IF you were the Finance Minster, what would be the Budget allocated for each ministry?

my paper posed this question to 64 Singapore professionals aged between 22 and 45 and asked them to rank 10 Government ministries in a straw poll - and they came up with some surprises.

Defence was their No. 1 priority (31 per cent), ahead of education (25 per cent) and healthcare (20 per cent).

These also happen to be some of the top concerns working executives here hope to see highlighted in the Government's announcement today of the

Budget for the fiscal year ending March 2009.

"Security is extremely important in this day and age", explained Ms Veena Rao, 39, a manager in a shipping firm.

"Defence is the key to safeguarding Singapore's prosperity, especially since we're such a small country".

Education ranked high as many felt that a sound and affordable education for future generations will groom a competent workforce to sustain Singapore's economic growth.

Many were also worried about rising medical costs, citing a rapidly ageing population.

"Health expenditure is an unpredictable cost. In the event of sudden trauma or illness, the
medical cost can be very high, as compared to buying a car or a house", said general practitioner David Eu, 40.

The Ministry of Law was ranked No. 10 - 34 per cent of those surveyed said they would give the least money to this ministry.

Analyst Benjamin Lim, 27, said: "Our legal system is already solid enough".