Hong Kong legislators seek 9,000-US-dollar-a-month pay rise

Feb 8, 2012, 3:10 GMT

Hong Kong - Legislators in Hong Kong faced a public outcry Wednesday as they prepared to vote themselves a pay rise of 9,000 US dollars a month.

The proposed pay bump for the wealthy city's 60 legislators would double their wages and make them some of the world's best-paid politicians.

A committee of legislators is to vote Friday on the proposal, which would see their pay rise to 50 per cent of the salary of government ministers, who earn 36,000 US dollars a month.

Legislature Secretary General Pauline Ng said the pay rise would attract high fliers to politics and make them more willing to sacrifice business careers.

However, the vote is drawing opposition from the public in a city that has seen its rich-poor divide widen sharply in recent years and where the average monthly salary is about 15,000 Hong Kong dollars (1,900 US dollars).

Commentator Michael Chugani wrote in Wednesday's South China Morning Post that the pay rise would bring the salaries of Hong Kong legislators to 220,000 US dollars a year.

It would make them better paid than their counterparts in the United States and Britain, who earn about 175,000 and 103,000 US dollars, respectively.

'We have the highest paid bureaucrats in the world except for Singapore,' said Chugani, who suggested cutting government officials' pay rather than raising the pay of legislators.