Find out how this MP spends his allowance

WHAT do you do with your allowance of $199,200 a year?

This was what netizens wanted to know from Members of Parliament (MPs).

Critics also questioned whether MPs deserved to collect such a big allowance, which works out to $16,600 a month, for the work they do.

The six-digit sum - the total annual allowance for an MP in 2010 - was revealed in a report on Wednesday by the ministerial salary review committee.

It has made recommendations on the salaries of political appointment holders, including the President, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament, MPs, Non-Constituency MPs and Nominated MPs (NMPs).

If Parliament accepts the recommendations, the MP's allowance will be cut by 3 per cent to $192,500 a year or $16,042 a month.

Mr Vikram Nair (Sembawang GRC), a first-time MP, said that he has already spent more than half of his allowance for this month.

Part of it goes to charity organisations for ad-hoc donations. Most recently, he donated $5,000 to Sinda.

Another portion is used on constituency activities, including giving treats for grassroots volunteers and helpers at events such as the weekly Meet-the-People (MPS) session, and also to fund programmes within the constituency.

He did not want to go into details about how much he spent as he did not want comparisons to be drawn between what one MP spends in his constituency vis-a-vis another MP.

People's Action Party MPs also contribute about a tenth of their monthly allowance to the party. In 2010, the amount for MPs was about $1,800 a month, or about 13 per cent of the monthly allowance, while Ministers contribute more.

When The New Paper asked MPs from the Workers' Party how they spend their MP's allowance, they declined to say as the party would be responding to the committee's recommendations either in a press statement or in Parliament.

Former MP for Hong Kah GRC, Mr Ang Mong Seng, told TNP that people should not simply focus on the allowance, but look at how much an MP's contribution is.

He said: "What's more important is to ask what contribution the MP has brought to the people? How has the MP built up the constituency?"