11.4.07

Best news story of the year

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. From the AFP: "Singapore PM's salary stuns White House official".

I mean, how can you not love a news story that opens with:
A senior White House official on Tuesday admitted he was floored by the news that Singapore's prime minister earned five times more than US President George W. Bush.

"I'm going to emigrate and run for office in Singapore," the official said on condition he be identified only as "a senior administration official who sits in disbelief after reading that story."
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2 Comments:

At 4/17/2007 10:48 pm , Anonymous Anonymous said...

5 times more? I know the point of this post is to belittle the Singaporean leaders' pay, but doubt that it's 5 times more.

Halliburton earned billions from providing fuel, equipment and supplies to Iraq.

Also when US Presidents retire, they get paid handsomely at speaking engagements and as advisors to corporations.

Because the US market is huge, companies can afford to pay handsomely, and their value is in providing information on (and influencing) policies. In Singapore, there is no such market.

Even in Malaysia, the ministers are laughing at your ministers' current pay. Do Singaporean ministers all have large mansions, at least one S-class, and millions in the bank? No? Malaysian ministers do. Especially their wives and friends that get the contracts. Which scenario would you rather have - corrupt politicians who just plunder, or well-paid politicians who actually do their job well?

 
At 4/18/2007 6:07 am , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Check out our Malaysian politician's houses. It's in Malay, but the pictures speak a thousand words.

http://www.malaysia-today.net/blog2006/reports.php?itemid=3525

One photo is captioned "House given to Datuk Sairin Karno's 3rd wife".

The photo after the photo of a mansion belonging to a man named Musbah who was supposed to develop rice in Sabah: "This is a rice mill that has stood empty for the last 4 years."

Most of the owners are not even ministers, merely UMNO district heads or such. Imagine the palaces and fleets of cars the ministers must have.

Yup, your Singaporean ministers can't compete :)

 

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