If a WP government is in power, how much would Pritam Singh pay his ministers?

“If there were a Workers’ Party government in power today, 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚 the Workers’ Party minister would be paid essentially the same as what a minister today is paid. 𝐌𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭,” Mr T eo Chee Hean said in parliament in 2018.

The WP had for many years championed linking political salaries to the poor while attacking the million-dollar salary of ministers.

In the run-up to the 2006 General Elections, the Workers’ Party said – to great cheer – that they wanted the benchmark for minister’s salary to be based on what the poorest 20 per cent of Singaporeans earned. Ministers’ pay could be multiplied by a factor of 100, they said.

As things turned out, when the math was done for them in Parliament in 2012 by Minister Teo Chee Hean, it turned out that 100x of the lowest paid worker is a huge $80,000 a month (based on worker’s salary of $800/month).

This is equivalent to a million dollar a year.

2011

In 2011, the WP made ministerial salaries a hot campaign issue.

A𝘁 their 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗪𝗣 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀” 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘂𝗽 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.

In their 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟭 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼, the WP declared that ministers’ pay should be “benchmarked internationally against the political office of developed countries”.

During the rallies, Sylvia Lim proposed as an alternative that “…these countries pay political office-holders just a fraction” of what our leaders are paid, and “we should benchmark against those countries”.

What happened after GE2011?

Immediately after the GE, they 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼 and proposed paying ministers around $1 million per annum.

But the million-dollar salary was exactly what the WP had attacked so fiercely during the general election.

Gerald Giam revealed in an email that the WP started working on their proposal in September 2011.

This means that in a span of just a few months – from May 2011 to September 2011 – WP went from benchmarking salaries internationally against political office holders of other countries to proposing million-dollar salary.

Honesty or hypocrisy?

When political parties and their leaders change positions, they have a responsibility to explain to the public.

This is what it means to be accountable and transparent.

Otherwise, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝘀?

WP chose to be silent about their shifted positions.

Mr Gerald Giam even insisted in Parliament that their million-dollar proposal had been the WP position in the GE.

Honesty or hypocrisy?

It must be noted that throughout the debate in Parliament on the White Paper on minister’s salary, Mr Low Thia Khiang and Ms Sylvia Lim remained silent.

Key difference between WP’s formula and the White Paper’s Proposal

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐏 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟖𝟏 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟗 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭.

This means the WP would have paid out a higher portion of the salary – about $880,000 out of $1.1 million, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐏 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝.

In contrast, the White Paper proposed a lower fixed component of 65% and a higher variable component of 35%.

The variable component depends on the performance of the minister and the achievement of national outcomes and the state of the economy.

Notes:
In 2012, the WP had proposed a salary that is pegged to 5x the monthly salary of a civil servant at the MX9 grade.

In 2012, the mid-point of the MX9 salary range was $13,560. The annual salary proposed by WP would comprised 13-months fixed component and a norm bonus of 3 months.

If a WP government is in power, how much would Pritam Singh pay his ministers?

2011

What happened after GE2011?

Honesty or hypocrisy?

Key difference between WP’s formula and the White Paper’s Proposal

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