Singapore’s Prime Minister Gets a Big Raise

For a city-state with neither abundant natural resources nor a large population, the key to prosperity was ensuring things just worked, said Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore.

And keeping the country running smoothly, from its seaports and airports to financial services, were strict and unbendable rules, enforced by a phalanx of well-paid public servants.

The idea was reaffirmed on Tuesday, as Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced ministerial wage increases that will bump his annual salary by 64 percent to $3.6 million Singapore dollars ($2.85 million).

The move was part of a broader hike to cabinet ministers’ pay in Singapore, which has long had the highest political salaries in the world.

Junior ministers’ salaries will jump from the equivalent of $870,000 to as much as $1.4 million.

In a statement delivered to the country’s Parliament, Mr. Wong said that political salaries had been stagnant for 15 years, and that it was becoming harder to recruit top talent from the private sector at a time when the country needed to furnish the next generation of leaders.

“We recognize that highly able people have alternatives outside politics,” he said. “So we pay political officeholders salaries that are competitive, but with a substantial discount to reflect political service.”