Why Singapore ministers are paid so much — and why it's going up

Singapore's famously well-paid politicians are getting a pay bump.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong — who already had the highest official salary of any world leader — will have his annual remuneration package increase from $S2.2 million ($2.4 million) to $S3.6 million, including bonuses.

That's more than six times as much as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

So why are Singapore's pollies on such a good wicket and why are they now getting a raise?

Why are Singapore's politicians paid so much?

Singapore has historically paid its politicians and public servants well to attract the best and brightest — and discourage corruption.

The city state uses the median income of the top 1,000 Singaporean earners as a benchmark, as their qualities and abilities "reflect the desired calibre of the people whom Singapore needs for good government", Singapore's Public Service Division says on its website.

Gillian Koh, from the National University of Singapore's Institute of Policy Studies, said the ministerial pay benchmark was 40 per cent less than the private sector's to "reflect the commitment to public service which is maintained".

But she said the salaries were still high enough to curb corruption.

"Singapore's record on corruption is a consistently, incontrovertibly positive one," she said, pointing to the case of former minister S Iswaran — who was jailed for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts — as the "exception that proved the rule".

However, it was unclear whether the low levels of corruption were due to the generous pay or tough enforcement, said Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.

"Cases of official corruption do exist among senior civil servants and politicians regardless of pay and enforcement, so the system is not foolproof,"

he added.

Dr Chong said Singapore's political remuneration system did have drawbacks.

Pegging political appointee salaries and bonuses to the private sector incomes fed a perception that public service was "transactional", he said.

"There is also an impression that political appointees in Singapore associate more with high levels of wealth than with ordinary people."

Performance bonuses

Under the new pay scale, an entry-level Singapore minister's salary will increase from $S1.1 million a year to up to $S1.8 million a year. 

Sixty-five per cent of the salary is fixed, while the other 35 per cent will be dependent on personal performance and a "national bonus" related to things like GDP, national wages growth and unemployment.

Mr Wong said ministers would start with a one-off salary increase of up to 9 per cent, and go up incrementally rather than jump immediately to $S1.8 million.

By the end of this term of government, most entry-level ministers would earn about $S1.35 million and those who did well could "move higher", he said.

The salary package for the prime minister, president, speaker and deputy speaker would immediately be raised to the new benchmark and were not dependent on achieving personal performance goals, said Dr Koh.

Why the pay increase now?

Mr Wong made the announcement on Tuesday in line with a decision by an independent review committee, with the pay increase to take effect on October 15.

The last time the city-state's ministerial pay was amended was in 2012 when it was reduced, with the prime minister's going down by 36 per cent.

Still, the announcement this week has proven controversial in Singapore, where the median wage worker made $S5,775 a month last year.

"The sums involved are more than what most citizens earn, so I understand why Singaporeans scrutinise them closely and why many feel strongly about the matter," Mr Wong said.

Mr Wong said it would have been "easier politically" for him to leave things as they were but that "would not be the right thing to do" as salaries in the private sector, civil service, judicial service and public sector had increased since 2012.

He said he planned to donate his own pay top-up to charity for the next five years.

What are other world leaders paid?

According to data from non-profit PoliticalSalaries.com, the Hong Kong chief executive is the second-highest earner globally with $HK5,633,940 ($1,003,000) annually, followed by the Swiss president at 490,168 Swiss francs ($842,000).

US President ‌Donald ⁠Trump earns $US400,000 ($559,000) while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on $622,100.