By Fang Zhi Yuan

A senior civil servant’s holiday trip to France has become the subject of controversy amongst Singapore’s small, but vociferous internet community.

Mr Tan Yong Soon, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources wrote a seemingly innocuous travelogue in The Straits Times Life Section on 6 December 2008 about his family holiday to Paris to learn cooking French cuisine from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu.

The 3 week lesson costs S$15,500 per all and in total S$46,500 for Mr Tan, his wife and son, not including air tickets and living expenses in France.

On the same day, the island’s blogs and internet forums were awashed with netizens criticizing Mr Tan for his “over-indulgence” and “insensitivity”.

Wrote “North” on the popular CNA market forum: “This family is very insensitive (and stupid too) to publish such stories of extravagance when other people are losing their jobs and some are suffering. It is really in bad taste, although the people concerned thought otherwise. Does not help the image of civil servants and Govt too”

Another forumer, “glamor banker” expressed his disgust at reading the article: “This is exactly how i felt when i saw the article. Totally insensitive, stupid scholars with no EQ, insensitive towards others plight out there… Don’t flaunt in these difficult timelah brudder….”

However, some netizens felt the criticisms were unfounded. “Happyguy” said he doesn’t see any issue and senior civil servants are entitled to enjoy life as everybody else. A few others like “TOP” defended Mr Tan’s right to spend his own money. “Even if he want to dump them into the drain you also can’t stop him”, he wrote.

In a straw poll done by a popular local socio-political blog, Wayangparty Club, 71% of readers polled felt that Mr Tan should not flaunt his wealth openly in public while 11% don’t take any issue with it. The remaining 15% were nonchalant about it.

The high salaries of Singapore’s top civil servants and ministers have been a point of contention for ordinary Singaporeans struggling to make ends meet. As a Permanent Secretary second in command of the Ministry after the Minister himself, Mr Tan is expected to take home between S$20,000 and S$30,000 monthly. In contrast, the median pay of the average Singapore worker is only about S$3,000.

With a widening income disparity and a Gini Coefficient of 0.485 in 2007 (source: Singstat ) which is one of the highest amongst developed countries, such ramblings on the ground over the ostentatious lifestyle of the minority elite is likely to increase in the months to come with a slowing economy facing the spectre of retrenchment.

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