Never a politically convenient time to raise salaries, but unreasonable to leave them unchanged for 15 years: PM Wong

"There is never going to be a politically convenient time to adjust political salaries," said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Parliament on Thursday (Sept 10) as he wrapped up the debate on a revised political salary framework and the Government's response to it.

It will not be right to defer for the third time an adjustment to the wages of political office holders and MPs, he said, citing a widening increment gap.

"The larger it becomes, the harder it will be to correct later on," he said.

"If every difficult circumstance becomes a reason not to act, then we will keep putting the issue off, and there will come a point where restraint ceases to be prudence and becomes neglect."

On Tuesday, PM Wong announced that an independent committee has proposed raising the salary benchmark of ministers at the MR4 grade to $1.8 million. The figure had remained at $1.1 million since 2011.

But ministerial wages will not immediately match the benchmark when the framework takes effect on Oct 15. 

Instead, a one-time adjustment of up to 9 per cent will be made on salaries.

Elaborating on his decision, the prime minister said on Thursday that it would not be right to automatically increase the salaries of all ministers, whose salary ranges are different.

"But neither is it reasonable to leave their salaries unchanged indefinitely," he said, considering that the salary structure has been frozen for 15 years.

[[nid:744820]]

Under the new framework, an MR4 minister earning the current reference annual salary of $1.1 million will receive a salary of about $1.2 million with the full nine per cent adjustment.

There will not be further special adjustments to bring the renumeration to $1.8 million. Further increments will be based on performance.

$1.8m benchmark should not be changed on the basis of 'politically awkward'

PM Wong also turned down the idea of picking a benchmark lower than the figure proposed by the committee.

"If we appoint an independent committee to determine the appropriate benchmark, we should not then arbitrarily change its conclusion because the number is politically awkward," he added.

According to him, the MR4 reference salary would be $1.5 million only if inflation is accounted for.

To determine the benchmark figure, the committee used a formula which took reference from the top 1,000 Singaporean earners and applied a 40 per cent discount for the ethos of public service.

"The benchmark does not mean that we intend to recruit our political leaders only from these 1,000 individuals," PM Wong clarified.

"The benchmark is a reference point. It seeks to capture, in a broad and objective way, the opportunity cost faced by the sort of people we hope will step forward for political service."

He said that accepting the new benchmark while making measured adjustments to salaries is "a right balance".

"This is fair and responsible both to the office holders serving today and to Singapore's need to continue recruiting capable people to serve in the years ahead."

@asiaone Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told Parliament that he will consider whether more information on ministers’ salaries and performance bonuses can be disclosed, but warned against turning ministerial assessments into a “public popularity contest”. #sgnews #Singapore #Parliament #Minister #Salaries ♬ original sound - AsiaOne

He stressed that the PAP Government "does not believe in using higher pay as an incentive to draw people into politics".

"No one should enter politics for money. Competitive salaries do not create the motivation to serve, but they can make it possible for someone who already has that motivation in the first place to step forward," he stated.

There will be "consequences" if Singapore cannot attract high-quality leaders to join politics, he said.

"Over 15, 20, 25 years, the difference will be visible in the quality of political leadership, in the decisions the Government makes, and eventually, in the quality and effectiveness of the civil service as well. 

"And by the time such deterioration becomes obvious, rebuilding the system will be much harder, perhaps even impossible."

PM Wong told Parliament that he will also consider whether more information on the distribution of salaries and individual performance bonuses can be disclosed.

Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh had called for the Government to do so in an earlier speech.

But PM Wong cautioned against this becoming "a public popularity contest".

"That is not going to be productive, and that's not how I want the Cabinet to operate. I do not want ministers working in silos, focusing narrowly on their own issues or building up their own profiles," he said, emphasising a need for teamwork.

[[nid:744819]]

lim.kewei@asiaone.com