10/01/2015

Rising cost of govt

The cost of govt in this little island is the highest in the word with no competition. The pay of the Prime Minister is ten times what the President of the USA is being paid, on a conservative estimate. Even a lowly parliamentary secretary is getting paid more than Obama. And above this level you have senior parliamentary secretaries, ministers of state, senior ministers of state, ministers, coordinating ministers, deputy prime ministers. And we even have 4 mayors to add to the icing, 4 mayors in a city state with a 5.54m population while London and New York with several times the population and size has a mayor each and getting paid in peanuts.

I am not sure if the additional appointments like second minister in another ministry will be paid extra for the additional job title. I am not sure if the title of coordinating minister will also be paid extra. I think a deputy prime minister would definitely be paid extra. So, a deputy prime minister with a coordinating minister title attached, overseeing a ministry or two, and also a MP, what is he being paid? Does he get his MP allowance, minister salary, deputy PM salary, coordinating minister salary or he just get the deputy PM salary plus MP allowance of $16,000 pm? And for those above 55 years, would he be getting a pension in addition to his salary or salaries? Does anyone know? Is there an official document on this?

The cost for the above on an individual minister basis is already very high. On a ministry basis, there will be a minister, now on top there is a coordinating minister, second minister, minister of state, parliamentary secretary, Chairman of ministry’s committee, how would these add up?

And the latest, two ministers in one ministry, which also very likely have the same compliment of ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries. Would it mean the cost of a ministry would simply double at the ministerial level? It must be with two ministers.

And every minister, minister of state and parliamentary secretary added means millions as every one of these appointment holders is being paid in the millions, in gross pay, including bonuses etc etc.

If, I cannot confirm on this, additional appointments, titles and additional ministries added to the incumbent’s portfolio means additional pay, there is really no need to adjust ministerial pay further as the pay would have grown with each title and appointment. Can anyone confirm this?

The cost of our govt at the ministerial and political appointment level is extremely high, definitely out of this world. WYSINWYG.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cost of govt in this little island is the highest in the word with no competition.
RB

Tiok. Some more even the strongest competitor party is nowhere near the power of the party which form the govt, let alone a dozen of the rest.

Hence if I were Hsien Loong, I would without hesitation be announcing a round of pay rise for all ministers and appointment holders soon, not only to compensate the pay cut after GE 2011, but also to surpass the previous high. 70% endorsed this, so what's the problem, u tell me lah? And it's really daft of me not to do so, tio bo?

Anonymous said...

Since time memorial victor takes all

Anonymous said...


Pay And Pay And Pay And Pay!

This is uniquely Singapore!

They said these men and women are the BEST they can find!

Is it true that .....you offer peanuts, you get monkeys?

So, you offer millions millions, you get the BEST?

Are they the BEST?

We shall see.

Cheers.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

I also agree with anon 8:59, make hay while the sun shines. Now the people gave the PAP a 70% vote of confidence, there is no better time to go for a good pay rise.

Then don't have to keep promoting and promoting to make up for the pay shortfall.

Anonymous said...

Apart from being the most expensive government in the world, one other fact seems to have eluded the long suffering citizens That is, this must be the only country in the world where nearly 1/2 the elected PAP Members of Parliament are office holders. Can you imagine that number of Democrats in the US Congress as office holders?

The said...

The counter-argument is that this is cheap, compared to the RM2.6 billion "donation".
The counter-counter-argument with the PA's annual of S$1 billion (RM3.13 billion), there is no need for donations to win elections.
Poor Najib, he should learn from the pros down south.

Anonymous said...

IMHO the PAP cabinet is worth every cent. They perform a fantastic job and never fails Singaporeans. They are hard working and caring. Best of all they are honest. RB is again casting doubts and rubbishing the government. Please do not be so negative.

Anonymous said...

With the resounding mandate, short of another 500% to 1000% pay increase is to let all the kong cum in the 69.9% down .....

If there is any shortfall, PAPIGS know where to make up for the shortfall not unlike a mosquito spoilt for choice on a nude beach.

The juiciest, most tender and sensituve part to bite for the papigs mozzies by far should be "GST" ...... Full of flesh, fresh flowing blood to even fulfil the most vicious vampires ....