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Clarification On Article In The New Paper Which Appeared On September 28, 2002

BackSep 30, 2002

The Board of Directors of Tung Lok Restaurants (2000) Ltd ("Tung Lok" or "the Company") wishes to clarify information which appeared in an article by The New Paper ("TNP") on September 28, 2002 (Saturday) - on the front page and on page 8 - which contains inaccuracies.

The article was based on a telephone interview with Mr Andrew Tjioe, the Managing Director of the Company, on September 27 by a reporter from the newspaper in respect of proposals by the Tourism Working Group of the Economic Review Committee.

The headline quotation on the front page, attributed to Mr Tjioe, "I can't find good service staff so I might pack up and leave S'pore" is not only inaccurate but also incorrectly suggests that the Company is considering to shut down its operations and leave Singapore.

On page 8, the headline "One successful Chinese restaurant in crisis because of worker shortage, but...." also erroneously suggests that the Company is "in crisis".

Also on page 8, the article misquotes Mr Tjioe as follows: "If this gets any worse, we will have to come to a firm decision and say stop, that's it, no more restaurants in Singapore." In the context of the interview it is clear that Mr Tjioe said that if the labour shortage persists in Singapore, the Company may not open any more new restaurants in the country.

We wish to clarify that the Company has no intentions of shutting down its operations in Singapore. With a history of over two decades and 21 restaurants outlets with about 1,000 staff, the Company has in fact been on an expansion programme in Singapore since its Initial Public Offering in March 2001.

Mr Tjioe had on several occasions voiced his concern in the media and the public about the shortage of service staff, particularly in the food and beverage industry, in Singapore. He shared these same concerns to the Tourism Working Group.

The Company is considering the possibility of expansion to the region, possibly to Indonesia and China, in line with its strategy of regionalisation.

However, the Company wishes to stress that should such overseas expansion take place, it would not be at the expense of shutting down operations here.