I READ with disbelief the reactions of netizens and the rebuke in Parliament of Mr Tan Yong Soon.

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Indeed, I agree with Jackie's comment that "The people who said Mr Tan is arrogant and a show-off are simply jealous and small-minded." Some people here are positively communist even. It's his money and he can choose how to spend it. Some may treat a Cordon Bleu class as a worthwhile pursuit; others see it as a trivial activity for the leisure class. Value is subjective. If on the other there is displeasure with civil servants' fat pay package, then it is still wrong to pick to Mr Tan when Mr Teo Chee Hean makes much more.

However, I'm surprised that no one criticised Mr Tan for his work ethics. I bet our earlier batch of civil servants and PAP Ministers didn't take 5 week breaks. Our top civil servants are becoming soft if Mr Tan is any example.

he can splurge all he can but please keep the amount spent out of sight. top civil servant are public figure and they are doing public a service.

The crux of the matter is, if you are rich or worst still, filthy rich, just don't flout or boast about your wealth.
He should learn a lesson from Mr Teo and other MPs or top civil servants ( given the fat pay package, I'm not too sure if the word "servants" is still applicable. More appropriately should be changed to "masters" while tax payers should actually be refered as "servants").

Small minded? This guy used SG money to splurge! When one is using taxpayers' money, one has to be careful what one spends on. There are many needy people out here trying to make ends meet, blind uncle/aunty has to strum their guitar or beat the drum to make a song so people can donate. I even saw one man on his wheelchair, he could hardly move it himself and he's sick, all dirty and poor. Where can this guy get help? Even if we take this guy for help, the red tape of being helped is endless. They will check his bank account and blah blah....by the time he gets help, probably he would die on the way!

In SG, it is people who help people! And please dont brag abt the rebates we get, it's peanuts!

I believe that the number of singaporeans who comdemn the perm sec is as much as (if not greater than) the number of singaporeans who condone him.

yet ST decides to publish 7 letters (including 5 online ones) defending Mr Tan, and choosing to publish none that criticises him.

oh i see, so this is one classic case whereby we fully understand why many people choose to label the ST as State's Times.

He was rapped for writing to the press and bragging about it and not for taking personal leave or spending his own money. Infact, I thought civil servants were specifically told not to deal with the press and only through the public affairs department. So what he did was a stupid thing.

He spent $45,000 of his money and he wrote 2 pages.

PM Lee should have written 4-pages for donating his $500,000.

Originally Posted by the_ultimate

he can splurge all he can but please keep the amount spent out of sight.

To be fair, it was not Tan Yong Soon but a blogger who dragged the amount spent on the course from out of sight into plain sight.

Of course we are small-minded, aren't we the ''lesser beings'' as someone calls us?