SINGAPORE:Singapore has banned six members of the European Parliament from speaking at an opposition party debate yesterday on a big pay rise for ministers and civil servants.
The government said this week that ministers and senior civil servants would enjoy a 60 per cent pay increase, giving them an average salary of S$1.9 million (€927,580).
The prime minister's pay is set to jump to S$3.1 million (€1.5 million) - five times what the president of the United States earns.
The announcement has drawn criticism from ordinary Singaporeans, given the country's widening income gap and the fact that salaries for the city-state's ministers were already among the highest in the world.
The police told the Singapore Democratic Party it could not hold a public forum yesterday to discuss the increases, and the immigration authority rejected applications for professional visit passes for the seven foreigners the SDP invited to speak.
"Singapore's politics are reserved for Singaporeans. As visitors to our country, foreigners should not abuse their privilege by interfering in our domestic politics," the ministry of home affairs said in a statement late on Thursday.
"Foreigners who abuse the privileges that Singapore accords to guests and visitors, and meddle in Singapore's domestic politics, are not welcome here."
The European Commission in Singapore said yesterday that governments should only interfere in the right to freedom of expression to protect the rights and freedom of others, such as prohibiting messages that incite racial hatred.
"The fact that these members of the European Parliament are now not allowed to speak at a public meeting organised by another legally recognised political party of Singapore is regretted," said Holger Standertskjold, the head of the delegation of the European Commission in Singapore.
The MEPs are Graham Watson and Fiona Hall of the United Kingdom, Anders Samuelsen of Denmark, Ignasi Guardans of Spain, Eugenijus Gentvilas of Lithuania, and Lydie Polfer of Luxembourg.
Mr Watson, a Liberal Democrat, told reporters yesterday that the MEPs has been informed they would be arrested if they spoke. He said events had thrown "into question democratic co-operation with Singapore just as the EU is finalising a partnership and co-operation agreement" with that country.