Singapore bureaucrat's cooking trip sparks outcry

[Razgriz]

i m not a fan of pappies la.. but i do agree that his salary, the way he spend is nth wrong, although timing may be wrong, but after all it is his salary.. like 1 of my fren say.. SG is good for earning $.. not good for living...

 

across the bridge better.. he stay eruope country de.. he feedback that across the bridge is safer from where he used to stay..

[King]

I'm sorry but Mr Tan spent his own money. Not gahment money. So what he does in his vacation is his own business and not ours.

 

One should question ST for printing the article at times like this. They can choose not to do the story but in the end, they did. I'm sure a lot of the staff there might have known there could be an outcry.

 

But, the story sells and has now generated some reaction. Be it positive or negative, it is still a reaction. A reaction to deflect from other more important issues? I have no idea.

 

he come back singapore and open a french resturant

[Alechi]

The only wrongs: 1) Timing of article is wrong 2) The boasting is wrong

 

Other than that, it is his own money, own time, own job ... none of our business actually.

 

Let's not dwell further

[Scenic98]

what u dunno doesn't bother u, what u know irks u.

 

but anyway. tend to agree..it's his money, let him spend. whether he's overpaid or not, that's another issue.

I guess it's all about timing of this article, the way he puts it...5 weeks holiday, 46 grand and being "at the top". This guy defintely need some public speaking lesson and also some EQ...maybe next year, he will take a 6 weeks holiday and spend 100 grand in London for this?

 

[Genie47]

he come back singapore and open a french resturant

 

This could be the real reason. Maybe he is leaving the civil service.

[Gendut]

 

"Taking five weeks leave from work is not as difficult as one thinks. Most times when you are at the top, you think you are indispensable. But if you are a good leader who has built up a good team, it is possible," Tan wrote in the newspaper.

 

 

Ha Ha Ha. In a mutual back slapping organisation, this old leech really thinks HE built the organisation.

 

Man............his ego is sooooooooo inflated. I'd challenge him to work in an international MNC or a Fortune 500 and see where he ends up. Bragging about leadership in a ministry is a joke.

 

[Sabian]

sometimes the media and some sinkies deserve each other. perfect match.

 

come up with the right fodder and get the expected result from the audience. like in a zoo, getting chimps to respond accordingly.

 

he can go to uranus and back and blab about it. that kind of trip may not exist in our universe but some of the things we do/buy do not exist in another strata of the same society.

 

even if we "contribute" to their pay, we do not have a say in how they want to utilize it. can your boss tell u not to drive or go for a overseas trip and take a bus to jb or sentosa instead?

 

150+ media & 150+ audience (some).

[Civic2000]

He works for the salary and he has every right to spend his own money. What wrong with him having holidays in France and spending his own money the ways he likes? If people thinks that top civil servants are earning big fat pay, then start to groom your kids to be a president schoolar, or anyone here thinks that he is cut for the top job in govt service, can always apply to join the service now.

[Gearoil]

He works for the salary and he has every right to spend his own money. What wrong with him having holidays in France and spending his own money the ways he likes? If people thinks that top civil servants are earning big fat pay, then start to groom your kids to be a president schoolar, or anyone here thinks that he is cut for the top job in govt service, can always apply to join the service now.

 

Peasants can't make it so that just start their nonsense and get 'red eyes'!

 

Which does them no favour in improving their lot!

 

Maybe ppl in media are also humans..so they 'slipped up'..... just like some who 'let others escape via tiolet'!

 

Anyway, look at is this way....it does work in the Pappies's favour to show the peasant the 'POWER OF THE FORCE' in times like this!

 

Peasant need to be reminded about the power of the Empire and it's Clone army ...from time to time!

 

See...all this happening and they still 'can't be touched'..but of course, one of them didn't expect 'to be touched'!

[Chisiang]

I think if anyone of us who brings our family to a holiday abroad will easily cost 2~3 months of our salary for a decent getaway. So our Mr Tan's spending is not far off from a peasant would spend.

 

And if one would say he/she is going to spend some time learning or acquiring a new skills in a renowned institute or school is also fine.

 

But he should not disclose (in ST) how much was spent in such a time like this.

 

And the final nail in the coffin is when he mentioned "Taking five weeks leave from work is not as difficult as one thinks. Most times when you are at the top, you think you are indispensable. But if you are a good leader who has built up a good team, it is possible"

 

In so many years of working, I have never knew anyone, or any boss who took such a long leave, in a single block, and can insist that "it is not as difficult as one thinks".

 

I think if you are a good leader, you should have leadership by example which our SAF has been trying to brainwash us WOSE. It either means that he got a lot of excess manpower at his disposal or he really got nothing to do in office.

 

He will also set a bad practice for the rest to follow. Now imagine his subordinates also delegates their work to the lower ranking executives and went on 5 weeks paid leave ke ke ke...

 

But then again, maybe he has not taken a single day of leave for the year and needs to clear his leave so...

 

nevertheless, this kind of articles still disgust me to read esp times like this.

[Throttle2]

Haha no need lah, you report to me can already. So how much you pay for your income tax?

 

I one month $2,500 salary, you say my income tax how much leh?

 

 

[Ender]

Most of us who are against are not arguing his right to spend whatever he wants. It's the timing, i.e. 'recession', his action which doesn't gel with the message his big boss (the gahment), is saying to asked us to swallow the bitter pill.

 

What I feel and think most of the general public is feeling is while the whole country is in recession, the people who asked us to swallow the bitter pill are themselves not subjected to the same sacrifice, but instead are doing just the opposite. If you are a public servant and owns a well in a desert, you are well within your right not to share the water and even be extravagant and use it to water your flowers. You may very well publish your wastage of water in the media, it all within your right, no one of us is questioning. But then we can't blame the public to condemn his wastage too even though it's within his right.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Ender

[Machspeed]

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/090113/3/3upw4.html

 

Tuesday January 13, 3:43 PM

Singapore bureaucrat's cooking trip sparks outcry

 

SINGAPORE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A Singaporean bureaucrat who wrote about taking his family on an expensive cooking course in France has sparked ire from locals, with some accusing him of extravagance given the city-state is in recession. Tan Yong Soon, a senior official at Singapore's Environment Ministry, learnt to truss chicken and cut vegetables at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in Paris with his wife and son, and wrote about it in the Straits Times newspaper earlier this month. "Taking five weeks leave from work is not as difficult as one thinks. Most times when you are at the top, you think you are indispensable. But if you are a good leader who has built up a good team, it is possible," Tan wrote in the newspaper. His article raised eyebrows given the five-week course for three at the prestigious French cooking school cost more than S$46,000 ($30,930). Singapore is one of Asia's wealthiest nations but it was the first country in Asia to fall into recession last year. More job cuts are looming. "Anyone who has any sense of empathy for the average working person struggling to survive would not be splashing his story of luxurious holidays in full spread in a national newspaper," said Andrew Loh on a Singaporean discussion website (http://theonlinecitizen.com). Tan could not be reached for comment and he has not said anything publicly about the response to his article. "How long does each of us take to earn even half that amount that Mr. Tan spent on his lessons? And how many of us can afford to be away for five weeks on paid vacation without getting sacked from our jobs?" said Eugene Yeo, senior writer at the political website, The Wayang Party Club of Singapore. (http://wayangparty.com) Some online forum users said Tan could decide what to do with his money, but still felt he was being boastful. "Agreed that what he does with his money and time is his business but to brag about it really makes me boil," said an online post from someone nicknamed Ricksw8437. ($1=1.487 Singapore Dollar) (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Neil Chatterjee and Dean Yates)

 

 

Its a honest mistake.. lets move on..

[Loneranger]

I one month $2,500 salary, you say my income tax how much leh?

 

 

Wah biangz, sure or not? $2500 can drive BMW and own 2 private properties?

 

I very interested to know how you do it, and I think all of us here including IRAS.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Loneranger

[Chisiang]

Wah biangz, sure or not? $2500 can drive BMW and own 2 private properties?

 

I very interested to know how you do it, and I think all of us here including IRAS.

 

[lipsrsealed] [sweatdrop]

[Galantspeedz]

No silly. Read my comments again. Or maybe I need to give you comprehension lessons?

 

I said the PSC could have done better by getting same talent with a lot lesser pay.

 

i guess you dun understand what i meant.

 

Its ok

[Tkseah]

let's face the truth lah, most of our top public servants are living the high life of luxury.. wat this fella did wrong is to boast about it.. if he is an elected official, sure will not get voted in for next ge after this incident.. but unfortunately he is not an elected official..

[Curahee]

 

Imagine i go africa refugee camp, set up a table in front of them, laid out plates of food, from roasted meat to lobster, crab, pasta, soup etc and eat happily in front of them for them to see, what will these hungry ppl feel? In times like these, this fella no need go and report to media how well to do and how he spend his money, spore peasants whole life dun even get to see that amt of money in their a/c, juz like i eating tasty food in front of millions of african refugees that they dun even have tree bark and grass root to munch on.