Congrats to next President for his almost $900,000 pay increment!

Personally, I don't think the ST headline captures the significance of the news. I mean, come on: "Changes to President, Istana expenditure"?

That's not just a change! Adding $1000 to his salary is a change.

No! You want a headline like:

"Next President gets nice pay hike of $890,700!"

or something short and sweet like:

"Ka-ching!"

I also noted the extra $610,000 to be set aside for the Presidential Swearing-in Ceremony. That part I am not so sure. Seems like a lot of money to set aside for swearing.

Come on, say it with me: "Getting paid... like a BAW$$!"

Excerpt:

PARLIAMENT on Thursday approved the allocation of an additional $1.25 million to the Civil List, which specifies the salaries of the President, his personal staff, and expenditure.

The amount set aside for the President's salary is $4,267,500, up from $3,376,800. The entertainment allowance remains unchanged at $73,000. The amount for staff salaries increases by $471,600 to $4,532,400.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said these increases were to cater for an additional staff officer to support the work of the Council of Presidential Advisers, a Butler Manager to meet the increased demand for butler services at the Istana, and to meet higher variable payments on account of strong economic growth.