The world’s most expensive cabinet
May 9th, 2023 | 
Author: 
At the May Day Rally, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke of Singapore feeling the impact as competition for investments becomes tougher.
He said that Singapore “cannot afford to outbid the big boys” to attract investments from multinational corporations.
“We won’t have enough money to match the competition but what we must have enough of are ingenuity and innovation, guts and gumption.”
Surely DPM Wong doesn’t need to be reminded that Singapore has the world’s most expensive cabinet, the Prime Minister and ministers being the world’s highest-paid.
If you assemble the world’s most expensive football team – like Manchester City – you are expected to beat the hell out of the competition.
Likewise, shouldn’t the world’s most expensive cabinet be expected to outperform the competition?
Our politicians are paid to compete internationally, not just locally. We know that at home, they are used to beating the hell out of the opposition. But they prove their worth by being formidable against foreign competitors.
DPM Wong also spoke of the “guts and gumption” to compete.
Unfortunately, we have seen them misplace and misdirect their guts and gumption.
One example is when they press ahead with Goods a& Service Tax (GST) increase this year and next year – despite the cries of the people, despite high inflation and accelerated cost of living.
Yet another case of misdirected guts and gumption is when they activate an independent committee to later this year carry out a review of already sky-high salaries of political officeholders.
Can those on million-dollar salaries see the incongruity? We are at a time when more people are out of a job while those fortunate to be employed are finding it hard to keep pace with the cost of living.
In his speech, DPM Wong referred to the foreign competitors for investments – those from Europe, America, Japan and China – as the “big boys.”
Might we suggest that the real “big boys” are he and his team since their salaries far outstrip that of the competitors.
They should see themselves as top dogs and not underdogs. They should be feared and not be fearful of the competition.
Augustine Low
Posted in 
There is only one way for them to get richer and richer – that way is to make sure the people get poorer and poorer. They are anti-Robin Hood. Steal from the poor and give to the rich.
But remember – the poor are okay with that. So stop complaining.
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“Likewise, shouldn’t the world’s most expensive cabinet be expected to outperform the competition?”
No no no Augustine Low you have got it completely wrong. The PAP’s great excuse is that their salaries must be pegged/benchmarked to the top 10% earners in Singapore with a discount to, ahem, “signify the value of sacrifice” or something like that. This would not be an issue if these turkeys were actually THAT good. But just ask the people that you know just what the 4G have done for the country and see what kinds of responses you get.
We are already seeing that the 3G aren’t even half as good as they like to show us all. 2 GRCs lost and only 60% of the votes nia, my my how far the mighty have fallen. Just wait until the 4G are in charge and we will see just how bad their support will be.
After all, if these overpaid fat cats aren’t any good they won’t be in charge for too long anyway. Who doesn’t know they are just in it for the $$$ anyway?
Their so called “best in the land” talent has caused Mas Selamat to escape, Covid spreading like crazy in the dorms, Singhealth kena hacked, BTO pricing sky high, yearly transport fare increase and loads more.
Not surprisingly no minister ever got sacked because, well, it’s ownself check ownself aka no blame culture. Big money they want but accountability they have never heard of, it’s just reserved for the opposition nia.
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To borrow the statement of one of the foreign news casters, “If misdirected priorities was an Olympic sport Singapore cabinet will win the gold medal.”
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The most expensive cabinet among the villages got us the :
*) 6th position for SEA games medal tally today, only SEA games not world level
*) bottom 3rd position for TFR, from factbook, just need to scroll to the bottom of the page, just don’t take the eyes off the population disaster 4 years from now
*) 25th, not 1st happiest village among other villages
*) mid to high billions lost in village sovereign funds
*) drop of corruption index from 94 to 83
*) number 1 KPI for workers who work 1 hour to be classified as employed
Village chief asking for support now, anyone?
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They were talking to the frogs in the well and cautioning them not to let it run dry.
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This Sneaky-eyed Bugger Son of Wangsa is just ENGAGING IN PURE FEAR-MONGERING THINGY which might FRIGHTEN folks into BELIEVING his Crap and BS! When our beloved country is managed by a BUNCH of World Class Ministers drawing the World Highest Obscene HUMONGOUS salaries and Highly-rated Civil Service, we folks shouldn’t be worry too much and can continue to SLEEP LIKE BABY ALL NIGHT LOONG, PERIOD! Come what May, we are in SAFEST AND BESTEST HANDS!
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@opposition dude
I must admit that there are some in the party that IMHO, are talented and have my respect in the 1st to 3Gs camp, the late Mr Lee for example, despite some of his debatable policies.
However, in the current 4Gs, I really cannot find someone deserving in terms of capabilities to even respect. The ONLY person that has ‘impressed’ me so far has got to be the speaker of the clubhouse, with his Stella performance in currying favor.
This guy really has no qualms about people perceiving him to be extremely bias and ever so eager to prove that he is a party man.
In China there is a saying, 就算你要帮， 也别做到这么出脸啊。
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The MOF of LW is the BIG BOY, don’t be fooled by him!
He is assisted by GIC ( $700+ billions), MAS, TEMASEK, CPF……..all BIG MONEY……who is he kidding?
not to mention additional 1% gst, 2% next year ………..HIGH COE.($100,000 each car) ADDITIONAL ABSD 60%
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@TRE TECH
Agree with you about LKY but he worked to place his son as PM.This has caused damage in various levels as his son has compromised the sacred branches of the State. His son is the legacy of the father and at the present, is hated by most true blue Singaporeans as he has stolen from them their retirement funds through unaffordable housing.
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Lets not forget these people have other jobs and responsibilities as well. The cabinet positions are not really full time, other board positions as well as consulting duties take time also.
Tech: Err… I don’t think that is entirely true. Cabinet positions are considered full-time and they CANNOT hold other appointments in the private sector, as far as I can remember. Can someone in the know please confirm this?
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Name one current PAP minister with guts and gumption (g&g). I think Lawrence Wong misspoke. When he said “we”, he really meant “you”, that is, everyone else except him and his colleagues. It takes some g&g to be an opposition politician in Singapore. It takes g&g to start a business. To be a PAP politician, not so much. Or at least, the PAP ministers have been very modest about displaying g&g. Politicians will of course have to attempt these stirring speeches. The question is really whether anyone believe they have substance. The fact is almost nobody does.
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“We won’t have enough money…”
Funny thing to say when the actual amount of reserves are kept secret.
And Temasick are writing off foreign investment losses in hundreds of millions like toilet paper.
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The world’s most expen$ive CARTOONet!
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@Tech
LHL himself is head of GIC and chairman of PA. We do not know how many directorships the PAP Ministers and MPs hold as they do not declare their various positions, financial remuneration packages and assets to the Public.However the court case involving GCT’s son has shown that he was an independent director of 35 companies. Even at $10,000/- the amount he takes home is phenomenal. We do not know the no. of companies within the GICs,THs and Ministries. The generals and anyone who is a PAP member is being paid an overly handsome renumeration to look the other way and not hold any accountability for the spending of Public funds.The PAP’s historical behaviour is to use us, the Public as their ATMs. LW will continue to raise the GST even if the GDP increases as they want the wealth of the State in their hands and not in the citizens’ bank accounts.
Tech: This is what I learn from the former ISD office, now my neighbor in China. Regardless of how many ministerial posts one may have, he/she will only draw ONE salary, for example, Mr Shanmugan who is holding 2 portfolios, will only draw one salary, I suppose the highest one. However, I did not ask, but there are various perks that come with the various appointments, say for example corporate jet, dinner and dance allowance, corporate limousines, etc. Not sure if these are available to them? We all know that sometimes, allowances can be higher than the salary itself. Anyone in the know?
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Many things we should be unhappy with.
1. Why did old lee arranged his son to take over from seat warmer? He was the mastermind and architecture of Leedynasty.
2. PAPPY team is now reviewing their pay hike, already highest in the world, still want more.
3. PAPPY only strategy in growing Singapore is massive immigration, fails in everything else, including investments globally, particularly China, Russia and India.
4. Why would 61% continue to vote a party that continues to screw them left and right? This is something few people can grapple with.
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Ok lah..Expensive team as long they delivered a better quality of living for its people.
If not , change it and let another team had a shot.
Not sure WP can deliver based on their performance as co driver…
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Liang Po Po (LW) gets ‘Big Boy’ paycheque but cannot compete with Big Boy.
Then he should get ‘Grandma’ salary – go Collect Cardboard do daily exercise.
Let Real ‘Big Boy’ come in and do the job.
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Truth is more n more sg families are getting more n more impoverished by the PAP G’s various ill-conceived and ill-implemented policies ranging from FT POLICY to PUBLIC HOUSING and an ever-e$calating cost of living.
A leader who never suffer financial *pain* will not be sincerely compassionate to the NEEDY.
Let me cite a clear example.
Recently,when tying to *save jobs* during the Covid pandemic downturn,our PAP G raided our sgs’ reserves to the tune of $100 Billion to fund a nice-sounding RESILIENCE-SOLIDARITY BUDGET.
The MOST NEEDY SGS RECEIVED A TOKEN PALTRY SUM OF $600 while the highly paid sg-PMEs and FTs got much more in furlough.
Why cannot cut wages for TOP SALARIED PMEs(sgs n FTs) instead?
Such FTs/highly paid sg-PMEs already have ample personal savings besides their BIG FAT PAYCHECKS.
WHY THE GRANT PER CAPITA OF $23.5K as claimed by PAP MP turned into a short-changed amount of$600?
And,when CLAWING BACK,THE G DECLARED ACROSS-THE-BOARD GST INCREASE INSTEAD OF VIA INCOME TAX claiming GST as more equitable???
Why do the ministers consider giving big sums of furlough to highly paid FTs/PMEs and even INTRA-COMPANY FT-TRANSFEREES who have yet to PAY INCOME TAX AS EQUITABLE compared to $600 for our NOW IMPOVERISHED NATION-BUILDERS who have been paying taxes all their life till they were made to lose their decent-paying jobs?
Hope our MPs,both PAP N WP,surface this issue for proper debate in case of similar future pandemic economic scenarios.
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No where in the whole wide world has a democratic parliament been bastardized into an assembly of powerful corporate honchos with undisclosed remunerations on top of their obscenely humongous salaries……neither in the west nor east. You’re not ranked 4th most corrupted crony capitalist regime in the world based on nothing doing.
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Need to do more for the bottom 50% who are suffering from the high COL and inflation. Pity those out of job and the poor Seniors.
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Sinkieland has d MOST EXPENSIVE “cabinet” in d whole wild world ! My home cabinet in my bedroom is many many times cheaper. So, d cabinet in ParLeemen is d only cabinet available, right ? You cannot get it in Courts, Ikea, etc. Can anyone tell us what is d total cost of d “cabinet”
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This is how the incumbent party put up a request for more mandatory public donations.
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