so you’re suppose to eat your lofty bread in secret huh?

all hypocrites. the fact is that he spoke as one of you, because he is one of you.

everyone is outraged at the lack of sensitivity shown by a top civil servant. apologising will not work in any case, because the true colours are revealed. especially when the one apologising and claiming it shouldn’t be like this is another top civil servant with a higher salary.

the confidence and trust essential for us to do a good job!

Huh! Good job? maybe in the eyes of LKY, since when? after the last GE? and all they do to the people down there is nothing but screwed ups and pressurizing the people to all sorts of rediculous price hikes and taxes, more good golden years lies, TCs gambling away publics money, just becos they are from PAP TCs, then its OK, if from opp TCs, they could have now landed themselves in jail, what a rubbish govt we have here.

“the confidence and trust essential for us to do a good job!”

must read between the lines! confidence in them paying themselves well, trust in them paying themselves really well. good job? its up to them to decide. they pay themselves according to what they themselves decide what’s good and what’s not. so what you say?

empty talk by a hypocrite.

please be automatic and resign from your job.

try to do an agreement with the government to compensate you and then resign.

then we will forget this issue.

worth it.

rather then have to take the blame all by yourself while actually you know that there are even higher ranking ones who might be even more super than you.
eg. maybe like bathing with bird nest etc,,,,

Of late, “the confidence and trust essential for us to do a good job!” has ended up in the pits. Lost in sewage!

As much as he’s the vintage version of “please, get out of my elite uncaring face” Wee Shu Min, I doubt the Perm Sec will be Perm Sack.

They always take care of their own.

feedmetothefish

“… it is especially important to show solidarity and empathy for Singaporeans who are facing uncertainties and hardship.”

If they are sincere about showing solidarity and empathy for Singaporeans, they should cut their huge pay, implement policies that will bring down the cost of living here and put in place a safety net for Singaporeans who need help. Empty words just show up their hypocrisy.

“the values and ethos of the service”.

What values? Public service? They serve themselves first and foremost. And they take care of themselves very well indeed!

Solidarity?

I heard it,

but, find it unconvincing, unbelieveable

and disagreeable.

Soldier injured had to go to Court to fight for his compensation.

When the State cannot even have solidarity with its’ army,

what solidarity are we talking about? Mr Minister.

patriot

yo admiral!
yes you
why you talk like that
if he a good government senoir civil servant
can take a long 5 month of absences
with his department have no co ckups
nor malfunctioned
why do you still need HIM?
can you YOUSELF be missin in actions for 5 months?
when our RESERVISTS
who goes on 2 weeks of incamp trainnin
made our employers
karang karbor
even in my PRIVATE capacity
as an adhoc man
i die die must serviced my kachangputeh client within 24 hours
or else
they will consult muthsamy@serangoon.com
there goes my ricebowl
not even in french cuiscine…..
bon apetite
ugm cafe uleh
merci boku

The PAP government has degenerated into a modern Qing dynasty that lavishly rewarding themselves to nobody business, doing in-transparent deal using kangaroo law and policy. Now where is our Sun Yat-sen ?

There is a concert going on to publish daily revelations of doom and gloom from hallowed mouths, with each passing day even more bad news then the day before about the recession, retrenchments, changing forecasts, rainy day, dipping into reserves, etc

This is called psychological priming the goose for the slaughter after Chinese New Year. It is to make us peasants feel more grateful for the budget coming out this Thursday and lower our expectations from them.

Then one player decides to strike a discordant note! Horrors! Yes, must eat lofty bread shrouded in secrecy. The ST editor who allowed this to be published will of course be probed for his motives in allowing such discordant material to be exposed ot the peasantry.

My utilities bills went up despite same usage and PM’s assurances about January downward adjustments. My property tax which went up quite a bit last year did not come down automatically even tho the masters are spouting dailiy predictions of gloom and doom. HDB and JTC raising rentals doing the exact opposite.

Therefore the comments must be seen in the context of damage control mode.
I do not believe in their `values and ethos’ nor harbour any `confidence and trust’ in the civil service to do a `good job’. They have done a beautiful job of inflicting pain on peasants with their ivory tower mentality and policies. Not to mention numerous U-turns and foul-ups.

The culinary demolition job is a very good illustration of the `elite in-your-face ivory tower highly paid civil `servants’ 5 weeks at play in expensive playgrounds that peasants can only dream of in their lifetimes.

Solidarity my foot. Do you guys know what Charles Chong said (according to this morning’s TODAY paper), after all that Teo CH tried to do to calm the storm?

Charles Chong: “Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful. Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything?”

What kind of solidarity is this if we are looked upon as lesser beings to the rich and powerful PAP elites? If a public servant like a perm sec is considered a higher mortal that what kind of mortals are those who hold ministerial portfolios? Gods, perhaps?

Are we seeing the reason why this PAP govt is behaving the way it does in recent times? They think themselves GODS?

Asking if the people would have taken offence if his wife had foot the bill is, at best, a vain attempt to deflect the problem; and it cannot come any lamer ,than for one to insinuate, that the wife should step in, to bail the husband out, for a crime that has nothing to do with her.

Perhaps this is the kind of solidarity TCH is talking about?

They can’t hide their true colours – Charles Chong the MP label us as `lesser mortals’. He did? What hypocrisy about solidarity and empathy with the people of Spore!

#13) sicktothebones,

Yes, he did; and you can pick up a free copy of this at some places; go to page 2.

To think that am MP with such a long tenure in office, and I supposed one to be looked up to by junior MPS, making such a comment; just imagine what kind of tutorage is he providing his younger colleagues? That they too have attained higher mortalhood?.

We have one higher being talking about insensitive and inconsiderate comments made by a public servant; and bringing him to task for the ill-timed article; while just immediately after that, we see another idiot coming out to make the matter even worse by calling us envious and lesser mortals.

Let’s see how this White leopard changes its spots this time.

ya i just saw it gemami on todayonline. There is a Chinese saying “Yi xiao ren zi xin, du jun zi zi fu”; to guess the intentions of a gentleman using the intentions of an ungentleman. lesser mortals envious of jun zi’s fortunes? Is my interpretation correct?
now poor peasants get another tight slap on the other cheek from another of their kind.

‘LESSER MORTALS’? Good grief! Whatever happened to the words, ‘to build a democratic society, based on justice and EQUALITY’ in our pledge?!

Hi #15) sicktothebones,

I am not Mandarin literate but hey, it sounds correct, the way you interpret it.

We’ll see if the PAP minister would take its MP to task for such insensitive comments. Its easy to tick off a non-elected public servant but let’s see if the same standard of rule is dished out to an insensitive and unremorseful elected member.

PAP’s Charles Chong hit the problem-nail square on the head. We (read ‘non-elite S’poreans) are indeed governed as ‘lesser mortals’. In all this talk about increased open-ness and rah-rah about S’poreans coming first, we the lesser mortals still perceive that some S’poreans are indeed more equal than others. This is a deep-seated perception that I think PAP and the civil service elite will find hard to shake off, even if they consume their admittedly deserving wealth away from public eyes. How do you expect cash-strapped lesser mortals to continue to put power into the hands of those whose inclinations lie more with foie gras than kaya-loti?

I think Charles Chong was said in jest. He is a diploma holder and probably is more like us mere mortals than them scholar materials.

I think this is much ado about nothing. ST aimed to advertise the good life in civil service, ministers etc. Without this advert from the Perm Sack, how could we get more mintster quality people to run for elections eg K shanmugam etc etc… They cannot eat foie gras in secret all the time.

Eg LKY Lee Hsien Yang do of Japanese Chef…. Good advertisements.

Thanks TOC for including CC’s quote. Makes things clearer :)

- quote -

MP Arthur Fong agreed that Mr Tan could have been more sensitive about the timing of the story.
.
“It was harsh on him, but the timing wasn’t good,” said Mr Fong. “Perhaps people wouldn’t even blink if this story came out in good times.”
.
Agreeing that the rebuke in Parliament was “harsh”, MP Charles Chong noted that Mr Tan didn’t “brag” about how expensive the trip was in the article.
.
“Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful,” he said. “Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything?”
Ansley Ng

ansley@mediacorp.com.sg

-unquote-

This Charles’s comment make me feel that i’m a slave to the regime. :(

Only the elites will feel that there is no issue whatsoever spending $40,000+++ on a cooking class because they can afford and brag about it.

A classic case of Rich and Poor Divide.

Hi #19) mere mortals,

There is no ‘jest’ here. Read the statement again; and read it slowly.

Let me break it up for you.
“Maybe it made lesser mortals envious….”

Certainly the reference of ‘lesser mortals‘ is targeted at us, those who have commented against such a boast at a time like this.

“… and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful. ”

Again, the reference is to us. ‘They’ means us, not him, Charles Chong. He did not include himself. If he is like one of us, then he would have used; “we” instead of ‘they’.

So, you see, he regards himself a higher mortal, like the perm sec.

LESSER MORTALS!!!!

So, the MP is saying that there are bigger mortals, lesser mortals and immortals in Singapore. So, is he an immortal looking down at all mortals? Again, we see the true nature of how these ivory tower elites think of the people of Singapore.

tan yong soon please be a man stand out and say sorry to the whole of singapore and donate $50k to nkf.

even a lady like lee bee wah has say sorry.

you should say sorry and end this issue.

if not please resign.

Charles Chong seems to be suffering from “hand, foot IN mouth “disease. Of course netizens are no so dumb to deduce that Mrs Tan could have paid for the trip. The dumb ones are those who splashed it out on front page out during times like these and the dumber one in the Dumb and Dumber Show shd be the Life editor. There is no need for Tan YS to apologise, just be smarter next time.

Aiyah! Why these rich ppl act like this? Particularly one female celebrity who keeps on harping about her Bukit Timah environment friendly bungalow in FEMALE magazine all the time. How many ppl in Singapore (foreigners & citizens) actually lives in a bungalow? So insensitive!!!!

I may be a lesser mortal now but when it comes to the electoral box, my vote will carry no less weight than this elite. And so will each and every one of us here.

Singaporeans, please wake up!!

The rot has to stop.

Yeah public opinion worked!!! Why will the government even try to alienate this rich civil servant if not that all of us lesser mortals feel strongly disturbed by this issue. Keep up the comments to public issues and we can change Singapore..

Btw, my feeble mind as a mortal (lesser one at that) did’nt take offence at the cooking class episode but the display that the upper echelon of the civil service (immortals or higher mortal) is drawing too much pay. Alienating your comrade does not help me at all. A true reflection of your own pay with that of the other governments of all (I repeat ALL) countries in the world will tell you that you are overpaid. It is fine to be overpaid if the Golden Goose is still around but your are telling us that the Golden Goose is going to be kill to surive this year.

In 2007…… Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earned $2.5 million last year (2006); after the revision, he will draw $3.1 million this year.

in 2008…..With the pay cut of 19%, Lee will earn 3.04 million dollars (1.99 million US) a year.

My lesser mortal maths is killing me…..pay freeze does not mean pay cut….

Life is for living man and it is not for sucking up..true characters are not make of words.

Maybe there are some lessons to be learned here..

# 1 if you want to spend your money spend it quietly it does not matter whether it is your or your wife. (does not matter whether the money was earned in an honest fashion or not)
# 2 make sure that your work is an asset to yourself, in case you got to look for a job else where
# 3 don’t expect your boss to be nice to you, always watch your back
# 4 remember that other around you will claim that they are poor ever when they are living in a apartment, drive a car, has a stable job, afford domestic help at home
# 5 Don’t plan your break in advance, as the future may not be so bright and if you are doing better then the rest you could be labeled as in-sensitive, show-off and worse get fired or have a your career limited.

Well ‘tired’, we have to ask whether your lesons are for the lesser mortals or the immortals?

19) mere mortals on January 20th, 2009 9.06 am
“He is a diploma holder and probably is more like us mere mortals than them scholar materials.”
I think he does’nt know the meaning of “lesser mortals” after all he is not a degree holder. He needs to go for his advance english course.

yes indeed. here is a declaration from a lesser mortal:

i declare that I will not be offended if his wife actually paid for trip and only because as a perm sec, he was not able to afford it.

u see, the problem is not who paid for it. the problem is he WAS making huge $$$$$, like the ruling elite. he WAS bragging about it.

it would absolutely be fine with us if he was NOT making that kind of $$$$, but was treated by his wife. or that he WAS making that kind of $$$$, but chose not to brag about it.

charles chong just doesn’t get it, does he?

(it’s ok, charles is getting lotsa $$$)

It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

For lesser mortals like us, let’s be thankful that we do not have such wealth which may otherwise cloud our vision, and we end up doing the very things that we criticize which will put our forefathers to shame.

With our down-to-earth salaries, let’s do what is right so that our fathers and children have nothing to be ashamed of. Even if we cannot tell the difference between ratatouille and a rat, that’s ok.

Dear Gemami, what is a lesser mortal is it someone who goes hungry more frequent then the regular mortals? All I know is that surely, we all will die so then who is immortals? We all have choices .. make hays while the sunshine, collect the water when it rains or continue to gripe about how bad the world is.. yes it is true there is a financial crisis and we are not alone the whole world is in it. We could switch and focus on the more pressing issues and forge ahead.

Why can’t our politicians give statements without putting foot in mouth? “lesser mortals”? This is starting to become a very bad trend … our Prime Minister (mai hum) does it, Lim Swee Say does it (a lot) and now someone like Charles Chong.

Whether or not the “mortals” included himself, it shouldn’t have even been mentioned, even in jest. Is he mocking Mr Tan as a rich and powerful “immortal” or is he mocking the typical Singaporean as “lesser mortals”? Either way, it was inappropriate and reveals a mindset harboring a model of class division in Singapore that seems to be condoned in Mr. Chong’s mind. Mr Chong would have been far better off not commenting.

Well well, the talk about one civil servant’s tact has head to another?

This lack of tact has really shown us how elite some of them can be. maybe like the price of old?

Just goes to show even top civil servants are expendible when it comes to politics.

They have probably weighed that castigating the perm sec is a small sacrifice for politicians to appear to be on the people’s side when elections are near.

Dont for one moment think that they’ll do the same to their own kind. Remember how ‘united’ they were on Lee BW’s fiasco with the table tennis coach?

Dear tired, agree with you but cannot help taking a dig at such insensitive comments coming from a messy mortal :)

My, my, my…. another freudian slip on the part of our esteemed elected representatives. I don’t earn $13k allowances (excluding salary and what-not directorships) but I earn the right to be a lesser mortal to comment on lavish spending whenever I see it. People can do whatever they want with their money. I can comment on my $0.02 worth as I see it.

http://military-life.blogspot.com/2009/01/lesser-mortals-tell-me-what-were.html

Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful. Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything? – Charles Chong

What a stupid a$$ remark to add on, I will make sure he gets at least 6 votes out from my entire family in Ponggol this GE and sad to say to you Teo CH, you just got another lousy team partner other than an earlier one like Dr Michael Lim, another useless chap.

I am aghast at Charles Chong labelling most other Singaporeans as “lesser mortals”. Are the “lesser mortals” those who live on the other end of the income disparity spectrum? How much does Charles Chong earn as a MP?

is this the same CC who once said of another MP or minister who is a “cunning linguist” ( a pun?) and gave a cunning smile?????

i am starting to regret for being an atheist. i better start to look for a god to pray to.

“…..it stands in contrast to the values and ethos of the ………….” peter ho

oh, what values he means?

Let me quote some writing from mr David Marshall. “ I think we’ve got our values all wrong. 96k a month for a pm & 60k a month for a minister (in ’94, it’s >300k last yr). What the hell do u do with all that money? You can’t eat it! ……. Your children don’t need all that money……we have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. …..the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people………”

“could have been more sensitive about the timing of the story……..it was harsh on him, but the timing wasn’t good, perhaps people wouldn’t even blink if this story came out in good times.” mp arthur fong

Now, u see, it’s only about the timing, nothing else. and the good times they have been enjoying.

And now we see the inner self of these elites. This is exactly what lky needs.

“…..it stands in contrast to the values and ethos of the ………….” peter ho

oh, what values he mean?

Let me quote some writing from mr David Marshall. “ I think we’ve got our values all wrong. 96k a month for a pm & 60k a month for a minister (in ’94, it’s >300k last yr). What the hell do u do with all that money? You can’t eat it! ……. Your children don’t need all that money……we have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. …..the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people………”

“could have been more sensitive about the timing of the story……..it was harsh on him, but the timing wasn’t good, perhaps people wouldn’t even blink if this story came out in good times.” mp arthur fong

Now, u see, it’s about the timing, nothing else. and the good times they have been enjoying.

And now we see the inner self of these elites. This is exactly what lky needs.

The top Governement Offical must face competitions or retrenchements in order to keep them on their toes!

Nothing wrong to spend what they gainfully earn but hasn’t their pay not competitive anymore compare with the rest of world.

Since Tan can vacate his job for 5 weeks and nothing goes wrong. Why not let him attend more cooking lessons? Let his salary pay for a few of us who are retrenched.

Charles, ahhh … the greater mortal. This one even best, he need not eat liao. Maybe he become deity so also don’t need a job to feed him too.

Frankly, I am appalled at the quality of our civil servants and politicians. PAP’s recruitment process is not working. Dismantle it.

Epic failure of LKY’s system.

why u let it get published?
what is your reason?
is it appropriate timing?
so, I assume there is good reason for this publication.
now, what could it be?

kana sai. ST headlines really apt – the article is cooking up a real storm.

hey maybe a snap election is just around the corner, to settle some on-going issues (by-election, using of reserves, etc) once and for all. With public chiding of a high ranking civil servant (probably unknowingly became a scapegoat), all the road building and upgrading and all the freebies and pay reduction to tackle the recession, it seemed to me the signs are there….

So, there are “less mortals” huh? I wonder where “demi-gods” & “semi-demons” come into play?

USA has just got a change with Obama. Malaysia also has a change with the upsurge of the opposition. Taiwan has prosecuted a corrupt president. Thailand has gone through more changes than any country in the world. Korea president has just reshuffled his cabinet. China is panicking,trying utmost to maintain stability. Japan looks in real need for change. When will our turn come?

i think what piss most of the netizens is not that he can afford it…it just that he chose to BRAG abt it.

Hi ST Editor in Chief,

could we know what is your rationale to publish his cooking story?
is it not deemed sensitive timing during recession to be releasing that kind of cooking story?
what is your rationale for publishing this story and
why the chef trainee allowed you to be interviewed and publish his story?

i am sure there is a good reason behind.
what is it?

And it’s only January….

ho said :
” I feel very bad about this episode because it stands in contrast to the values and ethos of the service and if left unaddressed can undermine the confidence and trust essential for us to do a good job.”

my take is
regardless if confidence undermined or not,
the fact remains,
these civil servants salaries are that high
and that is why they can afford to spend like that.
how high can they spend?
only they can tell.

basically value systems have shifted. in this case, this led to an act of indiscretion.

Really wonder who recruit this Charles CHong! One after one, to make things worse it comes from a MP…”lesser mortals?” It really ‘adding fuel to fire”…it really unacceptable for MP to make this comments. Poor Teo CH, more work for you…..

please don’t make the gods angry…

Why the big hoo haaa about an MP going for cooking class while on tour and spending 45k? Why does it attract so much unnecessary attention.

I am so disappointed with Singapore and Singaporean and their way of picking on small small thing. I am more disappointed that this thing is even discussed to a great extend that our leaders expressed their disappointment.

I mean, what is wrong with that???!!! That fellow is neither bragging nor is he showing off. Why cant we take it from a good point of view from another angle?

I see it as this fellow is just telling us that going on holiday does not necessary mean squandering your time wastefully, allowing some crapy tour agent to bring you around the country you are visiting while almost 70% of the time each day is spent on travelling in the coach. He is trying to tell us that you can go and learn a new skill. Doing something different. Spend your time more meaningfully while doing your tour. What is wrong with that hurrrr???!!!!

But ofcourse he has to tell you that the cost is $45k which is a significant amount of money. You have to pay a price for it!!! but then again what is wrong with that??
This guy earn the money he paid for the tour. He did not con the money and spent it on his family. So what is wrong??!!!

Yes! we are in the mist of a once in a century crisis and many are losing jobs. So what??? Besides, he did not force the publisher to publish his story. Probably someone from the newspaper house came to know about his story and wanted to publish it.

So why blame that poor fellow. Why not blame it on the publisher who publish it?? The publisher can choose not to publish. The publisher can choose to be more sensitive at such a time like this. Not that poor MP who is being make a scapegoat unnecessarily….

Please people out there, use your brains and dont kill the innocent.
If you people are really concern about those jobless at a time like this, do something for them rather than sitting there making pointless talk!!!

Apdo77:

“The publisher can choose to be more sensitive at such a time like this. “

So could have Mr Tan Yong Soon.

Don’t shoot the messenger when the insensitivity is by the perm sec. If he has any brains, or had been in touch with the ground, the perm sec would not have acceded to the interview in the first place.

Nice try to put the blame on others, Apdo77.

But you’re ranting for the sake of ranting. :)

Remember this. He is using his own money (the money he earned from his legal occupation) to pay for his family trip.

It is not the state paying for his trip or the RC he served pay for his trip. So what is wrong with that? I believe that he should be a law abiding citizen. He pay tax for his salary. So he had not cheated in any sense to pay for this trip!!!

So what if he is an MP? Does it mean that he has to see timing to spend the money he earned? What the hell is wrong with the mentality of the people here??

There are many crooks in the world. The reason of this crisis is because of some crooks in America because of greed created this crisis. Some big bank CEOs are earning millions while they steer these banks collaspe!! Why arent we be angry with them. They are still allowed to keep their millions of dollars of remunerations and bonuses even thought these banks are nearly broke by them under their leadership. WHy arent we angry with them. Why are we picking on a law abidding citizen and not on criminals??

Please do something about your mentality!!! For God’s sake, please!!

2) Apdo77 on January 20th, 2009 1.55 pm

I hope you do not serve in the civil service. really.
why?
you seem to be ignorant that this issue
is not about how much he spent,
not about how much luxury he can afford.
Its about the DUTY of a Civil Servant.

As ho said “It is part of the duty of civil servants to be sensitive to challenges faced by Singaporeans, especially in difficult times like these. The leadership of the Civil Service – the Permanent Secretaries – must exemplify this sensitivity. This is vital for Government to be able to formulate and implement policies effectively.”

If the p sec works as say a Private Banker,
people would not feel so bad.

In my view , 2 issues:

1. why ST editor conducted this interview? the act itself is fine. But did he considered the sensitivity of doing so? why was it approved for publication?
I assume there is strong and good reason and they have considered the sensitivity of the story.

2. why did the p sec allowed such interview? Is it not his duty to be sensitive?

i am very cannot comprehend now.

regrads
Lee Teng bian

2) Apdo77 on January 20th, 2009 2.10 pm
Remember this. He is using his own money (the money he earned from his legal occupation) to pay for his family trip.

0000000000

remember? what makes you so sure he used his own money?
cannot be from his wife meh?
again, your audacity is impressive.

Gee! I don’t even understand why you guys are wasting your time replying to Apdo77. Just tell him to pick up a copy of the Shit Times, or TOADY and go read wht TCH and his gang have to say about this TYS guy.

The answers are all there and if Apdo77 has further queries, he can go ask TCH about them.

hey lesser mortals here, go pray to your greater mortals and stop complaining!

:)

Charles Chong needs to be reminded whose the “greater mortal” when its elections time.

All should read the CNA report on this – I laughed at the stupidity of it. Notably, the offending remark referrring to us as being ‘lesser mortals’ is absent in this article.

The article closes with the bit Mr Tan has so far not replied to queries from Channel NewsAsia – clearly cat’s got the tongue of this columnist-wannabe. I wonder where he is going to hide now – hmmm, another extended exotic trip maybe? I wouldn’t be surprised…

Apdo77,

Your mentality is what is wrong with the civil service (including ministers) nowadays.

*Sad*

Gorilla Voice

“If he has any brains, or had been in touch with the ground, the perm sec would not have acceded to the interview in the first place.”

I believe his intention is to share his experience with whoever interested. While he was sharing, he might not have the current crisis in mind. However, that does not mean that he has lesser brain nor does it mean that he is insensitive and out of touch with the ground.

Sometime people do something out of good intention but had neglected to consider the overall picture. But he should not be faulted because of this innocent negligent. I think readers should not be too petty and get too jealous.

If we really want to know if he is still in touch with the ground or insensitive, I believe we should observe him as an overall but not in one isolated incident. This I would say is an improper assessment of an innocent soul.

Readers should be more objective and have an open heart and mind..

Elites supposed to have helicopter vision. but now problem is have they lost their helicopter or their vision?

maybe need to throw more money at them to find out.

I am not in the civil service. Neither do I agree with many of the policy and minister’s pay.

But that does not mean that I had to disagree with everything against a person called for leadership position.

As I had said earlier. His intention is sharing his experience. Not bragging. He is spending his own money, not the state’s money nor money that he earn through illegal means (e.g. tax evasion).

So why are why making a big fuss about it? So what if he is a civil servant and in a senior position. He is still a human being like you and me. And when you and me have money to spend, do we want people to tell us that this is not a good time and if you spend it now and the public knows about it, them you are condemned in the eyes of the public!!!

Why make a person criminal when there is none? The reason he grant an interview I guess is purely to share his experience. So why the big hoo haa with Singaporean??

You people have to wake up your idea. If MP is judged this way, then no capable people want to be in this leadership role anymore. He got money also cannot spend, dont have money also cannot spend. Why be so critical??? Is there an issue here?? The answer is No!!. I believe the people who are jealous are the issue here!!!

Stop your all’s nonsense and have an open heart. When I first read the article in Straits Time, I did not think the way you guys think. I am not at all offended. I am fully aware that he is MP. But what interest me is his experience, he took a course while on tour which is a new thing that I had never tried before.

Ofcourse the cost is steep. But I learnt something!!!

Dont be so shortsighted ok!!!

Though this is a private matter and he is using his own money for the trip, it is always prudent to be humble. He should never have boasted about his achievements etc etc etc and that he was able to take a long vacation although he is at the top. He may have high IQ (a President Scholar if I am not wrong) but his EQ is far below the expectation of a high flyer. Let it be a lesson especially for those holding high positions and earning high income. It pays to be humble and don’t be a big show-off and boast around.

APdo77,

erm, r u sure he is an MP?
Perm sec an MP?
By my understanding, that is not possible.
please have your facts checked.

To Apdo77,

Everyone’s entitled to his or hers’ opinion, very much like yours. Thus, there is really no need to succumb to urging forumners here to be more open hearted and not be short-sighted. And who is to say that your views are right, anyway ? Think about it.

#10 Lee Teng Beng

“1. why ST editor conducted this interview? the act itself is fine. But did he considered the sensitivity of doing so? why was it approved for publication?
I assume there is strong and good reason and they have considered the sensitivity of the story.”

The act of ST to conduct this interview and publish it is really fine and nothing wrong. The spirit of journalism to report the truth no matters whether it hurts.

The fact that PAP controls the ST and yet this article was not viewed as politically insensitive before it is publish is laughable. ST should show more MPs eating salted vegetables with plain porridge for dinner which may be more politically correct…but some may say it is hypocritical…aiya cannot please all you bloggers…

Hi Apdo77,

Of course there is nothing wrong with what he did; if it had remained within the privacy of his four walls.

If he is as white as you claim he is, then we ought to hear from him today or in the next couple of days, at least to explain why he was enticed to shared his escapades at a time like this. We are open to his explanation, if he could find his way out of hiding.

I will indulge you a bit but like I said in my previous post, I suggest you, Apdo77, go read up the reports today on why Teo Chee Hean found it necessary to:
a. address the issue and rebuke him in parliament
b. have the head of the civil service calling the episode a “setback”
c. the same head admitting that the article ’stands in contrast to the values and ethos of the civil service’,
d. that it undermines the confidence and trust that are essential for the service to do a good job.

You know what else Peter Ho said? That the civil service takes its markings from “its first duty which is to serve Singapore and Singaporeans, and they should always conduct themselves with decorum and humility”.

We have a third person in Arthur Fong, agreeing with the minister and head of the civil service, and declaring that “he could have been more sensitive” and that “the timing wasn’t good”.

Are you disagreeing with all these statements? Do you still think it is small matter, so small that these biggies find it necessary to spend their million dollar time to waste it on us?

This is why I suggest that you take issue with these people if you think there is a fight you want to pick up; not with us. Our case here is supported by the same people who put him where he is today.

Go digest this.

Recently Retired

“He should never have boasted about his achievements etc etc etc and that he was able to take a long vacation although he is at the top”

Again, I would say that people may have mis-read what he really mean due to a petty heart. If you read the paper closely and with open mind, he could be actually rallying the power of delegation.

Delegation is a very powerful tool. It not only frees up your time to allow you to do strategic thinking but it also an invaluable training tool for your next in line or next next in line. Many people are not able to delegate for many reasons. They usually are too risk adversed. And this cause them to enslave themselves in their work day after day. They are not able to sleep well, cannot really take time off from work, not spending quality time with family and friends.

This is interesting… no wonder they want an association to manage bloggers and such…

1st of all, he and his family spends 45K for a cooking class training.
Truths
1. This is has nothign to do with anybody or whoever son, futher or muther.
2. There could be better use for his money.
3. It is his money
4. He is an MP.

My personal opinion is that he could have halved that amount and do another thing and spend that remainder helping his constituents who r in need. which would be a class-one noble act.

but he din.

He went ahead and did wot he wanted.

he came back and wrote a travelogue some more thus incensing pple who would have done that.. hence the public outcry.

Look at the enter of this issue pple.. its greed and selfishness.

This world would only change if everybody acted selflessly and give freely.

gemami ,

I noted that the ministers made their statement with regard to this case since the public kick up a fuss about it.

But that does not mean that I agree with what the minister had done. The minister is reacting to public disagreement with the case to pacify the public or whatever you put it.

If the perm sec case is really that big of a concern, why do minister only pick it up after it had been published for a few weeks? Why not immediately within the next week of publication.

If his case is such an issue, why ministers only discuss after much attention had been drawn from the public. Why not immediately after it had been published in the straits time, government why not come out and say it is inappropriate.

I think the public is over-reacting and this is unnecessary.

Apdo77, you may not find the ST article offensive, but there are people who do and it is the Perm Sec’s failure to be sensitive to these people. This is his wrongdoing after all. Even the Minister In-Charge of Civil Service has acknowledged the Perm Sec’s wrongdoing, so there is really no need for you to defend the Perm Sec at all.

It’s almost laughable; from cooking to delegation.

Apdo77,

Do you honestly think the minister and Tan’s bosses did not consult him and got to the bottom of the problem before they made their statements. Remember, it was a rebuke made in parliament; of the highest order.

Now if the minister and his bosses are trigger happy just to pacify us, the TYS will have the more reason to clear this name if the reasons given by his bosses and the minister is calculated to mislead us.

Don’t you think?

Billibanjaero,

I may be wrong that he is not an MP.
But what are we discussing here?
MP or perm sec or are we talking about public outcry about his 45k travel cooking trip??

Is the fact that he is an MP or perm sect the topic of discussion or is the public outcry about 45k travel cooking trip the main issue here?

Why pick on tiny winky insignificant thing?? why not express your view like all other forumers. It will make this forumn more interesting.

it is laughable if we keep on a discussion without knowing that he is a perm sec and not an MP. this is basic. if we don’t correct this, readers will form an impression that we don’t even read the facts in the media and we just shoot.

in any discussion, the first point it to get the facts right. opinions can differ.

gemami,

Ofcourse the minister and Tan’s bosses consulted with him with regard to the publication and public outcry after it had been published. But whether it is a problem of not, we could not conclude.

If the minister and his bosses had not consulted him, then that would be unprofessional.

However we must understand that he is not the problem. It is the public that is the problem. People with petty heart and close mind that are the problem here.

it is laughable if we keep on a discussion without knowing that he is a perm sec and not an MP. : redbean.

Like calling someone by the wrong name. The least a polite person would do is to apologise; and not try to wriggle out of the situation by saying it does not matter what name he had called out.

“It is the public that is the problem. ”

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a winner.

To Apdo77,

Clearly this forum is not the right platform for you as you do not even have the basic facts correct to state your point. Maybe you should lambaste your views in some other forums who are more tolerable of juvenile opinions.

However we must understand that he is not the problem. It is the public that is the problem. People with petty heart and close mind that are the problem here. – Apdo77

That’s the kind of public Perm Sec and Public Servant Mr TYS serves. The ST article should never be published at all or become an article for the civil service’s internal newsletter or remains a private matter. How Mr TYS spends his money is really his business but he has no business to tell the rest of Singapore what he does with it.

Apdo77,

I understand your point and I would suggest you visit the other threads here in TOC to understand the other reasons why we, the public, are so pissed off by this article.

There are so many underlying readings we have derived from this episode like the sensitivity of this govt as represented by the insensitivity of TYS, the alienation of this govt from its people, the lesser mortals of our lives as compared to the higher mortals of their lives.

He boasted about being dispensible when being dispensible is such a dirty word in the current climate. He talked about taking time away from work when people have no work to walk away from. He talked about spending his money as if like throwing water by the roadside when people are wondering how they are going to pay their bills.

There are a whole hosts of comments for you to pick up and if you still view these as petty, then I shall rest my case and wish you all the best on your take over this situation.

redbean,

It is not good if you can only laugh and not contribute to the topic so that different voices can be heard.

Well, I had expressed that I may be wrong that he is not an MP in my earlier post. So is that good enough?

I know that I had it wrong but that is an insignificant part and not worth the ridicule.

In any case, the topic is not he is an MP or perm sect but public outcry of a person in leadership position saying that he had spent 45k on travel for his family. So I believe that I had still not get my facts wrong with regard to this topic in discussion.

As a result there is nothing really worth to laugh about. So what are you laughing at?? hur!

The Minister in Charge did the right thing. And Head of Civil Service acted quickly and firmly on something that was clearly out of line.
But it is strange behaviour from a top civil servant.. What is going on in his mind? Ta Faham.

the topic is not he is an MP or perm sect but public outcry of a person in leadership position : Apdo77.

Believe you me, the outcry would have been worse and more hurtful if he is MP.

apdo77,

this is my 4th post on this topic. obviously you don’t read or see anything except what you want to see.

you claimed that you have read the article but of course you only read what you want without knowing that he is a perm sec.

bloggers may not be professional journalists or reporters but we do have a credibility issue, that we know what we are talking. we don’t want the media to paint us as talking cock without checking our facts. ‘luan luan kong’

a perm sec is a top civil servant. a mp is a politically elected official. their positions matter. it will be even worst if he is a politician that had gone on a shopping spree.

a perm sec is a top civil servant. a mp is a politically elected official. their positions matter. it will be even worst if he is a politician that had gone on a shopping spree. – redbean

Talking about sensitivity and frugality, do you know there are about 40 US Senators who live and work in their Senate Office instead of renting a proper accommodation and moving the entire family to Washington DC? The reason for doing so is to cut down on expenditure to the state they represent. In fact, this is an old practice that has been going on for decades.

redbean,

You just want to bite on a mistake made by fellow forumner and make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Didnt I said in my previous two post that I had made a mistake? Are that sufficient that I had acknowledged my error here? Why are you still biting on this issue?

Now I say one more time that I had mistaken him for an MP instead he is a perm sect. Does that makes you happy?

But in any case my argument still stands despite the earlier mistake.
It is his money, it is his wish. He did not ask ST to publish it. Neither did he seek ST to tell his story (unless I am wrong). ST picked up his story from somewhere, sought an interview with him which he kindly granted. Publish the story and thereafter the storm which in my opinion is unnecessary and petty.

Apdo77,

You cannot just make suka-suka statements anyhow you like without substantiating them; and you still do not get the point. I shall leave you to that.

Now, tell us, where did ST “pick” up the article from? This is the least you could do enlighten us? Forbes magazine perhaps? Which edition?

I am inclined to think that the civil service is attempting to do some damage control over here in TOC. What do you guys think?

apdo77,

you are a piece of shit! i was trying to tell you to get the facts right and you came back with this:

‘It is not good if you can only laugh and not contribute to the topic so that different voices can be heard.’ apdo77

instead of dealing with the issue, you attack me and even that, without basis as i have made several comments on this issue which you don’t even know. you just shoot from the hip and that is in all your posts. you want your view to prevail and cannot accept other people’s view.

my position is very simple. everyone is entitled to his view without having a red face. no one needs to be angry with your view and neither you be angry with other people’s views.

gemami,

“You cannot just make suka-suka statements anyhow you like without substantiating them……

Now, tell us, where did ST “pick” up the article from? This is the least you could do enlighten us? Forbes magazine perhaps? Which edition?”

Well, I am not making suka-suka statement. Neither did I say it is from forbes. The fact that his story landed in ST, there must be a reason. Somehow, or someone give ST the lead and I am just guessing that it is not him who seek ST out to publish his story, that is why I put this statement in bracket (unless I am wrong).

I could not enlighten you how ST get his story. For I had neither asked ST nor had I asked this perm sect that the public is bombarding. And if I just anyhow say a source, and it turned out be it right or wrong, then you can say that I suka suka make statement because I had not checked with the original source.

I am not at all interested at the source for it is not the topic of content. If you really are interested, I can tell you that you can directly write to ST or Mr TYS for their clarification.

Then maybe if you are so kind enough, you would like to share with this forumn. And if it proves that he intendedly seek ST out, then perhaps this forum can start to bombard me for making suka statement again.

If not, I do not agree with you that I had make suka suka statement and your basis of making such assessment in my opinion is wrong and unfounded.

Why so trouble Singaporean! If he going to spent his money for his mistress,

so be it as he is using his money. The only is that his job must subject to

demand and supply like COEs in MNC. Hire and Fire if his don’t performed!

redbean,

“apdo77,you are a piece of shit! i was trying to tell you to get the facts right and you came back with this ….”

I disagree with your point blank attack that I am a piece of shit.

I say that I am an alternative voice, looking from a positive angle of a man’s intention rather than like most in this forum petty and jealous.

I am neither bitter nor jealous like you. Instead, I see opportunity to do different thing during a vacation. I had tried guided tour, I had tried free and easy but I had not tried learning a skill during a vacation. Its like killing two birds with one stone.

But you see it in another way. You see that this man is insensitive to other’s feeling just because he is a perm sect. What the crap is this??

From my observation, you are insecured and not confident of yourself. You could not carry yourself with people of different level. You have low self esteem. You have this Elite and farmer mentality in you. whereby you threat yourself as farmer and the perm sect as elite. Whatever the elite do, you will always say that we farmer are always hungry.

before everyone gets it all wrong, let’s be reminded that the original article was WRITTEN by Mr Tan Yong Soon himself. he was never misquoted. so start your judgements again based on this fact.

but yes, i do agree that the editor should have exercised sensitivity and censoring out certain parts. maybe the editor did, but Mr Tan refused to acede, or that it was purposely done to embarrass Mr Tan and create an episode in which the Government “can demonstrate its unity, solidarity and empathy” with the people. =)

yep, agreed. there’s no point in entertaining Apdo77 further. he/she simply does not listen to what people are saying. no point trying to enlighten something that does not think and listen.

“I say that I am an alternative voice, looking from a positive angle of a man’s intention rather than like most in this forum petty and jealous.”

I think our elites trying to send it their internet brigade trying to stamp their authority and think they can be alternative voice here.

They seem to forget that this is not the MSM that they control.

I must say it is a pathethic and futile effort to do it here if they have not realised so.

Where go Solidarity in Singapore? Top and bottom are facing different set of

problems. Bottom people are facing day or day competitions from foreign talents

and unemployment. Top people are fighting for their moral rights to be highly pay

and if they are so good why not create Gobal First Class Enterprises to fight with

HP or Dells. See Acer already world No 3 to No2! You all can name how many

World Class Enterprises here created by our MPs!

pen_pusher,

“…Apdo77 is probably a SR super scale civil SERVANT paid his ass six figure salary to sit in front of his computer to exercise damage control ……”

I wish what you say above is true. Six figure salary. You must well say I was a scholar who only know how to crunch books and curn out policies and probably in my late 20s to make it more envying to many eye balls here.

Unfortunately, my grades are not good enough to be invited to such a post earning such good pay package. I am neither a civil servant nor am I working in a govt linked company.

I am just being objective and express my view. But here forumers are being more and more personal as if I they had been hammered by me. It is really unfortunate to see such development.

“It’s almost laughable; from cooking to delegation.”

and work-life balance, you forgot to mention. how about advertising for the Civil Service? how about spending to save the world from recession?

how about a chance to call singaporeans lesser mortals? oh how about another chance to demonstrate solidarity and empathy? how about the chance to be a hypocrite?

politicians.

Put it this way:

1. If the majority can afford to take a 5-week break in Paris, I don’t think there would be any outcry.

2. If the person involved is not a civil servant, but a senior executive from the private sector or a Hollywood actress, I think people will just brush that off as one of the exploits of the rich and famous which we commoners cannot relate to or dream of.

3. But because this person is a senior civil servant, and the top civil servants & ministers have precisely been announcing belt-tightening measures one after another, retrenchments, gloomy news, bonus cuts, etc, here’s why the public demands a response, and I don’t think the public should be faulted for this. Do not forget that the public sector is also made up of many lower-level civil servants, for whom a holiday like this is unthinkable, both in terms of cost and time.

No one is saying Mr Tan cannot take 5 weeks off in Paris if he can well afford it. But is there indiscretion in allowing this personal matter to be shared in the mass media, if it does not serve to enlighten or encourage in the light of the current economic and financial woes many are facing? I think there is. That explains the furore. Therein lies the discord. And hence the public censure and statements by ministers/MPs and top civil servants.

If Mr Tan really intends to share a lesson in good leadership, then a good leader who’s attuned to the society will share about work delegation without needing to mention about the Paris holiday or the cooking course, both of which are way out of reach for most commoners here, but more importantly do not serve to enforce the point about work delegation and good leadership. If his point is about taking leave to learn something useful, well, a good story about parents taking courses at the CC with their kids would be score more points than this.

No matter how we look at it, that article was certainly out of place at the very least, and unbecoming at the very worst.

Me,

“….. the original article was WRITTEN by Mr Tan Yong Soon himself. he was never misquoted. so start your judgements again based on this fact ”

I think the fact that the article was written by Mr TYS does not make him a brag nor does it make him a show off.

Perhaps we should go a step further to address the issue. And the issue is has he actively seek ST or other media to publicly publish his article? Which the answer to this question would really determine if he is out to brag and show off or not.

By saying that he personally write the article is not a substantial enough fact to conclude that he seek to brag and show-off.

The media could have picked up news of his recent trip which is different from others. Thereby they could have first asked him to write about the trip’s experience follow by an interview. That is not abnormal right. Or perhaps an internal newletter of his office whereby the editor of the news letter had asked him to write an experience of his recent trip and publish it for internal reading to inspire the rest. Perhaps the press get a copy of the newsletter and seek to interview him (unless I am wrong).

So I think it would be best if you are interested to find out the truth to asked from ST or Mr TYS how this issue gets in the news.

Why does your pathetic singapore have a minister and a head of the civil service?

Hey guys, stop being petty with the name-calling and all. Be positive and learn from this Mr Tan. We should be thankful for his timely article about taking time off.

Let’s knock off now while the sun is still up, catch the overcrowded evening train and bus, but don’t forget to smell some otak or roasted chestnuts along the walkway, and play ball with your kids. We may not be able to afford a cooking course in Paris, but we can sure afford to go home to Pasir Ris, cook with our missus and enjoy some bonding.

Let’s look at it this way..

Tan Yong Soon is entitled to spend his money any way he deems fit. However, he was insensitive and quite the braggart when he agreed to write a piece (be it directly or indirectly) for the ST, with those words and that tone.

If any of us were to be well-off, would you want your private decisions in your own life to be dictated by mob mentality? It’s private. What you spend is your own matter, but to wave it around, that’s just plain silly and insensitive.

Dear everyone,

Again, we ask that you refrain from using abusive language and derogatory personal references towards fellow commenters.

Redbean, your comment #15 is uncalled for. Please do not use such language.

pen_pusher,

“Everyone’s entitled to his or hers’ opinion, very much like yours. Thus, there is really no need to succumb to urging forumners here to be more open hearted and not be short-sighted. And who is to say that your views are right, anyway …”

You are right and I agreed that everyone is entitled to an opinion. Ofcourse I would not say that their points are wrong. But I am saying that these are bitter people with jealous hearts.

Why not look at the bright side of things and take the article as an experience than be bitter and think that he had had his share of fun in Paris now he has to be punished? Simply cannot understand.

At least he learned a skill for $45000
Some joker is wasting the country assets by blowing it away on ill wittered
bank stocks that are not wortless
The investments are worth billions
What is that compare to the $45000 of his own money
What the Minister Teo kept his mouth shut
(was he afraid of losing his job)

Charles Chong was from SJI. So was Teo Chee Hean. I don’t think Teo will say much this time.

Lesser mortals is just too much two words to stomach.

Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful. Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything?

MP Charles Chong (Today)

I think this MP Charles Chong screwed up the whole show with his two funny english words “lesser mortals”…. Perhaps TYS would not be in a messier state if CC had been slow in his words… haiz..

Us ‘lesser mortals’ have to wait in queue for a kidney donation.

Greater mortals are bestowed with special abilities and protection.

Eg. Tang Wee Sung can jump the queue of over 500 patients to get One-Eyed Dragon’s kidney without incurring our Health Minister’s suspicion. In fact, our Health Minister didnt even bother to address this issue of fairness in detail except saying that he valued Tang’s privacy.

As what happened in Animal Farm, we are now at the stage where it is “4 legs good, 2 legs BETTER.”

lesser mortals?

ugh hubris.

lol, Tan Tong Song will be so happy to see a scapegoat in ‘lesser mortals’ Charles Chong

btw, give this man (Charles Chong) a cocktail!

Ark (#122),

What cocktail? Molotov or Singapore Sling? LOL

i remember reading an article (cannot remember from where) that there were 2 instances of lavish spending in the papers about the same time the travelogue appeared in the ST – the other being that of ex-Seksun boss who spent a huge sum of money printing calendars.

The outcry was more subdued in Mr Ong’s case. the reason being that he was spending his OWN money…….

“The media could have picked up news of his recent trip which is different from others. Thereby they could have first asked him to write about the trip’s experience follow by an interview. That is not abnormal right. Or perhaps an internal newletter of his office whereby the editor of the news letter had asked him to write an experience of his recent trip and publish it for internal reading to inspire the rest. Perhaps the press get a copy of the newsletter and seek to interview him (unless I am wrong).

So I think it would be best if you are interested to find out the truth to asked from ST or Mr TYS how this issue gets in the news.”

you miss my point, didn’t you? and you are pretty naive. i’m sure the ST or Mr Tan here will gladly and honestly tell you the truth about how it got into the news or who approached who. much as i can ask Mr Tan, I am very sure he will not say a single word after this unfortunate episode.

now the fact that it was written by Mr Tan means that the tone and language was all by him. Aren’t we taking issue with what everyone perceive as arrogant and high-handed language in the report? this is not a problem of misquotation here, so i just wanted to set the record straight on that.

in your urgent haste to defend Mr Tan here, you didn’t take too long to think about what i said. relax. i am not condemning him here. he’s fully entitled to spend whatever he wants. just keep it quiet next time, and if there wasn’t anything wrong, PAP will not say sorry. they wanted to win back the goodwill of the public so they said sorry, and in my opinion, they are not apologising for what they apologised. deep down and privately, what is obviously wrong to them: THE PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF HOW THEY LAVISHLY SPEND THEIR MONEY.

Apdo77#115 said `You are right and I agreed that everyone is entitled to an opinion. Of course I would not say that their points are wrong. But I am saying that these are bitter people with jealous hearts.’

So their points are not wrong yet you castigate them as bitter jealous hearts?
Whether right or wrong they are still bitter people with jealous hearts to you?

Hmm, I thought that our President, Prime Minister, and other ministers were the highest paid in the world. Now I find out that our top civil servants are paid close to $1.5 millon a year.

Wow! Sinagpore should be in the Guiness Book of Records for having the highest paid people in government in the entire universe. Poor President Barack Obama is paid less than our top civil servants!

Another first for Singapore! Our whole entire government should be running the United Nations. They are the top people in the whole world. We should share our talents with the rest of thew world and help them our of this world wide slum in the economy and financial sector. I am so proud to be a singaporean!

I agree with Mr Teo and Mr Ho, but I think Mr Chong went too far with the words “lesser mortals”.

I wonder what he’s been reading…

Gone with the wind…
Another MP bites the dust..
Hope his voters get reminded of his quote when election time comes. YOU LESSER MORTALS..
I can’t imagine people using that kinda word anymore..
Would anyone of humility call someone a LESSER MORTAL?
But of course, I know he’s not calling me.. I’m his buddy.. I’m half-deity … going to reach enlightenment soon.

I think there are several points here, and IMHO they are all valid to some extent.

a. it’s his money and it is therefore his right to spend it. No one questions that.

b. as a “public servant”, who is paid using tax dollars that peasants pay, however, it was insensitive of him to write about this expensive and lavish and experience when the peasants of Singapore are facing news like impending retrenchment, “the worst recession in 80 years”, “the first country in Asia to slip into recession”. Bear in mind, all this time, his counterparts are exhorting Singaporeans to “tough it out”, “bear with it”, “don’t depend too much on the government”

If apdo needs a historical lesson, google “let them eat cake”. It smacks of the same sort of detachment between the ruling classes and the peasants just before the revolution.

but what drives this level of backlash IMHO is ultimately…

c. are we overpaying our Perm Secs/Ministers and other Admin Scale officers? I mean, just based on the data provided in the “paycut” article, they get over 400k in 4 months!! (bonus of 4 months!). That works out to 100k a month and $1.2M a year!

And with the downward spiralling economy, the Mas Selamat fiasco, the Shittybank investments, the Merrill Lynch investments, the minibonds saga, the Shincorp saga, the ever increasing cost of PUBLIC transport, the ever increasing utilities charges, etc etc…

It does seem we aren’t exactly getting a bargain in terms of results.

hey guys, why chit chat here? now TOC got ‘live’ feed Obama inauguration leh. Come over there and watch leh.

I hope Obama gets a pay hike . His country is so huge. USA economy is so huge. USA determines the world. Also, high pay , no corruption, so some say. Of course, Obama good good wan.

127) YODI on January 20th, 2009 11.20 pm
Hmm, I thought that our President, Prime Minister, and other ministers were the highest paid in the world. Now I find out that our top civil servants are paid close to $1.5 millon a year.

Now you people knows why these govt keeps increasing the taxes every year even in bad times. So we will all know who to vote this coming GE, no matter how much carrots they may come out with, once the winning is done, we know we are going to pay them back much more in the next 5 years.

“Wow! Sinagpore should be in the Guiness Book of Records for having the highest paid people in government in the entire universe.”

Can we lobby for that in TOC ? It will make Singapore government proud ! It will be another world first. Notwithstanding that they will try to ‘improve’ their breathtaking salary records even further.

Nomination:
World’s most expensive PM
World’s most expensive President
World’s most expensive unneeded Trinity. PM, MM, SM
World’s most expensive Clowns
Word’s most incompetent government (considering the monetary loss per size of country)
Word’s most kangaroo laws in first world country
World’s expensive government
Word’s most ridiculous law event (Remember the 200m voting area ? When you already inside, it is not breaking the law, only when you outside) First class law , really !

Wow, so many nominations and Singapore doesn’t even need to make the largest prata and other time-wasting shows to enter into world’s Guiness record !

Go for it !

Apdo77,

I have to say these people are people with high IQ but bloody LOW EQ ! If you are eating on the same table with others who are having only bread, would you join them to eat bread or would you order a steak and have it yourself on the same table ?

If you are ordering a steak for yourself (with your own hard-earned money), what are you trying to prove by eating the steak with the people who are eating only the bread ? That you are rich to afford a steak or to show how they can be like you able to order a steak ?

I guess you should have changed table (and) Mr Tan should have emigrate to another country because there are too many ‘lesser mortals’ watching him having his steak with saliva dropping.

BTW, send my love to Harry Lee please !

Hi to everyone,

I want to tell my mother and all my relatives (over 70 with no education and no job) that we are now officially lesser mortals of Singapore.

But I don’t know how to translate this into Chinese. Any help here?

Otherwise, how can we serve Charles a cocktail?

I am sure this generation of old folks want to know how PAP has valued their contribution all these years.

Tan dared to write and brag about his cordon bleu holiday but avoid the fiasco when it blew up in his face.

And he bragged about being an excellent leader who could disappear from work for 5 weeks.

Notice this style of leadership is highly similar to our PAP leaders’.

Now, he lets everyone cleans up his shit. Probably Tan’s surbordinates had been doing that during his exotic holidays as well.

Perhaps, they even prefer him not to be around.

Just like I wish we don’t have 82 MPs. They irritate me when they appear in the news.

So, the camouflage is off! It’s exposed that there had always been a “us and “them”. So we know that “them” will vote PAP obviously, but what about “us”?

Hi# 110) Apdo77,

I do not know how you could not see the article as a boast except to continue to harp on your narrow view that it was an article offered by TYS because he was asked to do so.

Does that other guy who unintentionally gave credence to a bogus university ring a bell? Oh yes, they are all very honest mistakes. Now let me remind you that these are top civil and public servants, handsomely paid to scrutinize and draw up policies that influence and affect the lives of Singaporeans, whether lesser mortals or higher beings.

If these people are being showed up for such kind of lousy lapses, being insensitive, as confirmed by their bosses at ministry levels and appropriately rebuked, who then, can defend them the way you are doing so here?

Notwithstanding the fact that he had offered his article without coercion and of his own free will, it does not lessen the crime that it came out at an unapportune time. I do not believe the article was plucked out from somewhere but was wriiten and offered, as you suggested, at the invite of the newspaper.

Why did he not decline, knowing that it is not the time for such a boast? A top civil servant would be able to read the climate of the moment, won’t he? Let alone to allow it to be carried in a national paper, read by the man-in-the-street who are calling out for help in this troubled times.

Anyway, like I suspected in my post #98, the civil service was out in full force yesterday to do damage control and perhaps you are one of those taken in by their arguments.

Go take a look at the papers today and you will see clearly the cover ups. They are presenting via their hardcopy news that the people are now empathising with TYS when you and I know that the reaction to what was uttered by the bosses yesterday has in fact aggravated the issue.

This govt talks about New Media and engaging the public but it does not see that the New Media is having a hard time trying to repair the damages made by the print media. This is another story for another time.

I had totally lost faith in this government to the point that as long as i am not going to be a victim, a house can burn, a woman robbed, an accident on the verge of happening, I will do nothing because at the end of the day, no one cares.

theonlinecitizen, you are very disappointing to say that my post was uncalled for. just because i chose not to reply to apdo77 anymore does not make his statements true.

please read all my posts in this thread and his accusations of me and see if they tallied? he did not read any of my posts, neither did he read the newspaper article, but made wild assumptions and accusations and attacked everyone that did not agree with him.

i will not waste time engaging him.

I am going to make another prediction.

In the next few days, we will see the MSM shifting the blame onto us for being petty and for being the cause of this brouhaha. Yes , we will get the blame and then the usual call will be heard; “Let’s move on”, and the chapter, closed.

Before they start to do this, we must all understand why there was a sudden need for Teo Chee Hean to touched on this issue. It is all about votes. Do you think he really cares whether his civil servats are sensitive or not? If he had cared enough, there are a lot more things that should not have happened would not have happened.

It is all about votes, and now there is a dire need to repair the damage done by TYS, and the possible loss of votes if left unattended, that he had came out to try and address the issue.

Now, no thanks to Charles, the issue has got bigger and no repair is enough to undo the damage.

It just goes to show that they are an overpaid lot (having money to splurge), they are dispensable (can go off for such long periods of leave) and they think they are greater mortals. It is time to teach them a lesson. No, not toast them but in the ballot box.

No media report about our Charles Chong ‘lesser mortal’today, no one write to media?….

Lets see when the ‘lesser mortal’ will get a reply from the diety…..lets see how many days it will take…

APDO 77,

Don’t waste your breath here.

Ask Tan to open French restaurant in Singapore. Many lesser mortals will want to try his French kueh kueh. Still can make his millions.

Actually, the best defence is for that Chef Tan to stand up and speak for himself.

Say sorry, if he’s wrong and if not, stand up on his own beliefs.

LKY has guts to do it but sadly, his clonies don’t have balls but like only to carry balls.

In such an tumulous economic situation, where most people are bracing for the worse, there are people who still have the surplus cash to spurge and live a luxurious and comfortable life. Furthermore it is showcase in the papers for all to see.

Reality of life hurts!

MPs should leave Mr Tan to apologise on his own accord if need be instead of adding fuel to fire. Hopefully, Mr Charles Chong’s use of ‘lesser mortals’ is only his own personal reflection of the large percentage of population. Hopefully that’s not what the populace is referred to by our MPs and supposed leaders when we are not within earshot of them. A lot of the speeches only reflect on the pomposity of the people who are supposed to set examples. How can we learn from such examples? I see our younger generation and I now understand why they are what they are. Charity begins at home. Take care of your people: your elderly, your underprivileged, your disabled, your neglected. Do more for them. Empathy is only a word. How do you show empathy? Show by Doing, through Action. Through long-term planning, not through short-term PR. We care for the world, we start from our community, that’s what caring is about.

Is Charles the one who put up the white elephants around Buangkok MRT to urge the gahmen to open the station some time ago ?

No, he is not the one lah. You think he dare. It was his grassroots!

after saying about envious lesser mortals the good MP makes the soup blacker the more he stirs by clarifying that lesser mortals include `us’ and that he was misquoted by the MSM press.
But the THEY in what he said `’Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful’ rules out this explanation.

Even if he includes himself as one of the lesser mortals then he is still subscribing to the segregation of society into greater and lesser mortals and chiding lesser ones for being envious.

If I may humbly contribute some background info. I worked under this guy before when I was in that ministry in 2004.

I don’t think TYS was “sought” for the article. It is his style to actively “seek” for such opportunities to show off. It was REALLY his style to emphasise things like his son being in an Ivy League, and that his wife is someone senior in a bank, etc. He’s very into status / prestige / ranks. He asked for every young officer’s CV the moment he joined the ministry – so that he could focus on the Ivy Leaguers and Oxbridgers and scholars – and ignore the rest of the homegrown NUS / NTU folks.

Even that comment about having a strong team – it is really just his way of telling everyone (especially his bosses) that he is so capable in the leadership department.

He has ready connections to the press (every ministry has) and that’s how perm secs get their promotions – by deftly making use of the press to highlight their achievements, or those of the statutory boards they control). The more you are in the news (for the good reasons, of course), the more “visible” you are when it comes time for promotion.

In case you are wondering what promotion – when they move to a more glam ministry, it’s considered a promotion. MEWR is not glam. It’s the bottom-ranked in terms of prestige. If you move to MINDEF / MOF – you control more people / power. That’s how it is with these elites.

This article was obviously a botched up attempt by him to glorify himself, I think the next promotion cycle for perm secs is probably coming up and he was probably trying to get himself a move up the glam ladder to a more glam ministry. If anything, he is really out of touch with the ground because this thing about being a good leader who can delegate – was part of the civil service focus on “work life balance” before this whole economic crisis came about.

And now I can fully understand why the gag on public servants remains.