Last month, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong sparked a heated debate on ministerial salary after a dialogue he had with South East District residents. During the dialogue, he said that ministers are not paid enough and also spoke about the difficulties in attracting top talent to join the government. He had said, “You are going to end up with very very mediocre people, who can’t even earn a million dollars outside to be our minister. Think about that. Is it good for you, or is it worse for us in the end?”

About 70 per cent felt that it is wrong to consider people who earn high salaries as better than others while 42 per cent of the respondents disagreed that high salaries that are a deterrence to corruption.

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