The Straits Times has asked the SDP for its views on the ministerial pay cut. The questions were: What is the party’s reaction when it heard the news? Why does it feel this way? What would it have wanted the Government to do? Why?
In response, the Singapore Democrats issued the following statement:
As a matter of transparency and public interest, the ministers are duty-bound to declare their incomes and assets. The SDP has been calling for this repeatedly. Unfortunately the demands have met with stony silence.
The announcement of pay cuts by the ministers will only make sense if they are compared with the increases in their annual incomes over the last decade. As such the Singapore Democrats call on the ministers to reveal their annual incomes since 1994 when the ministerial-salary formula was introduced.
Under this formula, ministers salaries are pegged with the highest paid professions in the country. As a result PAP ministers are the highest paid in the world with the Prime Minister being paid three times more than the president of the United States.
Only when ministers tell the people their incomes will Singaporeans be able to see for themselves how much the ministerial salaries have increased compared to the present pay “cut” they have announced. The facts and figures should be laid out plainly so that Singaporeans can judge for themselves.