Serene's series of remaining comments for different articles

What now for City Harvest?
By Angela Lim – June 2nd, 2010


First NKF, then Ren Ci, then Youth Challenge. And now City Harvest Church.
The reaction online to our Yahoo! Fit-to-Post story about 17 City Harvest members, including founder Pastor Kong Hee, being investigated for misuse of funds has been nothing short of staggering.
In less than a day, over 2,000 remarks flooded the comments section, many applauding the move to audit the church’s finances.
Some defended the church while proclaiming their faith in its leadership and a rare few were downright nasty and insensitive.
It is obvious the probe has touched a raw nerve, and rightly so, because religion is and always will be a touchy and delicate subject in the multi-racial, multi-faith context of Singapore.
So before I continue, let me first say this — let us not jump to conclusions: Pastor Kong Hee and his staff are innocent until proven otherwise.
But it’s clear something is amiss.
Reports of the largest mega-church in Singapore (over 32,000 members) having amassed millions of dollars in reserves started to raise eyebrows years ago.
From a small church which started in 1989, City Harvest now boasts a 14,000 sq foot office in Suntec and its own $47 million building in Jurong West. It has 45 affiliate churches in Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Australia with a total of 48,000 members. It employs 154 full-time staff and has 15 committees overseeing all its operations.
The Straits Times reports that it spent $40 million alone in the last financial year.
Despite the much publicised fact that Kong Hee, 46, hasn’t been paid a salary by the church since 2005, the Pastor and his pop-star wife Sun Ho continue to attract their fair share of detractors.
City Harvest member Wayne Chen, 31, told the same paper that the Pastor is ”humble, caring and family-oriented” and always emphasises “family values and loving God and people”. Yet others criticise his wife for her celebrity lifestyle, raunchy music videos and daring dress sense.
But what the startlingly similar scandals involving the NKF, Ren Ci and Youth Challenge have taught us is that excess often leads to temptation. By all accounts, the leaders of all three non-profit organisations started off humbly and upheld genuinely noble ideals, until money — more than they knew what to do with — quickly led them down the path of greed, materalism and corruption.
In July 2005, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation, T. T. Durai, was arrested for making false declarations on NKF’s accounts. Lurid details of first-class air travel, a fleet of luxury cars at his beck and call, a $600,000 annual salary and even a golden tap in his private office suite emerged. During a much publicised trial, it was revealed in court that NKF had amassed $262 million in reserves.
A year later in 2006, Youth Challenge, which sends students overseas to do humanitarian work, came under fire for poor management practices and was subsequently voted for closure. Its leader, Vincent Lam – a former police officer who set it up in 1985 to keep aimless youths off the streets — was found to have an extravagant annual pay package of nearly $250,000 - 56 % of the charity’s total income. He resigned a year later. In March this year, Youth Challenge folded.
In 2008, Reverend Ming Yi, the chairman of Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre, was charged with forgery, conspiracy and misuse of funds. He allegedly approved million-dollar investments for Ren Ci, but the funds included loans for himself. Stories of BMW cars, lavish condos and excessive splurging were revealed in court with the monk defending his lifestyle as that of “a modern monk”. Just last week, his jail sentence was reduced from 10 months in jail to just six.
And now, City Harvest Church, which recently invested in a whopping S$310 million stake in Suntec City Convention Centre. In its 2009 audit, it was found to have S$103 million in reserves.
From March next year, CHC will be renting a convention hall from Suntec Convention Centre which will include a 12,000-seat main auditorium, 10 meeting rooms, a multi-purpose hall, theatre and concourse on the top floors.
Check out how it raised funds for the impending move.
Benjamin Tan, 26, who makes regular contributions to his own church, told Yahoo! Singapore, ”When it comes to religious organisations like City Harvest, the money they receive should be more than enough to cover the maintenance of the church. I see no need for a reserve fund, or the investment of excess.”
“The role of religion is the worship of God, not a tool or vehicle to make money,” he adds.
Another senior church leader agreed, saying the sums of money being reported made him uncomfortable.
“Money is meant to flow through the church. There is no need for it to amass so much money because the Bible teaches us that, at the end of the day, we must have faith that God will provide,” he said.
Others disagree.
A 22-year-old City Harvest churchgoer, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Any organisation that wants to do anything on a large scale needs a large amount of finances, be it charity work or even day-to-day administration.”
“City Harvest Church needs such a large amount of funds partly because it runs one of the largest community service organisations in Singapore – City Harvest Community Service Association (CHCSA),” he explains.
The CHCSA sent teams to Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami as well as sent medical and relief teams to help in the Haiti earthquake in January this year.
Whatever the reasons behind the financial complications in these organisations, one thing is certain — it is often the needy and those who really depend on them for prayer, food, treatment and life’s basic necessities who suffer the most.
Ren Ci Hospital, for example, suffered a severe plunge in donations from S$9.3 million in 2007 to just S$1.1 million in 2008. A drop in NKF donations also saw the organisation dipping into its reserves to keep its commitments to Singaporeans suffering from kidney failure.
Perhaps even more damaging is that instead of celebrating the many success stories by these charity and religious bodies which so often go un-noticed, the general public begin to question and doubt.
“Do my tithes or donations really help the needy?”
“What’s my money being used for?”
“How much do they already have in their offers?”
So, tell us, just how much money is needed to run a charity or a religious organisation? Is it right that they be run and financed like a private corporation? Or is the concept of a simply-run, no-frills church an out-dated model in this day and age?
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/06/02/what-next-for-city-harvest (accessed on 3 June 2010)


Comment
Regarding to the City Harvest news, I feel that this topic attracted many people to leave their comment is because religion is a sensitive issue to touch on especially in a multi-racial and multi-faith society in Singapore. A big organisation like City Harvest naturally would catch the attention of public that is why people are so eager to know the truth towards the excessive investments or the reserve funds. Since there have been issues about people who cheats their organisation of the donations by other people. I feel that the reserve funds are essential for the day to day expenses. But the amount of reserves maybe too much for an organisation or rather a church should have. A church is operated for a purpose, which is to allow people coming from different places of the same faith to praise and worship their God in a wonderful premise. Also I do not believe that the pastor would embezzle the funds like the people that were named in the article for comparisons. Comparison is hurtful, therefore, reporters should not write about such stuffs to hurt the church and the people working to make the church a great place for people to come together to worship their God.





From now we’ll manage without maids

A maid who hit and tied up her employer's daughter was yesterday sentenced to five months' jail.

The domestic worker, Utami, pleaded guilty to four charges of criminal intimidation, causing hurt, wrongfully restraining the girl and remaining here after her work permit had been cancelled.

The mother of the 15-year-old teen who was tied up told The New Paper yesterday that her daughter had put the episode behind her.

But, she said in Mandarin: "I've decided not to employ any maids or have any of them staying over."

The girl's parents own the maid agency which brought in Utami, 25, from Java.

After arriving here on March 1, she went through a three-day orientation programme and was assigned to an employer on March 6, but ran away three days later.

She was found by the maid agency owners the same day and was staying with the family while waiting for new employment.

Said the girl's mother: "I had no problems with her and she seemed happy with her work. During the one week she stayed with us, she never mentioned she missed home or that she wanted to return to Indonesia."

The woman said she has had three maids, but she would rather do the housework on her own from now on.

Comment
The domestic helper, Utama should be grateful that they can at least work in a home to earn money to bring back to their family rather than being ungrateful and hurt the employer’s daughter. People nowadays rely too much on domestic workers. It is true that sometimes domestic workers is very useful in some ways like helping to do the household chores when the employer has no time or does not want to do the chores. But, I feel that people should not rely too much on them. We never know anyone unless we have known them for a long time. Moreover, if some children are being taken care by the domestic workers, some may treat the children like their own but some simply won’t. It is still the best option that parents would take care of their children themselves. The childhood of every individual is very important. When the children grow up, they may question their parents, why did you not take care of me? Why did my memories only contain the memories of me and the auntie (domestic helper)? I may not want my children to question me in the future, thus i would not hire any domestic helpers in the future so as to create good memories with my children in future and also not to put my family at risk if the domestic helper is not someone desirable.






Five more firms join YOG as Official Supporters
Posted: 07 July 2010 1728 hrs


Photos 1 of 1

2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore



SINGAPORE : Five more companies have come on board as Official Supporters to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

They are Anderco, Cathay Organisation, Eng Wah Cinemas, SDS Media and TTG Asia Media.

Anderco will be offering housing and facilities in the form of containers for use at YOG venues as temporary offices, booths and for broadcast use.

Cathay Organisation will be sponsoring vouchers, event and media spaces to display YOG advertisements on their poster space and video wall across its chain of Cathay Cineplexes. Electronic direct mailers about the Games will also be disseminated to its database.

Similarly, Eng Wah Cinemas will also be sponsoring airtime on their cinema hall
screens and lobby TV screens across its chain of cinemas.

SDS Media will be sponsoring advertising airtime through its single point network of integrated tourism service via its hotel TV platform to more than 20 hotels in Singapore.

TTG Asia Media produces titles such as The Official Guide & Map, a monthly tourist guide, and will be sponsoring advertising space in the publication as well as dedicated editorial content.

Mr Goh Kee Nguan, chief executive officer of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee, said: "Official Supporters sponsor a variety of products, from containers to media spaces and advertising platforms to aid in the promotion and publicity of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

"This series of sponsorship is necessary for operational requirements and also enhances our efforts in building buzz for the first Youth Olympic Games."


comment
Hosting YOG in Singapore is something that the people should be proud of as it is a rare chance that a small country like Singapore can be the country to host the YOG. The authorities would have put in their best to make the first YOG to be a happening occasion in Singapore. As a Singaporean, I am very happy that Singapore is able to host this YOG. This may bring more people who are not aware Singapore s a country to come and notice us. Being able to host YOG is an honourable thing but there are expenses that the country would have to bear too. That is why Singapore would need to have the support of companies so that expenses to run the event would be split up. Even before YOG started, there are people already planning for the show that is going to be presented. I hope that more and more companies will join the big family of the official supporters and i pray that the YOG would be a success and it would mark the history of YOG as a meaningful one.