\n<\/p>\n
MP Liang Eng Hwa (PAP-Bukit Panjang) said a spirit of service and reasonable remuneration “are not mutually contradictory concepts”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key is to find a key balance between the spirit of dedication inherent in public service and the need to attract and retain outstanding people \u2013 a balance that the society can accept and the country can sustain over the long term,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my view, the existing ministerial salary framework is the balance we seek.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
NMP Terence Ho used the analogy of Singapore\u2019s efforts to raise its total fertility rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor people to start and grow families, they must want children and see parenthood as meaningful. Yet, for many couples, the cost of raising children is an issue, and more generous financial support could, for some, tilt the balance in favour of starting a family or having another child,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLikewise, pay cannot and should not be the principal motivation for someone to seek political office. Yet, for some, the financial sacrifice on top of other sacrifices may be what tilts the balance one way or the other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
MP Christopher De Souza (PAP-Holland-Bukit Timah) said that in other countries, some politicians see public office as a chance to earn more after they step down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public will inevitably wonder whether today’s decisions are made solely in the national interests, or whether tomorrow’s opportunities are also at the back of the minds of their leaders,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Singapore, in contrast, compensates its leaders transparently through a clean wage, one “sufficient to ensure that they are not incentivised to look elsewhere to make up the difference”, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he was glad there was “substantial consensus” supporting the government’s move on both sides of the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy keeping civil service and political salaries realistic, we have been able to build a high-quality civil service, and assemble a strong and capable team of ministers to serve Singapore well,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If public sector salaries are allowed to \u201cfall out of line\u201d, the quality of the administration and political leadership will \u201cslowly but inexorably\u201d decline, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge Singaporeans to continue supporting realistic and practical policies that will keep Singapore exceptional for many years to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
PAY SHOULD NOT BE AN OBSTACLE MP Liang Eng Hwa (PAP-Bukit Panjang) said a spirit of service and reasonable remuneration “are not mutually contradictory concepts”….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--mv1zcxUg--\/c_crop,h_1025,w_1822,x_38,y_1\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/09\/10\/screenshot_2026-09-10_210913.png?itok=fgJ3-7c3","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2110,1600,4403,14965,7844,640,4658,12662,718,17307,29826,2853],"class_list":["post-83886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-concerns","tag-debate","tag-mps","tag-nmps","tag-pap","tag-pay","tag-political","tag-relay","tag-residents","tag-salary","tag-structure","tag-weigh","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83886","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=83886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}