Grace Fu comments on ministerial pay cut

Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday in response to the recent announcement by the Ministerial Salary Review Committee. The committee suggested on Wednesday cutting the prime minister's annual pay by 36 per cent to S$2.2 million, ministers' yearly wage by 37 per cent to S$1.1 million and the president's annual salary by 51 per cent to S$1.54 million.

Grace Fu wrote:

When I made the decision to join politics in 2006, pay was not a key factor. Loss of privacy, public scrutiny on myself and my family and loss of personal time were. The disruption to my career was also an important consideration. I had some ground to believe that my family would not suffer a drastic change in the standard of living even though I experienced a drop in my income. So it is with this recent pay cut. If the balance is tilted further in the future, it will make it harder for any one considering political office.

Her Facebook post has since gathered over a thousand comments so far, of which many were criticisms. In response to these criticisms, Grace Fu remarked the public has misunderstood her. She replied, but still holding onto her stand of further cuts may dissuade talented people into joining politics.

Thank you all for your candid views. I respect all of them. I realise my last posting could have been misunderstood. The committee has done a thorough job with a substantial recommendation over a fairly emotive topic. I accept and respect the recommendations.

I am honoured to be given the opportunity to serve the people. However, it may not be wise to call for the tradeoffs to be tilted further to an extent that it dissuades good people from coming forward in future. I read today's papers and some readers make the same point. Thanks for your views again.