You Pay Peanuts, You Get Monkey.

On April the 3rd 2008, The Sun (The only free Malaysia Newspaper) published an article which captured my attention. It was about the Salary of our Members of Parliament (MP).

How much an MP getsSalary:

RM6,508 (tax-free)

Other perks:

RM1,200 monthly driver's fee

RM5,000 computer allowance per term

RM1,500 handphone allowance every three years

RM900 monthly phone bill allowance

RM300 daily meeting allowance (RM100 for food and other expenses)

RM 1,500 monthly entertainment allowance

A fulltime Member of Parliament will get RM10,108 (tax-free) every month. When there is the Dewan Rakyat meeting going on, they will get RM300 as a meeting allowance for every each meeting, which RM100 of it is allocated for their daily meals. So, for a 14 days Dewan Rakyat meeting, each members of Parliament will get an amount of RM4,200.

So, when there is a Dewan Rakyat meeting going on, that month itself a Member of the Parliament will get a pay-check worth RM14,308.

Sometimes their monthly pay-check may amount up to RM16,908.

If you think that is too much of a salary for a Malaysian MP, wait till you see this. Singapore’s MPs receive S$ 18,025 per month. That’s just the basic. With other special allowance and stuff, it may reach S$30,000 or more depending on your ministerial position. Which means a Singaporean MP earns at least S$360,000 a year. Convert that to Ringgit Malaysia -approximately RM900,000 a year. Nearly a million.

Their salary is incomparable to the MPs in Malaysia.

The saying goes, if you pay peanuts, you get monkey.

Can only happen in Malaysia Parliament.