9/15/2018

Ministers and MPs were paid 4 months bonus? Or was it 10 months or more?


According to media reports, Hsien Loong made his reply to questions by Leon Perera ‘who had asked about bonus paid to Cabinet ministers in the last five years in terms of the average total of bonus months, and the highest and lowest total of bonus months paid to an individual minister.’ What was Leon Perera asking? What bonus was he talking about? The term he used is so general. Did he know that there are many kinds of bonuses being paid to the Cabinet ministers eg performance bonus, monthly salary bonus, 13th month bonus, national bonus and a variable component as reported in thenewpaper?  So there are at least 5 specific bonuses paid to the Cabinet ministers.

What was Leon Perera asking, all the bonuses paid to the Cabinet ministers or just the performance bonus? I think he is asking for all the bonuses that were paid to the Cabinet ministers, not just the performance bonus.

Hsien Loong’s reply in Parliament was about performance bonus and he said that in the last 5 years ministers got between 3 to 6 months of performance bonus with the average being 4.1 months and a high of 4.5 months in 2015. All the main media that reported on this issue printed in big and bold headlines that the ministers were paid an average of 4.1 months of bonuses and were silent on how many more months of bonuses they were paid in total.

It is thus easy for the public or readers of this news to go away thinking that the ministers only got 4.1 months of bonuses. Is this what Leon Perera wanted to know or he was asking for the total bonuses paid to the ministers, including all kinds of bonuses? If that was his question, why did he not ask Hsien Loong that he wanted to know not just the performance bonus? Maybe he did raise this but not reported in the main media and the issue was closed. No further question.

Roy Ngerng in his article posted in the TRE, including his computation of all the bonuses gave a different figure.  In 2014 Roy posted this in his blog thehearttruths.com, ‘But do you know that the prime minister is able to earn up to 26.5 months of pay?

This is what he gets to earn: 12-month pay, 13th month bonus, Up to 1.5 months Annual Variable Component, Up to 12 months national bonus.’

In his latest article posted in the TRE titled ‘Comparing the obscene salaries of our DPM and PM against Singapore’s poor’, Roy posted this:

Now, let me calculate the prime minister’s salary for you. He does not get a performance bonus because it is claimed that “there is no one to assess his individual performance”. (Shouldn’t his performance be assessed by you – his boss?)

So, what does he get? He gets 2 times the National Bonus (up to 12 months). Here’s the breakdown. [National Bonus (NB) formula: https://www.psd.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/cos2018/annex-b-2017-salary-review-report.pdf]

(1) The base salary of the Singapore prime minister is S$2.2 million.
(2) His 13th-month annual allowance is S$220,000.
(3) Assuming he also gets an annual variable component of 1 month (max 1.5 months), he gets another S$220,000.
(4) The prime minister’s NB is twice as high as the other ministers, so he would have gotten 9 months of NB bonus last year. This would be S$1.65 million. His NB bonus alone is nearly 3 times the salary of the president of the United States.
(5) In total, the prime minister received a total bonus/allowance of at least 10 months.


In total, the Singapore prime minister would have earned at least S$4.29 million. This is nearly 2 times his base salary, and even higher than his base salary of S$3.07 million in 2007.

But this is not even it.

All the ministers also can get an additional Special Variable Payment. There is no stated limit to this payment.’

So, what do you think?

25 comments:

  1. Rb, u can't assume that the PM got twice the bonus? What evidence or proof have u got? Roy is a wanted man, do u wan to b invited by the man in blue for questioning ? ..me worried ur safety la RB.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WP is a Washout Party. Their MPs besides Sylvia Lim asked non essential and useless Non Bread And Butter issues that concerned the Masses.

    LTK is a disgrace to JBJ. Pritnam Singh gonna be a bigger disgrace.

    They, after been FAT cats like the rest of the PAP bootlickers be there only for self interests.

    The other one besides Sylvia Lim that gains my respects is Lee Bee Lian who declined to be NCMP after losing her term as MP.

    This is true grit and with backbone in a person's dignity.

    Where you ever hear their Scholar CSM speaks???

    LBL as average Middle Education more vocal and with heart to serve. Unfortunately her voters been of greed chose another PAP sucker who loves The Spade collection more than serving them.

    Let's Washout Party as a meek second PAP party defended their survival in Oct and next GE.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow PAP now very active here...hahaha. divide n rule strategy on WP. Wow lau. Be paiseh arh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Titiana Ann XavierSeptember 15, 2018 9:37 am

    The humongous bonuses paid to PM Lee is enough for him to buy himself a solid golden coffin and leave a lot more behind for his children and wife. The sum of money paid into his account every month is the envy of every poor man. Every Singaporean slogs to earn enough money to pay taxes to the state which in turn rewards their leaders with a bonanza. Roy's calculation of $4.26 million earned by PM Lee a year works out to more than $11000 a day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. No complete disclosure of bonuses as good as no disclosure. Actually worse. Wrong picture. Like they said, "if can see the light, then nothing to hide". State secret HoJinx pay...maybe include ministers bonuses...its still about love of money money money ....Hahahahahahaha.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maybe we should have the Queen. She is not paid anything being the head of state of Oz. She can even unite a few commonwealth countries so we can all have free movements and no need to live in tiny flats and no cars.

    Long live the Queen.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ''Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein was one of four CEOs to earn more than u$20 million last year.''

    PM Lee is banchmarking himself after bankers pay not pm pay. PM pay of Oz only around $500k.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "It is thus easy for the public or readers of this news to go away thinking that the ministers only got 4.1 months of bonuses." - Spot on! I was also tricked!

    A few days ago (Sept 10) I posted this after what PM Lee said :

    Anonymous said...
    Political office holders of all grades received an average annual performance bonus of around 4 months' salary in the last 5 years , with the amount given to each individual ranging between 3 and 6 months of their pay each year , said PM Lee Monday (Sept 10).

    He gave these figures in a written parliamentary reply to NCMP Leon Perera, who had asked about the bonus paid to Cabinet ministers in the last 5 years.


    September 10, 2018 9:41 pm

    ReplyDelete
  9. The 10 months bonus they received each year is enough to buy a condo !

    Five years five condos !

    ReplyDelete
  10. With jokers and the 70 dafts or PAP IB lickers instilling fears like Anon 9.23 and 9.35, no wonder the PAPies won every GE.

    Hello Anon 9.23 this trick by the PAP leeches or Cheng Hu Lans- Lan Par the Lan were used in the early 50s to 70s to trick the peasants.

    Now cannot use anymore. Don't be blinded by the Washout Party. The Shits Times even focussed popularity on their new Sex-General when he had a new born.

    Most if not All these Sex-Generals of Politicial Parties and Union Leaders are already in the PAP pockets.

    Don't hope that they be for you. Put your hope on Lim Tean.

    Your last chance before it's too late.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Instead of hard truths, we get half truths.

    We are in the era of deception, when statements from anyone anywhere cannot be trusted wholeheartedly. Sigh . . .

    ReplyDelete
  12. Huh? ..wat? Lim Tean Got hope meh? That lawyer can talk big but when face off with that Mufugam he wud panic ...

    ReplyDelete

  13. Mama, only gift of the gab.

    All Empty vessels.

    Don't be conned and intimidated by them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Who built all the infrastructure and superstructures of this city state? Who built all the big business empires and corporations? Building them is real hard stuff, not just by talking and the gift of the gab.

    If talking and the gift of the gab can contribute positively to economic growth, India will be the world's top super power.

    ReplyDelete
  15. PM Lee to leave fortune to his wife
    who is said to earn much more than him as CEO of Temasek ?

    Their Family Fortune is forever chiakbuayleow.

    Die die all also
    cannot finish leh.


    ReplyDelete
  16. Does Lee Hsein Loong only has one source of income?

    How much is his total income for the year 2017?

    What are his other sources of income, bonuses, allowances and perks?

    What about income from Lee & Lee law firm, left behind by his mother?

    How much did his father left behind for him, his wife and children?

    How much did his mother left for him, his wife and children?

    What is Ho Ching's annual income, inclusive of shares, allowances, bonuses and perks?

    What is Ho Ching's net worth?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nowadays, bonus can be paid in many forms and called by many names, just like the distorted version of those CPF schemes. But it is all legalised. And the purpose of using the word 'legalised' means no corruption. And no corruption means all clean and above-board. Who can argue with that?

    Now, wasn't that a great idea that our talented leaders can come up with. Change the rules or call it another name or invoke the template of 'national security reasons', and no questions can be asked and no answers need be given. That is why our leaders need to be paid millions compared to leaders of other countries. Leaders of other countries can never come up with such super ideas and therefore do not deserve million dollar salaries like our leaders.

    We asked for it, we got it, we have to live with it. Simple as that!

    ReplyDelete
  18. So you must be Indian ah??

    Have you seen the infrastructureinfrastructures built by the Indians???

    Pays Lebar or what's Ubi or Eunos Flyovers collapse???

    They are here only as Manual Labourers. Their engineers built today, collapsed tomorrow.

    All the real MRT or whatsover infrastructures by Chinamen.

    Now our blocks the Circle Line by China Construction. Both Keppel and Cantonment to Prince Edward.

    Indian manual labourers and traffic controllers and Security Guards.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The Indians are like the actors in Hollywood movies. It is standard practice to have good looking actors to be presidents, military commanders, CEOs etc in such movies. And the actors looked very good and appeared to be equally intelligent.

    In real life, presidents, military commanders and CEOs are nerdy or weird looking characters. Look at Alibaba or our generals as examples. The talents in national leaders, in running countries and corporations, building corporations, are not the nice looking type you see in Hollywood movies. These are only for shows. They appeared to look good that's all. Not the real stuff.

    Today many western companies are hiring Indians to be their CEOs, Singapore also following this trend. But the Indians are employees, not the entrepreneurs or business empire builders. But when they are in those positions, they act and talk like they are the ones that build these corporations. They can't, they are only actors like in Hollywood, running a business empire built by others and handed to them in silver platter.

    When the show is over, they will be back to reality, looking for another job. It would be lucky they did not run down these corporations.

    ReplyDelete
  20. there is a saying: the first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation blows it. Is current Lee third or second?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Rb that is why for people who are good in languages, you can twist and twist until the dafts becoming very blur and confused leh😰 Aged or not?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dafts are dafts, don't need to twist they also become blur,
    because they are already blur by nature.

    There four types of blur-blocks:

    1. Those born blur - cannot be helped.
    2. Those study too much until become blur (confused).
    3. Those who are not blur but easily influenced until blur.
    4. Those who habitually act blur until they blur themselves.

    You can see all the four categories in the comments in any social media, and in this blog as well.

    ReplyDelete
  23. KJ once said after the previous GE that he did not want to hear any complaint as 70% voters accepted the MIWs. All the grumblings will not solve the problems here. As for their fat bonuses, they are hiding in their home toilets and laughing at u guys !

    ReplyDelete
  24. While there are four types of blur block-heads, there are also four types of con men/women:

    1. Those who con professionally. Their jobs or professions require them to con others, e.g. salesmen, priests, pastors, clergies, advertisers, actors /actresses, film directors, fiction story writers, etc.

    2. Those who con extra-judicially or legally. The exploit the loop-holes in the laws and regulations and con within the law so that they cannot be charged in court. These are people who are trained in the legal profession or people who employ lawyers to help them to by-pass the laws or exploit the legal loop-holes.

    3. Those who create laws and regulations to enable themselves to con others without the fear of being charged in court. These are people with the power to create or change the laws.

    4. Those common con men and women who are usually caught, charged and punished for minor cheating offences.

    Of the four types, the worst is Type 3. Because they can easily get away with "murder" and no one is able to bring them to justice.


    ReplyDelete
  25. BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Proposals put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the fourth Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) will inject fresh impetus in the bilateral cooperation between China and Russia and the cooperation in the wider region, international observers have said.

    Xi attended the Eastern Economic Forum in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They outlined directions for further bilateral practical cooperation and agreed that the two sides should continue to work together on the cooperation with potential synergy under the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union.

    They also agreed to explore potential new areas to grow the cooperation and leverage the strong political relationship to drive the concrete practical cooperation.

    The close cooperation with China is very important for Russia. It is important for us to explore the Chinese market and proactively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. By riding on the initiative, Russia will be able to better improve its infrastructure, especially in the Far East, which will in turn create better conditions for the bilateral economic and trade cooperation over the long term.

    The Eastern Economic Forum will help promote the cooperation between Russia and countries in Northeast Asia.

    The speeches by the presidents of the two countries show increasing concrete results in the economic cooperation between China and Russia. The close bilateral cooperation will also help boost the the wider regional cooperation. said Ling Xingguang, a professor emeritus at the Fukui Prefectural University in Japan.

    The experts believe that Xi's proposals conform with the interests of regional countries, providing a workable roadmap for the regional cooperation.

    Nikolay Tsekhomskiy, first deputy chairman of Russia's Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs, regards China as an advocate for and a key player in further regional integration and globalization, which will be helpful in countering the headwind of protectionism.

    Japanese economist Hidetoshi Tashiro said increasing country-to-country cooperation benefits regional prosperity and stability, noting that Japan and China joining hands within the regional framework will help bring about win-win cooperations.

    He hoped that the EEF this year will be an important step in opening a new chapter in Japan-China cooperation.

    An Yuhua, a professor of finance with South Korea's Sungkyunkwan University, said Xi's attendance of the forum "sends a clear, strong message that China will remain committed to its reform and opening up, and strengthen cooperation with other countries in the region."

    In Northeast Asia, regional cooperation can not only reinforce stability, she said, but also show the significance of openness, cooperation and win-win relationship in today's world.

    Dashdorj Bayakhuu, a professor at the Mongolian Diplomatic Academy, said Xi's speech assures China's support for comprehensive cooperation and common development in Northeast Asia, and this offers an extraordinary opportunity for regional countries including Mongolia.

    The Mongolian government knows that deepening economic cooperation with neighboring China and Russia and other regional countries will help it in achieving steady economic growth, he added.

    ReplyDelete