Ini isu panas yang mendapat perhatian Timbalan Perdana Menteri Singapura merangkap Menteri Dalam Negeri Teo Chee Hean.
Polis telah menangkap lima orang paderi kanan Gereja City Harvest ekoran penyiasatan bersabit kesalahan penyelewengan kewangan yang melibatkan berpuluh juta dolar Singapura.
Paderi-paderi tersebut – Kong Hee, John Lam, Tan Ye Peng, Sharon Tan dan Chew Eng Han – didakwa di Mahkamah Rendah Singapura pada 27 Jun 2012 atas beberapa tuduhan menyalahgunakan dana gereja, pecah amanah (CBT) serta memalsukan akaun.
Gereja City Harvest diasaskan oleh Reverend Aries Zulkarnain.
Blogger A. Reme mendakwa bahawa Rev. Aries Zulkarnain adalah seorang Melayu. Saya tidak dapat mengesahkan kesahihan maklumat ini.
Namun begitu, di Singapura memang ada Kristian convert yang mempunyai nama Melayu, contohnya Yussif Anwar yang berasal dari Georgetown, Pulau Pinang yang ditemubual berkaitan skandal ini.
Gereja Kuala Lumpur juga terlibat
Siasatan transaksi gelap Gereja City Harvest telah dijalankan oleh Jabatan Hal Ehwal Komersial polis Singapura. Pengalihan wang melibatkan sebuah gereja anggota gabungan City Harvest di Kuala Lumpur.
“However, unknown to the executive members of the board, the church’s funds were used to run the [Crossover] project, said the CoC [Commisioner of Charities]. At least S$23 million was used over three years, the CoC said.
“Funds from the church were diverted to finance the project under the guise of donations to its affiliated church in Kuala Lumpur between December 2007 and May 2010.
“The church – City Harvest Church Kuala Lumpur – then transmitted the monies to support the project in the United States.” (sumber: Straits Times)
Bagai wabak yang merebak
Selain di ibukota KL, Gereja City Harvest (Malaysia) ada jaringannya di bandar-bandar Subang Jaya, Georgetown, Ipoh, Taiping, Sitiawan, Kampar, Johor Bahru, Muar, Kuching dan Sibu.
Di Singapura, gereja tersebut juga dikenali sebagai Gereja Heart of God.
Gereja City Harvest di negara kita mempunyai keahlian lebih 120 kumpulan sel (cell groups) di mana secara puratanya 1,800 orang penganut akan menghadiri setiap servis mingguan (sembahyang jemaah).
Gereja-gereja evangelis di negara-negara Asia Tenggara – seperti juga di lain-lain negara gelombang baru Kristian seperti Korea Selatan yang terkenal dengan fenomena mega churches dan di China mana umat Kristian kian berkembang – amat giat dalam memancing ahli-ahli baru.
Isteri paderi gila glamour
Sejumlah S$2.1 juta telah dipindahkan oleh tertuduh kepada Gereja City Harvest Kuala Lumpur di antara bulan Disember 2007 dan Mei 2010. Wang ini didakwa digunakan untuk membiayai perbelanjaan paderi Kong Hee, salah seorang pengasas gereja, dan isterinya Ho Yeow Sun di Amerika Syarikat.
Pasangan tersebut ke sana untuk mengejar cita-cita si isteri yang berangan dirinya seorang penyanyi superstar.
Asia One melaporkan bahawa S$3 juta dihabiskan untuk menanggung hidup Sun Ho (nama pentas bagi Ho Yeow Sun) di AS sementara perbelanjaan suaminya ialah S$600,000.
Kesemua wang gereja ini disalurkan melalui akaun pelbagai fungsi yang dirahsiakan.
Sebanyak US$100,000 lagi digunakan untuk menjana publisiti bagi mempromosi kerjaya muzik Sun Ho.
Sesetengah evangelis wanita Kristian Cina nyata teramat suka akan publisiti murahan (walaupun kos mahal sebenarnya) dan ghairah memasang pelbagai gimik untuk menarik peminat.
Menonjolkan diri sebagai personaliti media
Paderi Kong Hee mengatur promosi glamor bagi isterinya melalui sebuah rancangan yang diletakkan sebagai Crossover Project yang kononnya bertujuan untuk mendakwah.
Sun Ho yang begitu dahagakan kemasyhuran telah merakam video seksi bagi lagu-lagunya [lihat YouTube] yang diterbitkan oleh produser orang Amerika Wyclef Jean (bekas ahli kumpulan terkenal The Fugees). Kos untuk menerbitkan sebuah album di AS adalah dalam lingkungan US$300,000-US$1,000,000.
Paderi Kong Hee didakwa menyonglap derma yang dikutip untuk membina gereja lalu diselewengkan wang bernilai jutaan dolar itu supaya isterinya boleh duduk selesa di kawasan orang kaya Hollywood (2003-2010).
(Baca ‘Sun Ho’s multi-million dollar attempt to break into Hollywood‘).
Kenapa pengikut boleh begitu taksub?
Menurut berita Temasek Times beberapa hari lepas:
“Singapore’s largest church City Harvest Church (CHC) had issued an ominous warning to the media for portraying its beloved pastor Kong Hee in a negative light.”
“Do you all love Pastor Ho!?!?!?” adalah antara teriakan ketika servis Gereja City Harvest. (‘Pastor Ho’ merujuk kepada Sun Ho.)
Di antara cara Gereja City Harvest mengrekrut ahli ialah melalui kaedah desakan ala pemasaran (MLM) – “we were forced to chant to everyone surrounding us that we will bring in 2 more people the next weekend”.
‘Tokoh’ Kristian mereka diperdagangkan (‘packaging’) melalui gaya teknologi sosial media untuk mensasarkan golongan muda-mudi.
Temasek Times juga melaporkan bahawa kariah Gereja Harvest City pada masa ini sedang bekerja keras untuk menangkis publisiti negatif yang timbul. Usahasama mereka mempertahankan paderi Kong Hee dan isterinya di media sosial ada menampakkan hasil.
“Since the news broke of the arrests, Twitter has been abuzz; at least half the top trending tweets are related to the church and the news of the arrests. City Harvest Church members have tweeted their overwhelming support for Kong and his wife, with many quoting scripture“, Straits Times mengkhabarkan.
Akhbar itu juga berkata, “all status updates by Kong on Facebook are drawing thousands of ‘Likes’ and hundreds of comments – supportive and critical – within hours”.
Reverend Aries Zulkarnain juga mengeluarkan satu kenyataan akhbar yang berbunyi:
‘The people currently in the news are our pastors and trusted staff and leaders who have always put God and CHC first. As a church we stand with them and I believe fully in their integrity. Pastor Kong is still our Senior Pastor.”
Gereja City Harvest menekankan bahawa paderi-paderi mereka penuh “integriti”. (Agaknya integriti orang Singapura juga diukur dengan alat Integrity Meter buatan Malaysia yang begitu popular di kalangan para pengikut gerakan ABU.)
Orangramai tidak dibenarkan mengkritik paderi
Seorang bekas wartawan Boo Su-Lyn telah mengupas skandal Gereja City Harvest ini beberapa hari lepas di laman sesawang Loyar Burok.
Dalam rencana ‘Censorship and the church‘, beliau mendakwa Facebook gereja evangelis Malaysia telah memadamkan komen yang dicatatkan olehnya dalam laman gereja.
Su-Lyn menulis:
<PETIKAN>
“I posted on the Facebook page of an evangelical church in Malaysia a June 26 press release by the Singapore Commissioner of Charities, which said that its inquiry into City Harvest Church had revealed financial misconduct and mismanagement of at least S$23 million.
“The administrator of the Malaysian evangelical church’s Facebook page, however, deleted my post.
“She told me that the church only allowed ‘encouraging and edifying’ posts. She added that the congregation was not “mature enough” to handle such news.
“She warned that the ‘repercussions can be endless’ as “misinterpretation will inevitably occur for those who do not understand the situation’, especially since both Christians and non-Christians, young and old, visit the church’s Facebook page.”
(dihuruf-tebalkan oleh blogger ini)
Ujar Su-Lyn: “What does it say of Christianity when believers are afraid of revealing unpleasant truths?”
Tambah beliau lagi, “This is the same church that not-so-subtly tells its congregation to vote against corruption.”
Ragam evangelis yang sebulu
Cerita Su-Lyn di atas mengingatkan saya kepada dakwaan blogger Cikgu Shashi bahawa beliau beserta rakan-rakannya telah disekat akses Twitter mereka oleh seorang politikus evangelis maksum yang mempunyai ramai pengikut di alam siber (groupies).
Adakah tindakan menapis merupakan pilihan utama dan kecenderongan puak evangelis?
Sehingga hari ini pun gereja masih berpegang kepada sikap kurang toleran terhadap pandangan yang menentang atau mencabar. Mengikut fakta sejarah, penganut-penganut alim Kristian akan membunuh (hukuman dibakar hidup-hidup) orang yang berpemikiran tidak ortodoks atas tuduhan si pengkritik itu mestilah seorang ahli sihir yang terpesong dengan ajaran songsang.
Nampaknya naluri sesetengah golongan taksub untuk memfitnah pengkritik belum lagi berjaya dikikis walaupun sudah zaman-menzaman.
Bersambung:
Link between City Harvest Church and DUMC’s Dream Center
Kiasu-ism, the secret of City Harvest Church’s success / And Hannah was there
Duit kerajaan Selangor disalurkan kepada Gereja City Harvest yang skandal itu
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Kemaskini: Sekiranya pautan rencana Asia One tidak membuka pada halaman yang betul, ini urlnya, http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120627-355615.html
Tajuk berita ialah ‘Some financial irregularities’ dan laporan ditulis oleh Adrian Lim.
Helen Ang 
Dear Helen,
For your info, in Singapore during pre-independence, there are Batak Christian community who like to included themselves as \’Malay\’ so that they can enjoy the same privilege enjoyed by the Malay community there.
The special right of the Malay as the native in Singapore are recognised in Section 152, Part XIII, Singapore Constitution.
Batak people, just like Javanese, Buginese etc are from Austronesian stock (Malay race). The difference is they are predominantly Christian, unlike the other ethnic of Malay race.
So, dont be surprise if nowadays, you find someone in Singapore introduce themselves as \’Christian Malay\’. Just like in Philippines where some of the native there called themselves \’Christian Malay\’.
Anyway, from what I know, a lot of them (Batak in Singapore) also had married a Malay and convert to Muslim. Some of them still being a Christian.
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Thanks for the historical info Andy. However the man interviewed converted to Christianity from Islam (I’m presuming going by his name Yussif Anwar) and the article stated that the guy was originally from Georgetown, Penang. — Helen
helen, I dont understand why ur hate christian so much?
if that so, I think you can stop using christian name ‘Helen’ (since ur not christian) and change it to ‘Halimah’
Whats the problem if DAP support christian movement? dont UMNO always islamising our country???
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Replied many times to many people already. Helen is not a Christian name. — Helen
Postscript: It’s not even an English name.
Anyone wanna ask Dr Mahathir why he named his daughter ‘Marina‘ which is not a Malay name nor an English name.
My name has got no connection at all to the Singapore story.
also LKY, where do you see hatred of christians in helen’s postings? being critical of holier-than-thou evangelistic christians in malaysia and singapore does not equal hatred of christians.
likewise people who criticise holier-than-thou muslims are not criticising the islam or muslims in general.
btw, many christian denominations that evangelistic in nature are often viewed the world over as nothing more than cults. in the US we’ve heard of many evangelistic preachers being involved in massive defrauding of their weak-minded flocks. this one in singapore sounds similar.
people like LKY, whether they are comprehension-challenged or they obfuscate on purpose, really muddle issues lah. boring!
Good grief, I can’t stand it when Christians seem to think they must have orang puteh names. It just just adds to the whole ‘gwailo-wannabe’ syndrome. Must have Christmas tree, eat turkey and play with snow, name your children Regina, Philomena and Ariel. It’s nauseating.
Problem? You should read the Malaysian LAW about the religion. Islam is the official. The other religions are fine to be practiced but not to be widespread.
LKY, if you read christian bloggs, you will be surprised noticing hatred spread toward Islam. This especially true for Christian Indonesian netter/blogger.
In case of name, if that is her true name, we cannot blame her.
re: “if you read Christian blogs, you will be surprised noticing hatred spread toward Islam”
Over here too.
The louder these evangelistas claim they love Muslims or Allah or Islam, the more sceptical the Malays should be.
Helen,
ada banyak orang Kristian di Malaysia yang mempunyai nama seakan2 Islam especially di Sabah & Sarawak.
Remember Tony Eusoff?? Pelakon dari Sarawak yang dulu heboh dikatakan murtad, sedangkan dia memang asal Kristian.
Just my 5 cent…
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Tahulah, Idris Jala juga nama macam Islam. Malah orang Umno Sabah pun ada yang Kristian. Tapi lelaki yang dipetik itu ada ditemuramah oleh media (klik pada pautan url) dan dinyatakan terang-terang dalam rencana dia itu ‘convert’ (tak boleh sebut mualaf, kan, yang khusus untuk suadara baru Islam). — Helen
hai some stupid dungus doesnt know to differenciate between borned christian and converted christian..
This commercialization the name Of Jesus make me wonder. In Book of Matthew 21.12 .Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. And yet, this it is rampant corruption of churches. I’m a muslim anyway.
about a minute ago · Like
Reminds me of a sermon about the evils of genetic cloning I heard in a Methodist church. The pastor clearly knew squat what he was talking about, but lay persons let him rambled on and on for almost an hour on the subject.
As I recall, this is not the first scandal involving Church in Singapore. There were a few during my time when I was living there.
The Church is not the most democratic nor the most open in the world. The Church is responsible for more mass murders than any man or govt throughout the history. That the rape of children and abuse of women in the Christian organization only shows that some of the worse human beings belong to these bodies.
As such, it is fitting that people like Hannah to be belong to organization with such pathetic record.
BTW, I am not Christian either despite my name. I am an Hindu but the name Calvin was given by my American friends who couldn’t pronounce my Indian name.
Lky…may I ask WHY you suggested ‘halimah’ and WHY not ‘leng moi’ or ‘minachi’…just because you’re such a Mother Fcuker RACIST!!!
Good coverage and write-up. But fanaticism is quite a common thing in religious groups. This perhaps is due to blind love for certain leaders to the extent that they are considered untouchables and can do no wrong.
Malaysia has lots of examples to show, even a video recording can be called a dead metal that has no use to show the truth of its contents, and mind us, this is coming from someone who is considered a religious personality by his group members, and as a result, the Very Special One can go around feeling very much untouched as he knows that his cult personality can be his aura to protect him, much the same way like this pastor of his Church.
religion is being misused…we have a political party using religion to raise money to build a highway in kelantan…no difference than this city harvest brothel….pretty dumfounding that singaporeans flocked to this denomination…..
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Did you notice that the Malaysian City Harvest church is in Subang Jaya? Explains the demography, don’t it? — Helen
Helen you might find this rather intriguing….it seems like our Righteous Sister Hannah is connected to City Harvest Church….Mmmmm…that makes me wonder if they actualy sponsored Hannah to be a political pop star in Malaysia ? Did she receive PR lessons from CHC ?
Here’s the link:
http://my.opera.com/holee0101/blog/2011/07/31/city-harvest-church-kl-soft-opening
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Thanks. — Helen
For the christian brothers… Just to remind you guys that Jesus or Esau (Jesus original name in Aramic) was a circumcised Jew. He followed the Jewish Law to the letter (he.. he . no pork brother!) and he prayed to the One God, just like Muslim.
Helen,
Dari sumber yang saya dapati, Reverend Aries Zulkarnain adalah bangsa Cina Indonesian yang berasal dari Surabaya. Tidak hairanlah kalau dia mempunyai nama yang seumpama nama Islam kerana itu adalah lumrah di sana bagi orang orang Cina. Dan City Harvest Singapore juga mempunyai ramai pengikut Cina Indonesia. Kerana itu, servis bahasa Indonesia juga di adakan bagi memenuhi keperluan mereka.
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TQ. Saya pun dah agak begitu tetapi tidak dapat mengesahkan. Ada apa-apa perkembangan baru? — Helen
Buat masa kini Rev Aries dan Sun Ho belum terlibat kecuali mereka didapati bersalah. Mungkin penyiasatan masih belum berakhir. Rev Aries juga banyak membangun kegiatan gereja di Surabaya dengan bantuan Pastor Kong Hee di masa masa yang lalu. Pembicaraan Pastor masih dijalankan.
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TQ. — Helen