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On Tuesday, Mr Wong announced that Singapore\u2019s political office holders will receive a<\/span> salary increase<\/span> of up to 9 per cent, taking the sum to about S$1.2 million (US$0.95 million) annually for a minister in the lowest MR4 grade.<\/span><\/p>\n The changes will kick in from Oct 15 this year, after the government accepted the recommendations by an independent review committee that was appointed in December last year.<\/span><\/p>\n It is the first time since 2011 that ministerial salaries have been changed.<\/span><\/p>\n Responding to concerns that it might not be the best time to make the salary adjustments, Mr Wong said there is never going to be a \u201cpolitically convenient time\u201d to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n He pointed out that the review committee was convened in December last year and the expectation was for its work to be done around March or April this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf course, the conflict in Iran erupted earlier in February. So we decided then that our immediate priority had to be managing the immediate consequences for Singapore arising from that conflict. And since then, we have rolled out two support packages to help businesses, households, and families,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe conflict in the Middle East has not ended. It may not end any time soon. But our domestic economic situation has stabilised. And that’s why I decided we should now deal with this issue rather than defer it yet again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Following up on his speech on Tuesday, Mr Wong said that he understands there is \u201cgreater interest\u201d in the distribution of political office holders\u2019 salaries and performance bonuses.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo beyond what we have already shared, I will consider whether more information can be disclosed,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut we should also be careful not to turn ministerial assessment into a public popularity contest \u2013 and then start comparing and ranking individuals year by year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat is not going to be productive, and that’s not how I want the Cabinet to operate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mr Wong reiterated that the government is accepting the proposed framework but moving towards it gradually.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTo sum up, our response to the committee’s recommendations is a measured one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe new benchmark sets a framework for the longer term. But we are not moving ministers straight to the new figure. We are making a one-off adjustment now, and then allowing salaries to move gradually, in line with individual performance and responsibilities,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd I believe this strikes the right balance. We keep the framework relevant for the future, without overcorrecting for the present. We address a gap that has been built up over many years, but we do so progressively and with restraint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is fair. This is responsible \u2013 both to the office holders serving today, and to Singapore’s need to continue recruiting capable people to serve in the years ahead.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In his speech, WP chief Mr Singh raised the issue of mayors, saying that it remains unclear what their job scope is and why their pay needs to be linked to the political salary framework.<\/span><\/p>\n Responding, Mr Wong said that mayors and the Community Development Councils (CDCs) bring value to Singapore by mobilising a wider network of volunteers, responding to local needs and contributing to various initiatives such as the CDC vouchers and Jobs Nearby scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI would not want to give up any of these contributions. I am proud of all our mayors and what they do for Singapore. I want our mayors to keep strengthening our communities and build a more cohesive and caring Singapore,\u201d Mr Wong said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n NEVER A \u201cPOLITICALLY CONVENIENT\u201d TIME On Tuesday, Mr Wong announced that Singapore\u2019s political office holders will receive a salary increase of up to 9 per…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--dBioiKEB--\/c_crop,h_542,w_963,x_156,y_73\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/09\/10\/lw.png?itok=X_OVYYa0","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7322,25640,7845,1412,7844,640,4028,1209],"class_list":["post-83876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-candidates","tag-entice","tag-government","tag-higher","tag-pap","tag-pay","tag-politics","tag-wong","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83876","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=83876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PROUD OF MAYORS<\/span><\/h2>\n
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