IF Yusril Ihza Mahendra were a minister in Singapore or Britain, he would not receive so many criticisms as he does now. He may even not have made any complaints. According to The Asian Wall Street Journal of July 10, 2000 in Singapore, which is only a stones throw from Jakarta, a minister was paid annually between US$655,530 and US$819,124.

Lets convert this amount into rupiah. At Rp8,000 to the US dollar, a Singaporean minister earned in 2000