The 10 highest paid politicians in the world

last SG · 2009-04-02T17:50:56+00:00

got kelong also useless, no fish to catch leonly buy fishes n put in the kelong then say "our FISHES"similar to our FT?

soul_rage SG

Just a thought: If you are paid high salaries for being a leader, then what is going to stop you from accepting bribes ( which is more $$$ ) from corporations to do their bidding? Integrity? conscience? If you had those, then why are you accepting huge amounts of money as salary for your post?

Fear. You would be afraid of losing your high-paying job. In short, your 'integrity' is there because being corrupted has higher risks. In short, it also means that the PAP is using $$$ to buy loyalty and integrity. They no longer believe in morals. They believe that $$$ is king. Nothing else can keep a person except for $$$.

The precise reason why I said that they are a negative example to the younger generation, that $$$ is everything, and morals are non-existent in their world of thought.

Don't scream and shout the next time you see old people standing in the trains, people pretending to fall asleep. Rude and obnoxious drivers on the roads, etc.

Because there is no $$$ for being polite, no $$$ for giving way to old people, what is in it for a person to be gracious, since our leaders tell us that $$$ is all we should think about?

Even while I am writing this, you already can see many pro-govt supporters in this thread thinking of things only in $$$ terms. Indeed it's poisoning of the mind.

angel7030 SG

The precise reason why I said that they are a negative example to the younger generation, that $$$ is everything, and morals are non-existent in their world of thought.

Don't scream and shout the next time you see old people standing in the trains, people pretending to fall asleep. Rude and obnoxious drivers on the roads, etc.

Because there is no $$$ for being polite, no $$$ for giving way to old people, what is in it for a person to be gracious, since our leaders tell us that $$$ is all we should think about?

Even while I am writing this, you already can see many pro-govt supporters in this thread thinking of things only in $$$ terms. Indeed it's poisoning of the mind.

Uncle, too bad you pok kai one, so no money, dun talk so much,,,those with money one, their words also carry weights, you po kai eat cha mee hoon one, diam diam lah.

angel7030 SG

woei! uncle, yr cha bee hoon want to add taokua or not??

Stevenson101 SG

I think soul_rage has answered your question.

If i am earning a cool 1.94 (Minister) million per year (140k+ per month), i am discouraged from dealing in shady dealings because that would be stupid. There is a chance i might get discovered and lose everything whereas if i just engage in safe transactions and sit on my ass looking important at every meeting i still earn more than most Singaporeans earn in a year, perhaps even in a decade if you include bonuses and pensions.

I have read a bit on how foreign banks and corporations screwed around with the policies of our surrounding neighbours (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia). So yes, i see the reason why Singapore is able to be relatively free of foreign influence, trading foreign tyrants for local ones.

While i see the reasoning in this, i do not see the need to create so much positions that make little sense (Minister of State, Senior Minister, Minister Mentor). We simply cannot afford to keep so much "Ministers" on payroll to the point where they die or retire.

I think we've already pretty much hit past 100 million on their salary annually. Ministers should serve a maximum amount of years then be given a forced retirement to the private sectors.

Granted, there is the possibility they might take one big bribe for that last burst of glory. But how long can the country itself keep this up ? I see the number of ministers and redundant positions increasing not decreasing.

angel7030 SG

I think soul_rage has answered your question.

If u are paid millions, why is there a need to take a risk of accepting a few hundred thousands. Beside Ministry jobs, a MP is also businessman of his/her own profession.

soul_rage SG

Uncle, too bad you pok kai one, so no money, dun talk so much,,,those with money one, their words also carry weights, you po kai eat cha mee hoon one, diam diam lah.

that's true. I think the entire population against them, all of us pok kai no money. After all, what we earn, they earn in one day.

Better go eat my mee siam mai hum as well.

eagle SG

Uncle, too bad you pok kai one, so no money, dun talk so much,,,those with money one, their words also carry weights, you po kai eat cha mee hoon one, diam diam lah.

dun play play

Pple earning 5 figures one hor

Is eat crab bee hoon from Ritz Carlton one hor

angel7030 SG

that's true. I think the entire population against them, all of us pok kai no money. After all, what we earn, they earn in one day.

Better go eat my mee siam mai hum as well.

Dr Mahatir paid was said to be $4000 US dollars per month, that is about 6500 sing dollars. An average manager paid here, who still need to struggle to take care of family, cars and housing.

But how earth can he hold acres of lands in malaysia, how on earth can he owns buildings and a big share in part of Petronas????

Hanagata SG

i think they make a big mistake in the chart... the top ten should be all belong to our pappies

soul_rage SG

dun play play

Pple earning 5 figures one hor

Is eat crab bee hoon from Ritz Carlton one hor

so what?

I earn 5 figure one month

Our leaders earn 5 figure in one day

She's right. I should go eat my mee siam mai hum. After all, 90% of Singapore's population are pok kai, no money, when compared to them.

It's all relative, mate.

angel7030 SG

dun play play

Pple earning 5 figures one hor

Is eat crab bee hoon from Ritz Carlton one hor

huh! oh ya hor, eat chatter box chicken rice at the chattering Mandarin hotel hor. Chay, my Uncle was offer a job to collect plate at mandarin he also turn it down, he dun wan to work in a place control by dogs...he is just sick of this society that never understand him. I really pity him, really....so what if 5 figures, many here also earn 5 figures and still struggling.

soul_rage SG

Dr Mahatir paid was said to be $4000 US dollars per month, that is about 6500 sing dollars. An average manager paid here, who still need to struggle to take care of family, cars and housing.

But how earth can he hold acres of lands in malaysia, how on earth can he owns buildings and a big share in part of Petronas????

Stop your extreme comparisons. Whoever said they should be paid US$4000 a month? That's a problem with you again, only 1 and 0. If we say paying them millions (1) is too high, you start a comparison of paying them thousands (0). That's why I said you cannot be a consultant, coz your brains run only in a standard direction, and you cannot offer any creative solutions.

soul_rage SG

so everyone is struggling, and you agree then that our economic progress is not equating to the individual's progress?

By the way, I don't eat Chatterbox Chicken Rice, there are much better (and more affordable) options. And I am a true blue Singaporean brought up the PAP way. Cheap and good. Cheap more impt than good. Good is optional. But this doesn't apply to their pay. They are Expensive and Good. Expensive more impt than good. Good is optional and subjective.

angel7030 SG

so everyone is struggling, and you agree then that our economic progress is not equating to the individual's progress?

Well, Everyone is born to struggle, from the begining, you start crying, nobody is born here laughing, siao liao. And from that moment u start to struggle for milk, sweets, foods and then when get older, you struggle for love, sex, education and fun...then, as an adult, you struggle with money, work, social, politic, mindset and more sex. Till the day you die, you still worry about whether your money is save or that PAP is still the govt or not? O c'mon lah, cool it Uncle.

Since you hv better Chicken Rice to eat than chattering box, why are you still oppose a govt that in one way or the other provide you the oppportunity to eat a good chicken rice??? Be contended ya.

Economic progress is always peg to a country progress and therefore an individual progress..last time GDP contribute to individual paid and bonuses, today, with a negative GDP on the horizontal, people accepted pay cuts and wage freeze.

angel7030 SG

When Tony Tan was CEO of OCBC, his paid was much much higher than his Minister paid, less pressure and actually more prestige. So dun think that govt paid are high, it also peg to the market value, therefore as what LKY said, we need to have a competitive paid structure to attract talents and capable peoples who are willing to serve the country, otherwise, if u give peanuts, only monkeys and gorillas will come

soul_rage SG

Since you hv better Chicken Rice to eat than chattering box, why are you still oppose a govt that in one way or the other provide you the oppportunity to eat a good chicken rice??? Be contended ya.

oi auntie, you like calling everyone uncle hor, must be very young hor?

Well, why I am so vocal about my opinions is because I care for this country. If I don't care, I would just shut up. Seriously, as I said, I could just shut up coz I have very strong earning power, but I somehow still have that overriding urge to raise my opinions because I feel the need to. I don't raise just to this forum, I raise it to my PAP friends in the hope they can bring it up.

speakup- SG

Okay after like half a day and a night being away from the forums, at least i see some common ground established between soul_rage and i (dude the discussion yesterday was painful lol but yes fruitful nonetheless ;)) and of course stevenson who just joined into this intellectual discussion too (welcome :)).

Yes soul_rage i particularly like your point about appreciating 'the country we are in. But it does not mean we make compromises just because the past was all glory.' I believe there is a need to renew the faith that the people have in the leaders. Many may not agree but as far as im concerned, i dont see Singapore sliding back where we come from. Instead i see our economy growing better to face tomorrow's challenges. Perhaps the lay person still feel left out from the plans of the government and that they arent taking care of us enough. But things i mentioned earlier bout the safety and such about your country are still being maintained today. Maybe our leaders can do more to improve the lives of the people and make more pro-people changes. But honestly i still do not get a sense of what most of you here want when asking for 'better' policies maybe you all can mention bout that.

Using high pay to deter politicians from corruption is sound based on the concept of opportunity costs. By increasing their pay, you are increasing the opportunity costs of losing the job. Rationally people would not risk $2 milllion to gain $50k (either they are damn poor with math or they are just plain stupid). The odds are not right. For people who play poker and other gambling games you will understand the significance of odds. This is one of the reasons why i support the high pay of politicians. Maybe to some greed is insatiable and no matter what you pay the politicians they are prone to corruption. True. Its just like no matter how harsh the penalty for murder is, people still kill. But by raising the pay, you lower the probability. Thats all we can do really, we cannot read minds, we cannot constantly supervise our politicians. So all we can do is to put the right incentives in place and hope they respond to them.

What im definitely critical of is the unnecessarily many minstrial posts as brought up by stevenson. While it is necessary to retain many 'brilliant minds' ( i know this is contentious) in the government, i agree there should be more forced retirements and allow these people to flex their brains in the private sector to contribute more directly to the economy as they close in on retirement age. It makes no sense to keep someone for 2 over decades drawing high pay and still expect him to churn out the same quality of work as he was in his younger days.

will4 SG

Can u quote his monthly salary at OCBC? It seemed that whenever people mentioned that ministerial salary is lower that pte sector salary, they refused to state their

pte sector salary. As for the present ministerial salary, they seemed to b higher than some of the European countries.

soul_rage SG

As I said before, serving the nation is, well, SERVING the nation. It's not a job. It's a servant to the people. Just as in non-profit organizations, the people go in knowing that they won't earn as much as if they were in corporate, but they go in anyway, with the passion to change things.

Either way, this is a point we cannot agree on. While your camp argues it based on a career perspective, I view it more as a serving the people perspective. Therefore, we will always not be agreeable.

Moreover, to remind you not to be a "0", "1" again, we don't pay people peanuts to serve the nation. We pay people reasonable amounts to serve the nation, not pay diamonds and cosmic rocks.

will4 SG

High salary is definitely one of the factor to prevent taking bribes but the stake is too high esp anti corruption law is still strict in this country.

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