This Foreign Minister earns more than many Indian CXOs
Luis Garicano, a professor at the London School of Economics, compared Singapore's ministerial salaries with those in Britain and Spain. "Countries get the cabinets they pay for," Garicano wrote on X on Sunday.
- May 18, 2026,
- Updated May 18, 2026 2:58 PM IST
Singapore's Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has triggered a debate over political salaries and leadership quality after revealing that he built his own AI agent using Claude, WhatsApp integration, and a Raspberry Pi.
Luis Garicano, a professor at the London School of Economics, compared Singapore's ministerial salaries with those in Britain and Spain. "Countries get the cabinets they pay for," Garicano wrote on X on Sunday.
Garicano said Singapore pays its Foreign Minister about S$1.1 million annually - roughly US$800,000 or nearly ₹8.28 crore (converted at ₹75.28 per Singapore dollar).
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According to him, the salary is benchmarked to 60% of the median income of the top 1,000 Singaporean earners. "That is why you can get Vivian Balakrishnan, former eye surgeon and hospital chief executive, implementing @karpathy's external brain idea," he wrote. "The speech shows deep understanding of AI and fills one with confidence about Singapore's future."
Garicano then drew comparisons with Britain and Spain.
"The UK Foreign Secretary earns roughly £165,000: the MP salary plus a ministerial salary of about £67,000. The ministerial part is frozen since the crisis and is down by roughly a third in real terms since 2010. This is what a junior Magic Circle lawyer earns," he said.
"Spain pays its ministers around €85,000. So you do not get a surgeon who has run hospitals. You get a party loyalist who has never run anything."
The median compensation for non-promoter or professional CEOs in India stood at ₹10.5 crore in FY2025–26, according to a new report by Deloitte India.
The comments came after Dr Balakrishnan spoke at an AI Engineer Singapore event, where he detailed how he built a personal AI assistant to manage the demands of diplomacy. "Now, my personal agent first came to life almost exactly three months ago," he said during the address.
The Singapore minister said he chose NanoClaw over OpenClaw because of security concerns and because the software’s short code base made it easier to understand and manage. "As a geek and as a tinkerer myself, I like stuff which I can grasp," he said.
Balakrishnan explained that the system communicates with him through WhatsApp using software called Baileys and helps him process large volumes of information during foreign visits and meetings.
"This month, I am visiting 12 countries. I will therefore have to meet hundreds of people. I will have to understand the country’s economy, geography, culture, history, war and peace," he said.
"There is a huge cognitive overload on every single diplomat. The question is, how can I turbocharge this process so that if I need a fact or a factoid, I can get it."
He also said large language models were useful for "analysis, for abstraction, for expression and certainly for drafting briefs, drafting speeches, formulating answers to questions, including, I must add, parliamentary questions".
Who is Dr Balakrishnan?
Balakrishnan has served as Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs since October 2015 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2001. He studied medicine at the National University of Singapore after receiving the President's Scholarship in 1980.
Balakrishnan later specialised in ophthalmology and went on to serve as Medical Director of the Singapore National Eye Centre and Chief Executive Officer of Singapore General Hospital before entering politics in 2001.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has triggered a debate over political salaries and leadership quality after revealing that he built his own AI agent using Claude, WhatsApp integration, and a Raspberry Pi.
Luis Garicano, a professor at the London School of Economics, compared Singapore's ministerial salaries with those in Britain and Spain. "Countries get the cabinets they pay for," Garicano wrote on X on Sunday.
Garicano said Singapore pays its Foreign Minister about S$1.1 million annually - roughly US$800,000 or nearly ₹8.28 crore (converted at ₹75.28 per Singapore dollar).
Don't Miss: 'This crisis won't end soon': Singapore PM warns Hormuz shutdown could spark 1970s-style stagflation
According to him, the salary is benchmarked to 60% of the median income of the top 1,000 Singaporean earners. "That is why you can get Vivian Balakrishnan, former eye surgeon and hospital chief executive, implementing @karpathy's external brain idea," he wrote. "The speech shows deep understanding of AI and fills one with confidence about Singapore's future."
Garicano then drew comparisons with Britain and Spain.
"The UK Foreign Secretary earns roughly £165,000: the MP salary plus a ministerial salary of about £67,000. The ministerial part is frozen since the crisis and is down by roughly a third in real terms since 2010. This is what a junior Magic Circle lawyer earns," he said.
"Spain pays its ministers around €85,000. So you do not get a surgeon who has run hospitals. You get a party loyalist who has never run anything."
The median compensation for non-promoter or professional CEOs in India stood at ₹10.5 crore in FY2025–26, according to a new report by Deloitte India.
The comments came after Dr Balakrishnan spoke at an AI Engineer Singapore event, where he detailed how he built a personal AI assistant to manage the demands of diplomacy. "Now, my personal agent first came to life almost exactly three months ago," he said during the address.
The Singapore minister said he chose NanoClaw over OpenClaw because of security concerns and because the software’s short code base made it easier to understand and manage. "As a geek and as a tinkerer myself, I like stuff which I can grasp," he said.
Balakrishnan explained that the system communicates with him through WhatsApp using software called Baileys and helps him process large volumes of information during foreign visits and meetings.
"This month, I am visiting 12 countries. I will therefore have to meet hundreds of people. I will have to understand the country’s economy, geography, culture, history, war and peace," he said.
"There is a huge cognitive overload on every single diplomat. The question is, how can I turbocharge this process so that if I need a fact or a factoid, I can get it."
He also said large language models were useful for "analysis, for abstraction, for expression and certainly for drafting briefs, drafting speeches, formulating answers to questions, including, I must add, parliamentary questions".
Who is Dr Balakrishnan?
Balakrishnan has served as Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs since October 2015 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2001. He studied medicine at the National University of Singapore after receiving the President's Scholarship in 1980.
Balakrishnan later specialised in ophthalmology and went on to serve as Medical Director of the Singapore National Eye Centre and Chief Executive Officer of Singapore General Hospital before entering politics in 2001.