http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/Highest-Paid-Asian-Leaders-cnbcwp-1335402347.html
Multi-billion dollar corruption in India and a whopping 36
percent cut in the salary for Singapore's Prime Minister have once
again raised the question: how much should politicians be paid?
We've tallied up a list of Asia Pacific's highest paid
politicians based on figures from a number of publicly available
sources including The Economist.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More from
CNBC.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of Asia's fastest growing and largest economies, such as
India and China, have the lowest salaries for their leaders.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for example takes in just
$36,200 per year, according to the AFP.
Click here to see the original slideshow from
CNBC.com.
8. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of
Indonesia
Annual Salary: $124,000
President Yudhoyono, the leader behind Indonesia's newfound
status as Asia's "economic golden child", pulls in $124,000 a
year.
This sum amounts to over 25 times the country's GDP per capita,
according to The Economist. The leader is working on narrowing the
wealth gap in the country by raising the salary of civil servants
by 10 percent in 2011.
The former army general is credited with initiating a crackdown
on corruption.
7. Lee Myung-bak, President of South
Korea
Annual Salary: $162,000
Keeping tensions under control on the Korea peninsula is no easy
task.
Lee Myung-bak's annual salary which is set to rise to $162,000
this year, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, from $156,000 in
2011, puts him at 7th place amongst Asia's top paid
politicians.
However, Mr. Lee clearly isn't in the job for the money. Shortly
after he was elected president, the former CEO of Hyundai
Construction & Engineering pledged to donate his full salary to
the underprivileged during his five-year term.
He was said to be the richest presidential candidate in South
Korea's last election, with personal wealth exceeding 35.3 billion
won or $31 million.
6. Ma Ying-jeou, President of Taiwan
Annual Salary: $184,000
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou rakes in a salary of $184,000
per year.
The Hong Kong-born, U.S.-educated lawyer has played an
instrumental role in improving cross-strait relations.
Ma has raised the country's permit quota for Chinese tourists,
eased restrictions on Taiwanese investment in China and approved
measures to open Taiwan's equity markets to mainland investors.
5. John Key, Prime Minister of New
Zealand
Annual Salary: $310,000
Fifth on the list is the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John
Key.
He takes home an annual salary of around $310,000, according to
the Wall Street Journal. Impressive for some, but probably not for
Mr Key.
Prior to politics, the Kiwi PM amassed a personal fortune of
around $40 million, working as a foreign exchange trader with
Merrill Lynch, where he earned as much as $2.25 million per
annum.
He is now New Zealand's wealthiest Member of Parliament and one
of the region's wealthiest leaders.
4. Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister of
Japan
Annual Salary: $316,000
Japan's Yoshihiko Noda makes an annual salary of $316,000,
according to The Asahi Shimbun newspaper. If you add in the
regional allowance of 18 percent, he makes around $384,000 per
year.
The rising strength of the Japanese yen has helped boost his
earnings in dollar terms.
To put the number into perspective though, it's a mere fraction
of the $10.7 million earned by the CEO of Nissan in 2010.
Still, with 6 prime ministers in 5 years, the Japanese leader
might not be expecting to be on that salary for very long.
3. Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of
Australia
Annual Salary: $495,000
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard just got a significant
31 percent pay hike, taking her salary to $355,000 per year.
The Prime Minister however may have reason to cry poor because
shadow ministers are getting pay hikes of 64 percent, according to
the Sydney Morning Herald.
But with retirement perks including a fully staffed office,
unlimited free first class travel and a permanent driver for the
rest of her life, the Prime Minister might not complain just
now.
2. Donald Tsang, Chief Executive, Hong
Kong
Annual Salary: $550,000
The salary of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong would probably be
causing a few eyes to roll in Beijing.
Donald Tsang earns around $550,000 a year, according to Reuters.
That's roughly 30 times the size of the $18,000 salary earned by
Chinese President Hu Jintao.
But the perks of the job haven't come easily for Mr Tsang. He's
been working in Hong Kong's public sector since 1967 and some might
say no amount of money would be enough to compensate for that.
1. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister,
Singapore
Annual Salary: $1.65 million
The Prime Minister of Singapore just took a salary cut of a
whopping 36 percent, but he still makes a basic salary of $1.65
million (S$2.2 million).
That makes him far and away the highest paid politician anywhere
in the world.
His salary is still 4 times the salary of President Barack
Obama, who reportedly makes around $400,000 a year.
But it's not just the Prime Minister in Singapore earning big
bucks. The Singapore President, who just had his salary cut by 51
percent, will make $1.2 million a year and new ministers will get
salaries of $840,000 after the pay cut.
