Ghui /
Singapore is not the only country with a ceremonial head of state. A number of countries throughout the world have the concept of an elected President with limited powers. Since our Presidential elections are coming up, it would be worthwhile to have a look at the remuneration of other Presidents.
1. Austria
Like President Nathan, the President of Austria, Heinz Fischer is for the most part a ceremonial figurehead. The President of Austria is directly elected by “universal adult suffrage” once every six years, another similarity to President Nathan.
President Fischer gets an annual salary of USD457, 417.00 (approximately SGD561, 836.17) (http://www.paywizard.org/main/VIPPaycheck/world-leaders-salaries/World-Leaders-Salaries/vip_details?id=heinz-fischer-1).
2. Iceland
The President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, is also an elected head of state. He is elected to a four-year term by “universal adult suffrage” and has limited powers. Unlike President Nathan however, President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is not the head of state. The head of state in Iceland is the Prime Minister.
President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson earns approximately SGD177, 247.12 per year.
3. Israel
In the same manner, President Shimon Peres is an elected head of state. His salary is approximately SGD148, 394.35 per annum. He is number 17 on the list of highest paid political leaders in the world.
4. Ireland
In the same vein, President Mary McAleese is an elected ceremonial head. Her yearly salary currently stands at approximately SGD 571,532.34 although it is set to be reduced to approximately SGD 439,695.59 per year. (http://www.thejournal.ie/president-offers-to-take-budget-2011s-biggest-wage-cut-2010-12/)
5. Portugal
Portugal’s President, 
, despite having theoretically wide powers is likewise in a largely ceremonial position. President Anibal Cavaco Silva does not have a salary. This is because under Portuguese law, a civil servant is not permitted to draw both a pension and a salary at the same time. President Anibal Cavaco therefore only has an annual pension of approximately SGD 211,936.80. Had he gone with the Presidential salary as opposed to his pension, his annual package would stand at approximately SGD137,676.72.
The above stands in stark contrast against President Nathans annual pay package of SGD4, 267,500.00. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Singapore).
Since all of the above countries have Presidents who serve a similar role to President Nathan, why is he paid so much more than his counterparts? The PAP’s past rationale for high salaries has been to prevent corruption but since President Nathan wields no real political power, where is the danger of him falling prey to corruption?
It is noteworthy to add that both President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and President Mary McAleese have accepted pay cuts in line with their respective country’s financial woes. President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson even went as far as to request for a decrease in his salary. In his letter to the Finance Minister, he argued that the measure was necessary, “Because of the difficulties facing the nation.” (http://www.nanews.net/MAIN.asp?ID=2172&PageID=193)
In so doing, President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson truly exemplifies what it means to be a peoples’ President. By requesting a pay cut, he was showing solidarity with his countrymen in a time of economic crisis, standing shoulder to shoulder with the citizens of Iceland. This is despite the fact that President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson’s salary is not high to begin with (and certainly not high in comparison to President Nathan’s salary).
Granted, Iceland is bankrupt but be that as it may, I cannot help but question if our political leaders would voluntarily do the same should (God forbid) Singapore ever go the same way?
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Let’s face it, folks – the President of Singapore is, and has been, obscenely, grossly overpaid.
Obscene remuneration has been a feature of the self-serving policies of the PAP. Which President, including the present one, can be said to be or to have been independent, or unaffiliated, to the PAP?
@rwkc
Nathan has never been affiliated with any political party. He is the most independent president.
the truth is why $4 million?he does’nt have to spend a single cent,everything is paid for by the tax payer,and does his job entails such high responsibilities that he must be held accountable if there’s any cock up,no!he does’nt have to answer to anybody,he dose’nt have to review policies,he does’nt even have the chance to debate policies that are not citizen friendly,he does ‘nt speak up up for the people,you all noise he says,and without the govt. will you be still around he asked?so at the end of the day what did he do?absolutely nothing!going on world tours,gracing charities,shaking hands,cutting ribbons,waving hands and carrying babies,oh my goodness so please justified the obscene salary my dear ministers and prez,cos till this day i still do not understand the relevance of the salary.thank you.
To the uninitiated, sound is mistaken as noise – the offensive and unnatural, unwanted sound!!
Sounds, which include subsets of noises, are noises that have been filtered intelligently with distinguished degrees of meaningfulness. Depending on the person’s ability to filter these subsets of noises which is part of genuine sounds, the sounds may be perceived as noises.
To some people, silence is antiquarian, something to be hung in a gallery or boxed up in a museum.
BUT, NOISE RULES THE WORLD! Noise: the clicking of a clock, the hum of a refrigerator or fan, extreme low and high frequencies and microwaves that are inaudible to our clumsy ears, affect our health and well-being!!
Meaningful noise signifies DANGER! roar of a lion or howling of a wolf, and cries of despair!
Sounds and noise contribute to right thinking and feelings, to the development of some virtue. For the enlightened, listening to sounds and noises in turn evoke tranquility, insight, perspicacity, harmony, introspection.
Noise of a nation cannot be ignored!! He who is unable to listen to these sounds and noises obviously does not know how to invoke harmony, insight and perspicacity!! And we call him our President ?
okie, happy now?…after all noises that do not meant to the ruling party and come on let’s move on.
Singaporean, Singaporean, after years and years of being confined and unable to speak up. Stomach all the grievances. Once let go, the words are nonsense…..i understand
From the way yamagata writes, this guy is definitely not a Japanese but a local guy. He is probably a Tamil so in awe of Nathan and perhaps related to him.
I’ve said this before. Why do you have to form a special committee to look into
ministers salary? And why lump MPs and civil servants into it? Nobody has really complained about their salaries.
It’s just to throw a smokescreen and give the impression that the astronomical
salaries are debatable.
Just voluntarily cut your pay, lah!
I personally don’t bother if our politicians make millions so long all the citizens are not left behind. Problem is that there are still many people still left far behind.
Ethen Jin-Chew
Hi your piece is well said. But could you in future use simpler english? It’s
most tiresom to have to refer to my
dictionary every few words.
simple English, Vote for Tony Tan.
I am no related to Tony Tan. Just that he is the man with substance and principle. PAP respect him and will compromise with him.
If after 5 years, he made a plunder, blasts him too. But I doubt so.
His wordings are comforting in today strait times.
He can restore the president honour to the people.
vote for tony tan :)
I believe someone was paid almost the same and because he feel GUILTY, he passes on the next biggest dick to Nathan, and most WHOLESOMELY, Nathan just LOVED IT and swallow the whole LUMP SUM.
Nathan is just the game throwaway.
The biggest dirt is LKY and FAMILY.
Hey, Jimmy. You’re being too charitable. Return only half his total salary you say?
I would imagine a retainer of not more than 5% of the total expenditure incurred would be more than adequate recompense for a wasted decade of non-event (presidentially speaking), and for a feeble attempt at botanical studies at the tail end of it all!
Can asked him to read the Temasek financial report to us, and what does it mean before we release his bonus.
@union
You be surprised. Nathan’s financial analysis skills are much better than you expected, and certainly better than yours.
@ yamagata
how can you compared prez nathan with commoner union? told you not to sprout poisonous at nathan, u just don’t listen.
yamagata 8 July 2011
@union
You be surprised. Nathan’s financial analysis skills are much better than you expected, and certainly better than yours.
…………..
bloomin admiral ajinomotor you BAKARO nincumputt!!! if every month on the 9th..my paycheck is around $200,000
if i cannot ANALie and count…skali short of 1 piece $2 note than ow?
The president being our head of state has to be paid an astronomical salary because the MIW want to justify the obscene salaries they themselves are getting.
@iVOTEahMENG
You don’t even know what consolidated financial statements are, so don’t come here talk cock. Nathan is much more educated, qualified, smarter and more benevolent than you. Look at yourself b4 criticise others.
yamagata 8 July 2011
@iVOTEahMENG
You don’t even know what consolidated financial statements are,
………….
wah are you talkin to me in tamil? tangechi?
praata presidente know ow to consolidated financial statements?
with hoching blowin away billion$
and yet being a kileng accountant/bookeeper with the HIGHEST salary in the whole wide world
HE DID NOTHING?
@iVOTEahMENG
Temasek just reported portfolio value S$ 193 billion, highest ever. Whatever losses they made, they more than recovered.
Nathan didn’t question when temaske initially made losses coz he knew u can’t just look at a single point in time. U have to look over time, and over time, Temasek performance very good.
Like I said, if you dun know, dun come here talk cock.
Can someone tell me 1 thing that Nathan has done for this last 12 years that contribute to the well being of Singapore?
Just one small thing, please.
In corporate world, this is called adding value.
Not a single tiny bit of Singapore is affected with or without this Nathan. But I know our country is almost $50M poorer by paying this person his salary
@ yamagata
aiyo, tell you so many times. STOP sprouting poisonous at Nathan.
Read the latter page”It is not impressive”, and good thing it is not Nathan worked.
why u like to put other ppl backside skin on nathan face. It is fairer?
Said all already, come 31st August 2011, Nathan has to abdicate his high pay post.
Atlas, good riddance.
Financial analysis expert? Don’t make my toes twinkle with amusement.
Shitty talk cock, some fake Nipponese.
Malaysian drug mule appealing to him to spare him the rope. He’s busy now calling the Cabinet for last time instructions as a Puppet. More fun to come.
Do you know why it is not impressive?
Using billions to profit $1 for so many years and get inflated.
vote for tony tan. :)
Let’s wait and see how much he really loves money, or will he in one way or another return ‘some’ of it to the people. Come on, he’s currently too busy doing a last minutes PR stunts to show that he is not sitting around and doing nothing to ‘earn’ the $Ms.
Yes, yes, president nathan is the most independence president this country ever have.
He is independence from the people of this nation.
His being elected was independently from singaporeans.
He independently without the citizens nor for the citizens.
Sure, his records show he is the most independence president & for the record, the higest paid in the world as well.
if tony tan is elected, esp on a big margin, then the MIW will say, during the GE you only gave me 60%, that’ why i need to institute a lot of change. But now that you have elected an EP of PAP origin, i dun not have to change much. So people, pls vote wisely this coming Aug.
It beats me about “It beats me”. Vote for Tony Tan! No way…the whitest candidate by far who is a dyed in the wool PAP man.
You all kpkb for what? huh? HUH!!! H U H !!!!!! ???!!!
Its the people who accept the system.
Did he won by any vote?
What is his accomplishment for the people?
I mean i no no what.
You know ah? You know you tell us.
The truth is, citizens who are against his presidency dare not voice up also.
There is a deep seated problem with spore, superficially, or officially, a 1st world.
To be blunt but truthful, I will not miss Nathan when he is gone.
I miss Ong Teng Cheong.
i will vote for the president candidate who makes cutting president salary the focus of his campaigning
How can the ministers JUSTIFY their HUMONGOUS salary if the the HIGHEST OFFICE of the land is paid PEANUTS.
One week after Iceland faced bankruptcy, Singapore guaranteed $700 billions deposits of various currencies. This blanket guarantee included foreign banks which had financial troubles in hundreds of billions of dollars.
(References: Monetary Authority of Singapore Press Release on 16 Oct. 2008 and Deputy Chairman of MAS Minister’s Lim Hng Kiang’s statement on 20 Oct. 2008)
Singapore’s reserves were used to back this guarantee. Our reserves represent the cumulative sacrifices, sweat, toil, tears, heartaches and headaches of numerous Singaporeans both present and past. Our savings are meant for our children, our aged, our beloved, our homes, our medical needs and to protect us from ruthless enemies. Yet, they were all placed in jeopardy by one single decision alone.
The U.S. Stock Market fell 89 percent during the Great Depression. Our reserves will be worth pennies on the dollar if the global economy had collapsed. However, depositors are still entitled to their $700 billion in cash at the click of the mouse. How is Singapore going to raise so much cash so fast? Such pressures will cause Singapore’s currency to fall and devalue our Central Provident Funds. Moreover, our liabilities for foreign currencies’ deposits will rise.
During market crashes, bank assets like loans and investments also fall dramatically in value. Massive banks’ failures will make Singaporeans liable for most of the $700 billions deposits. Singapore can become indebted to many wealthy foreign depositors. Britain used anti-terrorism laws to freeze Iceland’s assets. Governments worldwide can also freeze Singapore’s assets.
Let us assume a scenario when Singapore becomes liable for $500 billions of depositors’ money. Our reserves had fallen in value to $100 billion. Singapore becomes indebted by $400 billions. Ironically, our $100 billion savings will be paid to the foreign banks that fail first.
Blanket guarantee gives the weakest banks’ depositors top priority claims to Singaporeans’ reserves. This is true even if the weakest banks fall because of frauds, negligences, mismanagements, stupidities or speculations. Several foreign banks were in trouble when our local banks remain strong. This means Singaporeans’ savings were placed on the front line for foreign banks’ depositors to lay claims on. Lehman Brothers fell even though it had US$691 billion assets in Nov. 2007.
Since foreign banks had the greatest likelihood of failing, foreigners had the greatest likelihood of claiming the greatest amount of money from Singaporeans’ sweat stained savings. Thus, the poorest Singaporeans will have to help pay off the richest foreign depositors.
Why did Singapore give a limitless guarantee? Isn’t this a terrible precedent for Singapore to set? Even the United States only raised the guarantee from US$100,000 to US$250,000. Why did the guarantee last till end of 2010? If there was major capital flight into Singapore, this could increase our absolute exposure drastically.
Parliamentary approval should be required to raise the guaranteed deposit above a preset limit. Parliamentary approval should be required before any foreign bank deposits can be guaranteed. Blanket guarantees are NOT sustainable and have led Ireland and Iceland into troubles. Laws must be enacted to ensure that only a limited percentage of our total reserves can ever be used for bank guarantees. PERCENTAGE is the most important word here because value of reserves plunge when markets plummet like waterfalls.
Yours Sincerely,
Joseph Tan
Joseph Tan,
Isn’t that what happened in Ireland?
PAP is caught off-guard on many things and made numerous investment mistakes and burnt the people’s money without accountability. That’s why we must know how much reserves we have and more transparency on their management and policies. This is also to judge whether the government is doing a good job.
The President should publish the Report on the Reserves for the next incoming President for handing/taking over the list of assets by 31 Aug.
The people demand this information immediately because it has withheld the people’s meagre CPF until they die and made the people pissed off. Show us the money, we will scrutinize you for every cent you lost or spend. You have brought untold miseries with your poor performance.
Joseph, very well said.
I have in many of my past postings expressed my concern over Temasek Holdings’ investment OBJECTIVES.
What are the prime objectives of TH’s investments? To generate good financial returns for our national treasury, one would naturally presume. But what we have all witnessed so far is quite something else.
You have ask a point-blank question of WHY, why did Singapore give such limitless guarantee? In particular, the face value of our guarantee is such a humongous amount that we Singaporean deserve to know why was that action necessary? Temasek Holdings should be bound by a well defined set of investment procedure suctioned by our constitution.
My personal view is that an entity entrusted to manage a country’s treasury and monetary reserves should never be allowed to base their investment decision on anything other than basic need to secure save and sound returns on investment for the country.
Singapore is a small country, why are we playing “hero” to that extent? For some hidden bilateral benefits or trade preferences? How much and to what extent Singapore’s economy, and Singaporean in general, will benefit from such spectacular financial rescue, short-term and long-term?
All this is because we have allowed the removal of our last safe guard, the Presidential safe guard, on our reserves, stipulated in our earlier constitution.
I would like our next Elected President to publicly voice his independent opinion in future when he is confronted with such similar situation concerning the use of our reserves.
We all know that he is in no position to block such decision by Temasek Holdings, but the least he can do is to keep Singaporean WELL INFORMED! And that’s what we are paying him S$4 million a year for.
Sorry, my typo. “sanction”
what is the useless president really protecting. Basically, the MM/SM/PM and their cabinet and PAP gang will have the first dip in the state revenues with their million dollars salaries & perks. The president is also given his share as part of keeping quiet or closign both eyes to the day-light robbery.
Thereafter the PAP will claim the remainder is to be locked as “resseves” and not to be touch. In other words, the president is actually guarding the reserve not for singaporeans but guarding it for the PAP.
when other politicians and diplomats any of the singapore ministers/PM, they must be thinking inside – shameless greedy clowns cheating the populace, trying to act smart on the outside. Inside, these money-grabers are not better than the high corruption happening in the third world.
not worth any respect.
We should have another Indian President.
See, we now have more new citizens from India. Its only fair.
Hurray!
How many more new citizens from India, 900,000. Good gracious me.
Zondasini Kuala Koala 10 July 2011
We should have another Indian President.
………………
i rather vote for a bhaii presidente..
big stron friendly with a turban that look good without ever to wear a helmet ridin an electric bicycle
The President’s Star Charity would really be meaningfull if the President is the Star and sets the example. Nathan can do this by donating one year’s salary to the cause. But as we all know the Pappy dogs only talk and ask other people to make sacrifices while they remain greedy and morally corrupted
Nathan just doesn’t know the meaning and importance of engaging the people as a president. I think the people is never ‘important’ to him as the President. Afterall he was never elected! He has a great opportunity to (or learn from) what Nelson Mandela has done and achieved on engaging the people.. But, it’s too late now. All these last minutes publicity shows only make the people laugh!