After the CHC verdict, some food for thought.

Hello everyone. So at last, Kong Hee and his gang have finally been sentenced after a very long trial, one that is unprecedented in the history of Singapore. It feels like the end of a long story, one that has left many people bewildered, mesmerized and shocked in equal measure. Yes, Kong Hee and gang can still appeal against their sentences, but here is some food for thought for you as Kong Hee is about to begin his long eight year jail sentence.

Verdict: guilty! 

1. Where does this leave CHC?

That's a big question - Kong Hee and gang have not admitted any wrongdoing, they feel like they should have been given a 'not guilty' verdict; so if you are a CHC member who still believes in Kong Hee, then you have a dilemma. Do you trust your church or do you trust the state? Given the way Singaporeans are by nature very law-abiding, this will cause quite a crisis of identity in CHC. After all, the harsh sentence is going to put CHC is very bad light - are they going to be happy to be identified as members of 'oh, that church'? Ironically, if this had happened say in the West where people have a very different relationship with law, authority and the state, they would gladly identify themselves as the victim of a huge injustice and carry on with a sense of martyrdom. But given the Singaporean nature of CHC members, how many of them would quietly just leave the church in the following weeks and months?

2. Will there be a backlash against Sun Ho from within the church?

Sun Ho wasn't charged with any crime and whilst her music career has been at the heart of this case, many think that she has gotten away lightly. Why? Let me explain with a hypothetical situation. Say "Mr Tan" commits a crime by stealing money to buy his sister a new car and he gets caught - the car that he bought with the stolen money then becomes impounded by the authorities. Even if his sister was totally unaware of how Mr Tan obtained the money to buy the car in question, her innocence and ignorance doesn't mean that she can keep the car he bought her. In Sun Ho's case, she benefited from the crimes committed by others - they funded her lavish lifestyle for so many years. So even if she isn't charged with a crime, shouldn't she be asked to give back some (if not all) of the money? Shouldn't her assets be impounded by the state, as ill-gotten gains? Shouldn't the police send in the bailiffs to her Sentosa Cove residence? Even if she has managed to escape the indignity of having her assets seized by the state, surely there must be some in CHC who may feel that it is unfair that she has gotten away so lightly in this whole episode - might this result in an anti-Sun Ho backlash from within CHC? Will she have to lower her profile even within CHC now?

3. What about Edwin Tong, Kong Hee's lawyer?

I have talked about Kong Hee's lawyer Edwin Tong on my blog before - this is such a high profile case and Kong Hee must have chalked up a pretty large legal bill. Even as Kong Hee goes to jail, he must still pay Tong for his services and Tong has made a lot of money from this case But would you like to be known as 'the lawyer who defended Kong Hee and lost'? Who knows, maybe Tong knows exactly what he is doing. The next time some other high profile criminal needs a lawyer in Singapore, someone may recommend Tong, "do you know that Tong managed to get Kong Hee such a good deal? Had Kong Hee been represented by a less capable lawyer, he would have probably been given a much, much  longer jail sentence, You can definitely trust Edwin Tong, he did such a totally amazing job for Kong Hee." I'm still in two minds about what the future holds for Tong career - I guess time will tell.

4. How does this change the relationship between church and state?

There has been a reluctance by the state to poke its nose into religion - this has always been a very sensitive topic in Singapore, where everyone wants to maintain the status quo and not rock the boat when it comes to religious harmony. Hence any action that may cast a church, temple or mosque in such a bad light is the kind of Pandora's box that few people would want to open - but in this case, they not only opened the box, they investigated, follow through and thrown the criminals in jail despite the fact that the vast majority of the congregation at CHC gladly gave their money to the church and didn't really care what Kong Hee did with that money. Heck, Kong Hee could have used that money to have built gold statues of himself and Sun Ho - that would have been distasteful but not illegal, so where do you draw the line with people like Kong Hee and Sun Ho? This case does remind religious organisations in Singapore that they are not beyond impunity, that they do not operate in a consequence free environment no matter how powerful they become. So in light of what happened at CHC, many Singaporeans may feel that this is a good thing.

5. Will anyone attempt a 'Sun Ho' again?

Finally, Sun Ho was the last Singaporean singer to try to make it big in America. Would anyone attempt what she did? Actually Singaporean actor Chin Han has actually achieved quite a lot of success in Hollywood and he did it with a mix of raw talent, having the right connections and good luck. He did not however, attempt to pay an famous director to make a movie and cast him as the leading man: no, instead he was paid quite handsomely to appear in movies and TV shows along with other Hollywood stars. I actually know two Malaysians in Los Angeles trying to succeed and neither have achieved any success so far - it is a very difficult market to break into as an Asian actor. Rather, the new generation of Singaporean stars are sticking very much to the local market - few have even tried to become big in the pan-Asian Mandarin market. There's of course Fann Wong who has managed to achieve quite a lot of success in this market: but she has not tried to break into America at all. I'm keeping my close eye on Hirzi Zukiflie - if anyone can cross over successfully, he can do it, I know he has been very tempted by the possibility of Hollywood but the question is: will he? And for that matter, will others dare to try or simply stick to a more familiar local market?

So that's it from me on this issue, as the dust settles on the CHC files. What are your thoughts about this case? Was justice was served in the end? Why did it take such a long time for the trial to come to fruition? Did the verdict surprise you? And finally, are you glad it is all over at last? Please do let me know what you think. Many thanks for reading.

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