People's Action Party

Definitely the most important figure in post-war Singapore was an anti-communist figure, Lee Kuan Yew.

In 1954, Lee and some other people founded the People's Action Party or PAP.

This is the political party that dominates Singaporean politics.

In 1959, Singapore achieved internal self-government.

Singapore's economic transformation is closely connected to Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee served as the Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 until 1990, and remained an influential figure for many years afterwards.

Under his leadership, his political party, the People's Action Party, became the dominant political force in Singapore.

The PAP has won every general election since Singapore achieved self-government.

When we describe someone as having ministerial caliber, what does that actually mean? Are academic credentials, senior titles, and experience running large organizations given too much weight? Well,

I think what the PAP government has said previously, you know, and this is just a general principle, is that you are recruiting for people who have not just specific backgrounds but have the helicopter view of things.

They can view it from the top.

They are analytical, so they're not shooting from the hip and it's emotional, but they are looking at the data, looking at trends, and also getting the best out there of what people are saying about the long future.

And it means that there will be a management of trade-offs.

If you go that way, you're going to have to shut this department or not.

How would you manage the change? And I don't think that the PAP nor let's just say WP, for argument's sake, going to choose business leaders who are poor.

have failed or create a lot of disquiet within their industry.

PM Wong said competitive salaries instead ensure that potential candidates do not have to compromise the financial commitments to their families, and that failing to keep political pay competitive could eventually leave Singapore short of the leadership it needs.

He stressed that money should never be the motivation for entering politics, while also rejecting claims that the PAP was luring candidates with higher pay.

Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh said the opposition party agreed with the broad principles behind the salary framework, but remains at odds with the government over how political salaries should be calculated.

He also called for greater transparency over the total remuneration of entry-level ministers.

And that acknowledges both the economic reality, but at the same time, recognizing the public sensitivities around raising ministerial salaries at this point in time.

Okay, well, I mean, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the PAP government does not believe in using higher pay as an incentive to draw people into politics.

Now, his argument is that politics has to be a calling.

Now, people should want to serve first and remuneration only becomes a practical consideration afterwards.

So I think that's an important exercise because you really get to see if there's a good fit in that.

So yes, money is important again, but it should not become the only motivation.

And I think, you know, the PAP has put in a lot of safeguards in recent years to ensure that it weeds out people who only come in or who are only interested or motivated by the money.

Definitely.

PM Wong said competitive salaries instead ensure that potential candidates do not have to compromise the financial commitments to their families, and that failing to keep political pay competitive could eventually leave Singapore short of the leadership it needs.

He stressed that money should never be the motivation for entering politics, while also rejecting claims that the PAP was luring candidates with higher pay.

Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh said the opposition party agreed with the broad principles behind the salary framework, but remains at odds with the government over how political salaries should be calculated.

He also called for greater transparency over the total remuneration of entry-level ministers.

Hong Kong's industrial and commercial rise had begun earlier, but the ICAC helped provide a cleaner, more predictable official environment in which a trading and financial center could deepen.

Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau was created in 1952, and the People's Action Party government after taking office in 1959 strengthened anti-corruption law and enforcement as part of a wider reconstruction of the state.

The lesson is that impunity can be broken, but selective prosecution and bureaucratic fear are no substitutes for transparent institutions.

Precedent There is also a useful American precedent, the United States Senate's Pacora investigation, named after the prosecutor who led the investigations, in 1933 exposed conflicts of interest, deceptive securities practices and reckless conduct by major Wall Street institutions before the Great Depression.