So will the senior leadership stop living in a fancy housing, stop owning fancy cars and stop being members of fancy golf clubs? Don't pick on this bloke who has some interesting hobbies unlike the robots in the civil service.
Every profession has it's code of ethics. Engineers, lawyers, doctors etc. The civil service is a profession where the public expectation is even higher. Civil servants do not only work for money, they join the service service to serve the citizens, else they should not have taken up this profession in the first place.
The same with officers and leaders of charities and religious organisations, flying first class, staying at 5 star hotels, living life in the fast lane will attract critism.
With the disparity in income widen and that we now have a larger group of new-rich, let us hope Singapore will not lose our core value and the new-rich from every profession should engage and help the financially and status disadvantaged
"Mr Tan has apologised to me, acknowledging that his article was ill-judged and insensitive to the feelings of Singaporeans." - Peter Ho
PS Tan only apologised to his boss, for embarassing the Civil Service headed by his boss. Saving his boss's face is very important to him.
He merely "acknowledged" that his article was ill-judged and insensitive to the feelings of Singaporeans. He now judges that it is not necessary to also apologise to the lowly Singaporeans whom he is supposed to "serve" and whose taxes help pay his fat salary.
Neither does his boss think it is necessary to apologise on behalf of PS Tan.
why apologise? he get so much pay dun spend then do what with it???
if need to apologise, then its those who gave him that pay, no? for giving him such high pay!
afterwards, what he does with the pay, is it anyone's business so long its not illegal???
isnt nice that we actually know that he's done something rather nice with the money like go cooking classes with his family? i mean, what if he used that money to keep a dozen mistresses or bet on toto??? is he only allowed to buy rice, cooking oil and table salt with his salary???
it is good that we had some sort of transparency concerning what happens with the high incomes of top civil servants..albeit just this once..i wish it were always!!!
on the other hand, if the outrage were that his pay is too high, then the solution is to reduce the pay of him and his peers. the apology would have been from the people who awarded him that salary. not him.
Permanent Secretary Tan Yong Soon is not stupid. He is fully aware that the job of any employee is to make his boss look good. He has taken the only option open to him, if he wants to keep his job - apologised to his boss, Peter Ho, who is the Head of the Civil Service. Big deal!
The Permanent Secretary Mr Tan Yong Soon can choose to spend his exhorbidant civil servant's iron rice bowl salary in any manner he chooses.
It is his manner in choosing to share his family's $47,000 French cooking lessons, that leaves a sour taste in the mouth of ordinary S'poreans, struggling to put food on the table, now that their breadwinners have lost their jobs.
It is no secret that senior civil servants are paid a king's ransom for work that cannot even come close to that of captains of industry in the private sector, in terms of workload & intensity.
January 24, 2009 Saturday, 02:19 AM
