Scenario 1: Business as usual
Kong Hee and gang go to jail screaming 'not guilty' all the way down to the cells - he proclaims himself a victim and a martyr for his church. His congregation believe that he is a martyr and become even more devoted to him for the 'sacrifice' he has made for the church in going to jail. Kong Hee continues low-key ministering from his jail cell in the form of letters which are read out as highlights of the Sunday services. He keeps these letters fairly tame so as not to offend the authorities and the letters are allowed to flow throughout his jail term.Various interim pastors (including his wife Sun Ho) keep the seat warm for Kong Hee in the meantime, awaiting his return - there is a countdown to the day he is finally released from jail, Kong Hee is in jail for a long time but they are willing to wait.
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| Kong Hee and Sun Ho flanked by their supporters at court. |
When Kong Hee is released from jail, he is given a hero's welcome and retakes his throne at CHC - bigger, stronger and more popular than ever with his congregation loving him even more. It then becomes business as usual, as if he has never ever left. Kong Hee learns his lesson about proper financial accounting and doesn't make the same mistake again when it comes to round tripping. This scenario is completely dependent on his congregation continuing to believe in him in spite of everything that has happened - there are actually a group of hardcore supporters who do indeed believe in him like this, but how big is this group of hardcore supporters? Can they sustain Kong Hee through his jail term to allow him to return to a 'business as usual' scenario at the end of his jail term?
Scenario 2: The king is dead, long live the king.
This is the cry in many countries upon the proclamation of a new monarch upon the death of a previous one. So in this scenario, Kong Hee goes to jail in disgrace and is faced with a long jail term. As more and more scandalous details emerge throughout the trial, his reputation is in tatters and his congregation is left disillusioned and disappointed. They so wanted Kong Hee to prevail but he has failed - this sets up an opportunity for a charismatic younger, brighter, more eloquent preacher to step in an take over CHC. This bright young face represents a new start, a new leader, a new king for the congregation to believe in and he is a clean break from the past.
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| Will the CHC congregation ever forgive Kong Hee for this? |
This new preacher is smarter than Kong Hee and avoids the mistakes that Kong Hee has made - the new preacher doesn't break the law and promises the congregation everything they want to hear: that he will rebuild the church, that he will rescue CHC's reputation, that he will lead them to a brighter tomorrow, that the past is history and they can look forward to a new future together. Pretty soon, Kong Hee becomes but an embarrassing memory for the congregation as they fall totally in love with their new preacher. Maybe the church may even change its name to signify this break with the past. When Kong Hee is finally released from jail, he emerges a broken old man, hiding his face from the public gaze. He has lost without the adoration of his congregation (who want little to do with him) and keeps a very low profile.
This scenario is completely dependent on there being an opportunistic, charming preacher who is willing to seize the opportunity when it presents itself - there is a small window period when Kong Hee is finally sentenced and sent to jail, that is when this new king should present himself to a congregation reeling from the shock. Is there someone already waiting in the wings, ready to pounce and is he a worthy successor? Will the congregation be willing to embrace this new king? (Or Queen? Sorry, I assumed that it would be a man taking over - it could just as well be a woman.)
The scandal and the court case is simply too much for the congregation - they start to think, should I continue being a part of CHC? One by one, then in their droves, they desert CHC as word spreads. "Hey, I now go to this other church on Sundays, it's a really nice group of people there, you should come too." Maybe most of them go to one church, maybe they end up in different churches all over Singapore, maybe some of them embrace other religions or become atheists - but within a few months, the congregation of CHC is so small, it becomes a rats deserting a sinking ship scenario. Most of the members do not want to be associated with a disgraced church after the scandal. A number of hardcore CHC members try their very best to keep the church going, but they have a real uphill struggle. As the tithes dry up, they can no longer maintain the huge premises that they have and they sell of their assets to pay for their debts - the premises are sold off and CHC becomes but a chapter in the history of Singapore.
Again, this scenario depends entirely on the reaction of the congregation. Are they ready to desert CHC and find a new church? How much faith do they have in Kong Hee? Do they believe in his innocence? Will this critical mass of 'rats deserting a sinking ship' be reached, in order to send CHC to the point of no return? Or, will there be enough hardcore CHC members who will stand by CHC no matter what happens?
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| Can CHC ever get over the China Wine debacle? |
Scenario 4: CHC shrinks, but still exists in the future as a small church
This is an alternative to scenario 3 but it is similar, in that most of the members desert CHC but a significant number of hardcore supporters hang on and refuse to desert the church and are determined to keep it going no matter what. They end up in a small, discrete building (maybe in a terraced house in Lentor Avenue or a small unit in some industrial estate) - it is there where they anxiously await the day for Kong Hee to be released from jail. The day comes and it is almost like the second coming for them: but will Kong Hee be able to deliver the kinds of glories they had been waiting for all these years or will he disappoint as he emerges from jail a broken man? Time shall tell. Kong Hee is no doubt an intelligent man, but will a long prison sentence break his spirit and change him?
Scenario 5: CHC splinters into a few smaller churches.
This is a combination of scenarios 2, 3 and 4. The members of CHC realize that they cannot continue as before and pretend that it can be business as usual anymore - a few charismatic new leaders try to take over and the congregation splinters. Some members want to wait for Kong Hee to return, others want to follow one of the new leaders and some leave CHC altogether - this leads to some internal conflict between the remaining leaders of CHC as to what direction they should go and they are lost without their leader Kong Hee telling them what to do. As a result, CHC splinters and becomes a number of small splinter groups - some of them are happy to be associated with CHC (eg. "New City Harvest Church") whilst others want to make a clean break from the past and establish a new identity altogether.
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| Will there be a charismatic new leader waiting to take over? |
Over to you. So what do you think?
There are other possible scenarios of course, which could be a combination of any of the above factors. What do you think will happen? Which scenario is most likely to happen - or if there is a scenario that I didn't cover, can you let me know what you think that is please? After all, it is not what you or I would do in this situation, it is what the CHC congregation will react to all this and they will determine the future of CHC. Kindly leave a comment below. Thanks!
Scenario 6: Become something akin to Scientology.
ReplyDeleteYou know the kind of prosperity gospel, miracle healing con of a church just like those mega churches you find in the US in the 60s/70s? The government ain't gonna do anything just look at Joseph Prince. As long as they get to tax them for revenue get GST for all the crap they sell through their online and physical stores, why not? Everybody wins and Kong Hee still goes to jail. Lol.
Twenty-tree
Right now, CHC is already chasing the footsteps of Cho Yonggi and the model he adopted. So what's left is in fact to expand to the size of the Unification Church because lets face it, give it some time and going to church will be cool again and everybody would flock there. Who wouldn't? Spend a day out of 7 at a place and suddenly i'm granted salvation and prosperity what a steal.
ReplyDeleteOnce that's all done, the only thing left to do is to become just like the Church of Scientology. They are so rich, they intimidate without fear. They even harass the IRS into giving them tax exemption status. I mean look at the mega churches in the US with miracle healing and stuff, it's still going on after so long. So if you ask me, Scientology's way might actually be what all wayward factions of religion aspire to be/become in the long run.
Twenty-Tree
Hi and thanks for your insight! What are the chances of CHC gaining Scientology status in light of this court case though?
DeleteWith the current court case, it's of course not possible to suddenly gain the kind of money nor notoriety that Scientology has. But think about it, right now, religions are all run like corporations with individual SBU's who are their own money generating centres. The Singapore one might not do as well as before because of the case or whatever legislation change that might result from the outcome of this case. But what CHC has going for it are Australia and Taiwan. In Australia, he already has that Pringle guy to help Kong Hee/CHC to continue whatever work even if Kong Hee's ass does land in jail. And if Scientology is any proof at how easy things go undetected, Australia's a nice place to make up for the Singapore shortfall. As for Taiwan, it's a smart choice because Korea's kinda taken by above mentioned nutjob korean churches; and taiwan's just only warming up to Christianity or whatever easy to digest brand of christianity.
DeleteSo I guess what I'm saying is, at best CHC will remain the status quo here in Singapore like how Scientology still has its base in Clearwater florida. But it's the other countries akin to the celebrity centres and what have you that will attract eyeballs internationally that will keept CHC afloat. As far as I know, there is not one international law universally applied to govern the set up and running of any church or religion across national borders. This means CHC will definitely have an easier time become just like the Church of Scientology if it wants to....
Twenty-Tree
2 scenarios which you didn't cover:
ReplyDelete- They will merge with a sister church and no longer exist. I remember Trinity being one of them there could be more or less since I left quite long ago.
- They will rename and exist as another church, probably shedding all or most of their disillusioned members and attracting a new kind of membership.
Thanks! Interesting points indeed - who would want to merge with CHC at this stage and what kind of identity would the new post-merger church have? As for renaming and existing as a new church, isn't that a variation of scenario 2 (I didn't explicitly say that the church would be renamed under new leadership - but I did touch upon it as part of their rebranding exercise in a bid to make a clean break with that past).
DeleteThat church has two possible options, if we go along the lines of Kong Hee and accomplices getting convicted: 1) rebranding itself as another church in name, and 2) going on as per normal with new leadership. Your post though has captured the various possible options, and I would say that it is very exhaustive. I tend to believe that rebranding is the most possible case, because with the visible example of Calvary Charismatic Centre, which ran into financial trouble with the law and never recovered after that, that church then rebranded itself as Victory Family Centre. In Chinese, we call it "changing the soup, but not changing the ingredients"(huan tang bu huan yao). It would all just be sartorial presentation and a facade at best as usual.
ReplyDeletehow many would jump or commit suicide once kong hee is sentenced? sun ho? within 1 year she moved to usa and married a nigger.
ReplyDeleteYou should never use the word 'n***er' - it is offensive.
DeleteAnd quite frankly, Sun Ho can do what she wants, I don't really care.
There is now one other option or possibility for City Harvest Church, as I read this exchange. Maybe Sun Ho will groom a new talent to "spread" their "gospel" of fame and wealth? Considering that City Harvest Church has been notorious for being an organization which brags about its members' endeavors(think about it, when Ix Shen bungee-jumped overseas, they even advertised it on their website....what silliness.....), so I won't be surprised if they never learn from their mistakes and then continues to walk on down the same road to groom a new talent, who, like Sun, is not that pretty nor can sing really well anyway. We might then end up having a "hit" called "Chinatown Wine" LOL (courtesy of "The Noose" :P)
DeleteI think scenario 1 and 4 are the most probable outcomes. This Church seems to be centred around Kong Hee. It seems to be like a cult of personality. Until Kong Hee passes on, I don't think it would be easy for anyone to fill his shoes
ReplyDeleteAnd the church will still live on, as most of his die-hard supporters would just view his crime to be an 'accounting mistake'. Oh yes.. and they would still believe Sun Ho's musical career was meant to promote the church.
Limpeh, your scenarios have assumed he will be found guilty. What if the judge rules that he is not guilty and then explain that who are we to judge them if his congregation has already given them the green light to do whatever they pleases ?
ReplyDeleteRemember Kong Hee is no ordinary religious leader, however crooked he may be perceived. He is both rich & has a large base of stubborn supporters. And it is not an easy task for PAP to offend these supporters just like how PAP can manipulate & come up with this ridiculous & ambigous 377A law which stigmatise gays as criminals (to placate religious conservatives?) yet at the same time assures gays (voters?) that the same law will not be actively enforced ?
As what usually happens in unique Singapore, the obvious judgement may not be a pragmatic one for our politicians ?
Good question - we can but speculate. What are the chances of Kong Hee getting off the hook after the way the media is splashing saucy details everyday?
DeleteThis begs the question - if the government intend to let Kong Hee off the hook anyway, why persecute him in the first place in such a high profile manner? Why not just give him a token fine and slap on the wrist with a, "naughty naughty don't do this again hoh" warning? It could have been swept under the carpet so easily - but was it? No, it wasn't - which is why many like myself assume that he will be found guilty and the only question is how harsh his sentence will be.
Well Limpeh, we may never know the real hard truth why sometimes they have to put through someone through all those mud only to find them not guilty at the end, do we ?
DeleteThey may have a political agenda to put up a show, a distraction from those real current issues. Or serve as a warning to the religious conservatives that the Govt can get as tough as it gets if they dared to 'misbehave'. Or even to show from time to time that the current bureacracy is 'septic' enough.
For all we know, could it not have been a big wayang to begin with ie. to give people the false impression that the Govt is against 'something' when they are actually 'for' ?
Well, we will see when Kong Hee is sentenced. Do you know how long we have to wait before he is sentenced? (or pronounced 'not guilty - you are a free man') ...
DeleteHey Limpeh, I was wondering like Alan too about this other possibility of Kong Hee getting away scot-free, since the civil servants charged for corruption in the former cases prior to the trial against Kong Hee were found to be innocent of the charges against them. We have all been going along the line of Kong Hee being found guilty, partially because we do believe he is guilty without a shadow of a doubt, but in Singapore's courts, anything can happen if we remember what happened to opposition members who got charged over the smallest things and without much of a convincing argument. If Kong Hee gets away scot-free, will things be 'back-to-normal' for CHC, and will his wife end up going back to the USA to launch her so-called new Crossover album again? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is Scenario 3 & 4 is possible since the congregation comply of young adults due to constant bombardment from the social media and friends. They will start to awaken up to seek for an alternative church or religion. After all, there are a lot of CHC goers switching camp to NCC.
ReplyDeleteWith dwindling number and cashflow issues which they are experiencing with the Loan repayment schedule falling behind time. (http://www.singaporelawwatch.sg/slw/headlinesnews/30073-city-harvest-paying-steep-interest-on-45m-loan.html), CHC is left with no alternative but to move into smaller premise or perhaps joint hand with Heart of God church or affilated churches. After all, how much can u squeeze out of a burn out individual.
Anyway I believe that Kong Hee will be jailed. In view of the fact, he blatantly declare his integrity against the face of authority. Seem like the prosecutor is working extra hard to produce evidences to discredit the gang and the witness. Hopefully KH's ass be split by those desperate inmates for toying around with people hard earned money.
By then, the sight of tongkat will bring chill to his body. LOL
A somewhat more sympathetic friend was saying this(without sarcasm), "Poor thing. He indulged his wife's desires for fame and fortune too much, so now he has to sit in jail. But never mind, who knows, God might turn it around, and he can now start a prison ministry." I did not know whether I should laugh loudly at the whimsical nature of the statement, or just simple cackle with wicked malice at the image of Kong Hee wearing prison uniforms LOL.....but tongkat ali???!!! Hahahah
ReplyDeletePrison will be a shock to him given how he is used to a lifestyle of luxury and being adored by his congregation - he will have no friends in prison.
DeleteO yes. Hopefully, that humbles him, so that he does not think that he is some messiah whom God the Father apologized to. His megalomania is severely deplorable even from a Christian point of view, and nowhere has God apologized to anyone at all in the Bible, not even to Jesus. From Sentosa Cove to Changi Prison, from big suits to an unpleasant grey or bluish-grey(if I am correct about the color of the uniform) uniform.....his fall will be great if that happens.
DeleteLimpeh, since you have written so extensively about education and CHC on here, can I bait you into writing something that is a cross between the two? you could start with http://www.heartofgodchurch.org/aboutus.html do a little digging around and you will find that this church is an affiliate of CHC. But what pisses me off most of about the fact that there's a thing called the regent business school on there and they have just about every certification there is to prove that they are reputable...except they aren't.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could write a piece on how to choose a reputable school and use this as an example as to why this is or isn't a good one?
Aside from their questionable links and advertising practices I find it absolutely despicable that while consumers always have a choice, they see no inherent problem with getting students from within the church ranks and getting them to do a diploma that after completion has no reasonable chance of getting them into an undergraduate program. If you read some of the testimonials, some of the a-level kids are doing a diploma when they could have gotten into SIM as lousy as SIM may be if the 3 national universities don't accept them?
I just find it bonkers that with so much regulation and advice on private education out there that there are people in singapore are still using their hard-earned money on such organisations...treat it as a PSA of some sort given your readership numbers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sax4WIWuseY
DeleteIf the above bait aint good enough, how about this one? Same church, different guy but still downright despicable about using students as advertising tools. I kinda got digging around the same time the CHC round tripping thing broke. This shit takes the cake and pisses me off. If you have not covered this, think about the PSA thing, maybe some poor kid about to extort their parents money who comes across your article might feel compelled to not do so ;)
Hi there muchopunk - thanks for your comment.
DeleteI can understand why you feel aggrieved at the issue and why you would want someone like me to make a PSA about people being aware of such things... but I'm afraid I don't really see the point.
1. I think most people like you and I are smart enough to figure this one out already and if someone is dumb enough to fall for this, then I can't save them from their own stupidity.
2. I think religion is the biggest con of them all - not just Christianity but all kinds of religion. I am an atheist but if people want to believe in it, then again, that's their choice and I respect the individual's right to make that choice even if it seems stupid to me.
3. I am preaching to the converted here (if you'll pardon the religious analogy) - given the way I write on my blog (very cheem leh, very GP essay one) I typically attract a more atas well-read, well educated readership. The kind of people who need protecting from their own stupidity tend not to read my blog.
So I am sorry, Limpeh cannot solve this problem for you.
I knew it! Knew that you would say that after deliberating about my double post after it got through. Thought I would try though. See, the thing is, kind people like me often want others to get better as I have from the help I received. But this also means I'm too afraid on stepping people's toes i.e.. I follow instructions as told provided I agree with them, and if I don't, good luck to me; I kinda slow burn inside. A bit like how some people will break down and quit their jobs on the spot. I belong to that category. Too stubborn about my own high and mighty but very useless principles.
DeleteYeah but I got you; you can't help someone if they refuse to be helped.
Yes, your last line really summarizes it up - it's not like there's no information out there, there is plenty of info out there already (like my previous posts) and if it gets into a personal attack on a church, then no, i am not going to go there. it is not my battle, not my fight and i pick my battles.
DeleteTo be honest, I have less of a problem with their education crap than their religion, for I see their religion is the biggest con of them all. Priorities... it's like this scene out of a comedy I saw years ago (sorry the name of the film escapes me...) It is an American film about a couple who return home after a tornado has struck the town and the wife first notices that her rose garden is damaged and she runs into the rose bushes and starts picking up the pieces and crying, "oh and they were just about to bloom as well, I spent so much effort on these roses..." Then you cut away to the husband who is standing there with his mouth wide open staring ahead at the house which has been reduced to a pile of rubble by the tornado - clearly, the wife is so fixated on her roses that she has not seen the destroyed house yet.
You get the idea. For me, that education bullshit is the equivalent of the damaged rose bushes compared to the pile of rubble the husband is staring at (religion) and IMHO, you're making a mistake by focussing on the roses (like the wife in the comedy). It's a question of perspective - just offering you mine.
LIFT you should watch the mockumentary called Religulous by Bill Maher, he makes lots of fun about religion.
DeleteKong is CHC, and CHC is Kong. I think it's safe to assume that. So on that basis, I'm guessing scenario (4) would be the most probable, only my version is this: CHC shrinks and "consolidates", to use a very corporate term, since it likens itself to a private corporation anyway, and waits for Kong's return (if he does go to jail, that is). However, Kong knows that even after his return to the church he founded, chances are the public scrutiny is already there, and the authorities probably keep a closer watch: worst case scenario, CHC gets struck off the COC registry; Kong would probably pack and leave Singapore and restart his church elsewhere (probably the US), and I get the feeling the wheels are already in motion for this plan. I doubt Kong would be the subvervient kind who would wait for the verdict to be out and do nothing-- if anything, he's probably busy trying to shift his funds offshore for his comeback.
ReplyDelete2 or 3 amg them will get heavy sentences but not kh who will be given a relatively light one. Still, his & wife's future here will somewhat be hindered, so maybe kh & family will move to usa to start afresh.
ReplyDelete