The Peoples Voice Political Party (PV) chief Lim Tean took to his Facebook on Wednesday (29 July), expressing dissatisfaction over the high salaries earned by the Singapore’s political office holders and top civil servants.
Writing on his Facebook page, Mr Lim said his Party is the only party that has called for the salaries of Prime Minister to be reduced by 70 per cent as well as the political office holders and top civil servants to be adjusted accordingly.
The Party’s chief reminded the public of what means for “public service”, asking them to “not lose sight of an important fundamental of public service”.
“It is to be in the service of the public. I do not know whether they still use the term public servants but in the good old days a civil servant was also known as a public servant,” he added.
He continued, “It is ludicrous that many of our political office holders and TOP civil servants earn over a million dollars (and in the case of Lee Hsien Loong $2.2 million) a year. That has no correlation to what the great many people are earning in their everyday jobs. Our political office holders say their salaries should be pegged to the elite in society – TOP CEOs, high earning Lawyers and Doctors.”
He added that the salaries of “these public servants” have become “ridiculous”.
On top of “outrageous salaries of the Prime Minister and Ministers”, Mr Lim mentioned that the Mayor in Singapore has earned S$660,000 for his annual salary and S$200,000 as a Member of Parliament (MP), totalling around S$860,000 per year.
“Besides the outrageous salaries of the Prime Minister and Ministers, a Mayor in Singapore earns $660 000 a year! And there are 5 of them for this tiny nation of ours! London has 1 Mayor for an area more than twice the size of Singapore and with a population of 9 million. In addition to the $660 000 annual salary, a Mayor also gets almost $200 000 a year as a Member of Parliament. So the total income of a Mayor a year is around $860 000.
“At the current exchange of about $1.38 to US$1, a Mayor’s salary works out to about US$471,000 and his total remuneration for being an MP and a Mayor to about US$623,188.”
He then cited the example of American president who is paid US$400,000 a year, saying that the President also need to pay for their high cost of food from the White House kitchen although the President lives in the White House.
In addition to the basic salary of a British’s MP – which is £81 932 (S$145,905), Mr Lim pointed out that the British’s Prime Minister, Ministers and other office holders as well as the Leader of the Opposition and other senior Opposition Leaders will get a supplementary income.
“In 2020, the supplementary income of the Prime Minister Of The UK, in addition to the basic salary he gets as a Member Of Parliament, is £ 79 990 (S$142,447). The supplementary income for the Leader Of The Opposition, in addition to his Member Of Parliament salary, was £ 65 181 (S$116,075) as of 2019.
“You will note that the supplementary incomes are less than their salary as a Member Of Parliament. And that should be the case because a political office holder is first and foremost a Member Of Parliament and not the other way around! You can’t be a political office holder if you are not an MP,” Mr Lim noted.
He went on to said, “If you think that PAP office holders, including Mayors, are not being paid obscenely, you must be out of your mind or you must be one of the elites yourself!”