\n<\/p>\n
Mr Wong also said on Tuesday that the government is not trying to match private sector pay, but it cannot pretend the opportunity cost does not exist.<\/p>\n
Dr Teo agreed, saying a high salary should not be the main draw for any candidate, as this would suggest a focus on monetary benefit rather than public service.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Given that senior private-sector executives already draw competitive pay, she said, the adjustments may be better aimed at narrowing the change in lifestyle candidates would face on entering politics. Setting out how the public service component factors into the salaries also helps candidates understand what is expected of them even if they take a pay cut, she added.<\/p>\n
A one-off increase of up to 9 per cent to the lowest grade benchmark, unchanged for 15 years, works out to less than 1 per cent a year, said Asst Prof Ong, adding that given inflation over that period, there may be no real wage increase.<\/p>\n
The revised framework prevents political salaries from becoming increasingly disconnected from the broader market, said Mr Aslam Sardar, CEO of the Institute for Human Resource Professionals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The changes make the framework more relevant rather than helping it compete on headline pay, he said, noting that the substantial discount reflecting public service was retained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom an HR perspective, that is a sensible distinction. Competitiveness does not necessarily mean matching the highest-paying alternative. It means ensuring that the overall proposition is credible for the talent and responsibilities involved,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mr Aslam noted that private sector pay varies widely: in 2025, the CEO of CapitaLand Investment was paid about S$5.08 million, Singapore Airlines’ CEO S$7 million, and DBS’ CEO S$9.64 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This, he said, is why the changes should be seen as restoring market relevance to political salaries rather than closing a simple gap with private-sector leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n Experts said publishing the figures in detail helps the public understand how politicians are paid and evaluated.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ministerial responsibilities are difficult to compare with most other jobs, and the explanations provide context for how the new benchmark was set, Dr Teo said.<\/p>\n However, being transparent about the figures will inevitably invite comparisons with ordinary Singaporeans’ own pay, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWith finances and cost of living being something that is typically top of people\u2019s lists of concerns, it will be hard to stop people from making comparisons to their own personal situations,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Assoc Prof Tan said the measures could carry a political cost if they go further than the public can accept, describing the headline figures as “mind-boggling” to the average Singaporean.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGiven the economic uncertainty and the imminent technological disruptions at workplaces, today\u2019s announcement could come across as being tone-deaf or even self-serving,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While the issue is unlikely to win votes, he added, the government cannot shy away from it if it wants to sustain and strengthen Singapore’s system.<\/span><\/p>\n It is important for political leadership to show that Singapore needs capable and committed leaders \u2013 a vital ingredient to the country’s success that may have been taken for granted, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis in turn requires the ruling party and prime minister to demand high standards of political office holders and to be rigorous in ensuring that quality of leadership is not only maintained but enhanced.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n RECRUITING FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR\u00a0 Mr Wong also said on Tuesday that the government is not trying to match private sector pay, but it cannot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--q-Jz_dbW--\/c_crop,h_540,w_960,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/singapore-parliament-in-session--file-photo--today---1688850_0.jpg?itok=weKy0T_n","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[904,29694,5481,1412,13126,16707,640,4603,4575],"class_list":["post-83289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-analysts","tag-deterrents","tag-ease","tag-higher","tag-hurdle","tag-ministerial","tag-pay","tag-recruitment","tag-remain","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PUBLIC REACTION<\/span><\/h2>\n
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