i remember reading the article by mr tan yong soon on his 3 weeks cooking course to Le Cordon Bleu in paris. perhaps i didn't pay attention to the details that he spent almost s$42000 (excluding lodging, air tickets, etc which i guess will easily add up to s$70000) thats why i didn't feel a thing at that time.

now that its being debated in parliament, its certainly something worth noticing.

to be frank, its really nothing wrong spending that amount of money on a tour or a course. how about comparing it with buying a brand new car of similar value? its still spending money (quite a lot in my opinion) isn't it?

but what is probably 'not publicly acceptable' is the extent of publicity it gains from publishing this article on a national paper, at a time where unemployment is at an all time high and everyone is worried whether his rice bowl is still around the next day. remember: he is a CIVIL SERVANT, not some private sector employee.

remember the NKF saga? it has taught us a very important lesson: don't be on high profile for all the wrong things even if you are very rich. don't assume because you are rich, anything you do it right.

well.. people just don't seems to learn their lesson..