Parliament to debate political salaries this week; PM Wong and Chan Chun Sing to speak on Sept 8

Published Sep 07, 2026, 01:13 PM

Updated Sep 07, 2026, 01:13 PM

SINGAPORE - Parliament is slated to debate proposed changes to political salaries, including those of ministers, when it sits this week.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing will make statements on the issue on Sept 8, according to the agenda for the sitting released on Sept 7.

This comes four months after the Government said it would defer its consideration of recommendations from a committee reviewing political salaries, pending greater clarity on the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on Singapore.

Chan had said in May that the conflict, which began in February, caused economic uncertainties and clouded the outlook for Singapore.

He added then that the committee’s report and the Government’s response will be shared “at the appropriate time”, and MPs will be able to review both items “for a more meaningful debate”.

The committee was formed in January to review the salaries of Singapore’s political appointment holders, who include all ministers and MPs. Ministerial salaries have not been adjusted since 2012. The changes were backdated to 2011, when the new term of government started.

This was the second time in recent years that changes to political salaries have been put off due to global instability.

The Government deferred such a review in 2023, citing more pressing issues that it had to deal with. These included a more uncertain geopolitical situation with conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine; heightened political contestation; and significant uncertainties in the global economy.

The committee tasked with the current review is chaired by Gan Seow Kee, chairman of the Singapore LNG Corporation and an alternate member of the Council of Presidential Advisers.

It was asked to recommend the appropriate salary levels based on the current salary framework, and propose refinements where necessary so that the framework stays relevant.

The framework covers the salaries of all political appointment holders, including Non-Constituency MPs and Nominated MPs.

Currently, an entry-level minister receives a norm annual salary of $1.1 million, including bonuses.

Ministerial salaries were last adjusted in 2012, when the Government accepted a review committee’s recommendations that set the current salary framework, which cut the annual pay of entry-level ministers by over a third.

A debate in Parliament then on the proposals spanned two-and-a-half days, with speeches by 29 MPs from both sides of the aisle.

The WP, which had eight MPs at the time, agreed during the debate to the basic principles by which ministerial salaries would be determined, but ultimately voted against the proposals and stood by its own pay formula.

The changes passed by Parliament in 2012 included having an independent committee appointed every five years to review the salaries.

When the next review was due, a committee recommended in 2018 to adjust political salaries annually in line with the movement of benchmark salaries, which it noted had gone up by 9 per cent since 2011 .

However, the Government declined the proposed tweaks to political salaries then. It said the existing salary structure remained valid and there were economic uncertainties in the previous few years.

Ministerial salaries are benchmarked to the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singapore citizens, with a 40 per cent discount to reflect the ethos of public service.

The top 1,000 earners include those in senior management positions such as chief executives, chief operating officers, chief financial officers, people working in the financial services and professionals like lawyers, doctors and accountants.

A minister’s annual salary is made up of a fixed component and a variable pay component.

The fixed component comprises the minister’s monthly pay and a 13th month bonus.

The variable component consists of a performance bonus determined by the Prime Minister, an annual variable component based on Singapore’s economic performance, and a national bonus.

The national bonus is set at three months if targets across these four indicators are met: the real median income growth rate, real growth rate of the lowest 20th percentile income, unemployment rate and real gross domestic product growth rate.

Wong Yang is a journalist who covers politics and policy.

Singapore Parliament

Singapore politicians

发布于 2026 年 9 月 7 日下午 1:13

更新于2026年9月7日下午1:13

新加坡——国会本周开会时，将讨论有关政治人物薪酬（包括部长薪酬）的拟议改革方案。

根据9月7日公布的会议议程，总理黄循财和公共服务统筹部长陈振声将于9月8日就此问题发表声明。

此前四个月，政府表示将推迟审议一个审查政治薪酬委员会的建议，等待更清晰的中东冲突对新加坡的影响。

陈先生曾在5月份表示，这场始于2月份的冲突造成了经济不确定性，并使新加坡的前景蒙上了阴影。

他随后补充说，委员会的报告和政府的回应将在“适当的时候”公布，议员们将能够审查这两项内容，“以便进行更有意义的辩论”。

该委员会于今年1月成立，旨在审查新加坡政治任命官员的薪酬，其中包括所有部长和国会议员。部长薪酬自2012年以来一直未作调整。此次调整追溯至2011年，即新一届政府任期开始之时。

这是近年来第二次由于全球局势不稳定而推迟调整政治人物薪酬。

政府将2023年的这项审查推迟，理由是需要处理更为紧迫的问题。这些问题包括中东和乌克兰冲突导致地缘政治局势更加不明朗；政治对抗加剧；以及全球经济存在重大不确定性。

负责本次审查的委员会主席是新加坡液化天然气公司主席兼总统顾问委员会候补成员颜绍基。

其任务是根据当前的薪酬框架提出适当的薪酬水平建议，并在必要时提出改进建议，以使该框架保持相关性。

该框架涵盖所有政治任命人员的薪资，包括非选区议员和委任议员。

目前，初级部长的年薪一般为 110 万美元，包括奖金。

部长级薪酬上次调整是在 2012 年，当时政府接受了审查委员会的建议，制定了目前的薪酬框架，将初级部长的年薪削减了三分之一以上。

随后，议会就这些提案进行了为期两天半的辩论，两党共有 29 名议员发表了讲话。

当时拥有八名议员的工人党在辩论中同意了部长薪酬确定的基本原则，但最终投票反对这些提议，坚持自己的薪酬计算方法。

2012 年议会通过的改革措施包括每五年任命一个独立委员会来审查薪酬。

2018 年，在下一次审查到来之际，一个委员会建议每年根据基准工资的变化调整政治薪酬，该委员会指出，基准工资自 2011 年以来已经上涨了 9%。

然而，政府当时拒绝了对政治人物薪酬进行调整的提议。政府表示，现有的薪酬结构仍然有效，而且过去几年经济形势存在不确定性。

部长薪酬以新加坡公民收入最高的 1000 人的收入中位数为基准，并打 40% 的折扣，以体现公共服务的精神。

收入最高的 1000 人包括首席执行官、首席运营官、首席财务官等高级管理人员，金融服务从业人员以及律师、医生和会计师等专业人士。

部长的年薪由固定部分和浮动部分组成。

固定部分包括部长的月薪和第 13 个月奖金。

可变部分包括总理决定的绩效奖金、根据新加坡经济表现而定的年度可变部分以及国家奖金。

如果这四项指标均达到目标，则国家奖金将设定为三个月：实际中位数收入增长率、最低 20% 收入的实际增长率、失业率和实际国内生产总值增长率。

黄阳是一位报道政治和政策的记者。

新加坡国会

新加坡政治家