost 2 years before you earn as much as a Minister earns in one month.
“The PAP Government claims that Ministers deserve a high salary for the difficult burden that they bear. The truth is, the Ministers’ “burden” is shared by many civil servants – who are paid far less, despite being hard-working Singaporeans.”
Emphasising their belief that “Ministers are supposed to serve the people” and that “Ministers are OVERPAID,” the SDP promised to push for a ministerial pay cut to make it more “ethical and just to all Singaporeans,” if elected into Parliament. The party proposed:
“MPs’ allowance should be 10 times the mean wage of the bottom 20th percentile (based on the assumption that there is a minimum wage in place).
“Ministers should be paid three times the MP allowance; the prime minister should be paid four times that amount. Based on our recommendations the prime minister would likely be paid $56,000 a month and a minister $42,000.”
The SDP has been busy preparing for the looming general election since the beginning of 2019. This week, SDP chairman Paul Tambyah promised that party members would “ask the hard questions and help build a democratic society based on justice and equality” if elected into Parliament. /TISG
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