Yesterday, UK Times published a report on the top 10 highest paid politicians in the world. And it is not too difficult to guess who tops the list.
It’s none other than Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.
Read the report here>>>
On a seperate but related matter, here was PM Lee’s most recent reply when queried by BBC if he was worth all that money:
“I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want.
We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’.
We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.”
Interestingly, this part of the interview was not published in our mainstream media.
So where’s the “open, honest, transparent” part which PM Lee had boldy talked about?
Read more about the BBC interview here>>>
Andrew: Inside & Insights 
Well, DBS CEO Richard Stanley was paid $5 million for 7 months. That’s $8.5 million a year. Nearly 3 times what the country’s prime minister is getting.
I’m all for top public servants being well-compensated. Why not?
On the matter of the media, though… I think our papers have many reporters but not many journalists.. there’s a difference.
I’m guessing that there might not even be much official censorship (LHL himself was so candid about it).. probably the reporters themselves ‘kia see’
Hmmm… why are our reporters ‘kia see’ about?
I wonder what’s with all these debates. I’m absolutely fine with the govt being paid high salaries. You can elect some other parties who are willing to accept lower salaries if you want. And wait for Singapore to get screwed by them of course.