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The recent increases in the pay of ministers’ have sparked debates and concerns from the people. The ministers’ salaries are expected to go up by up to 33% while the prime ministers’ pay has been increased to a mind-boggling figure of 3.1 million. Even as senior mentor Lee Kuan Yew highlights the importance of such a pay rise, there are many people in the nation with opposing viewpoints. While there are those who believe that this increase in pay would allow the ministers’ to do a good job and lead Singapore, there are those who think otherwise and feel that this would only increase the income gap in Singapore.

In my opinion, I feel that this increase of pay for the ministers would allow Singapore to progress well. Even though the prime minister in Singapore is earning many times more than other ministers around the world, this pay rise is necessary as Singapore is a small country and needs to preserve its talents and ensure that the government remains uncorrupt. This would also allow Singapore to attract the talented people to serve our country and have good leaders. People might cite other countries as examples on ministers’ having low salaries but Singapore government is different as it is a paranoid government. It is a government which listens to the people and ensures their needs are fulfilled. They are committed to improving Singapore. However, to ensure that this trend continues, we need to attract talented people to Singapore.

However, on the other hand, this increase in pay might have more disadvantages than advantages. Firstly, with this increase in pay, the total yearly income of the ministers’ becomes 46 million. Although this might only account for 0.22% of Singapore yearly income, it is important to know that this amount is very huge to many people in Singapore as they would not be able to earn this amount even in their whole lifetime. Also, this increase in pay would come from the taxes people pay and this might increase the income gap in Singapore further. Secondly, does high pay equate to a good government? While senior mentor Lee Kuan Yew has given examples of countries which are not doing so well because of the low pay of ministers, there has been no proof that high pay would result in a good government. For instance, the NKF saga has shown that high pay does not keep people uncorrupt.

On the contrary, we must learn to empathize with our government. They are the ones who are leading the country and working hard to ensure that Singapore remains strong. Many people do not understand the difficulty ministers have to go through the ensure that the public’s needs are fulfilled.

In conclusion, although the pay increase does have its disadvantages, I believe that it is important to do so as Singapore is a small country and needs good and uncorrupt leaders to ensure that we continue to progress. As long as this pay rise does that, I don’t see what’s wrong with paying the ministers more.

Never Give Up!!!

Samson

1:38 PM