Almost 10 years ago, Mr. Roland Poon dared to ask whether City Harvest Church was using church funds to fund Ho Yeow Sun’s music career.
The question resulted in him having to make a public apology to the church in January 2003. The then-businessman left City Harvest soon after.
Now, the charges filed against five City Harvest church members seem to have vindicated Mr. Poon’s actions.
When The Straits Times visited Mr. Poon’s house yesterday evening, his daughter said the 62-year-old was out of town on a mission trip.
Attempts to reach him via e-mail were unsuccessful.
Speaking yesterday on condition of anonymity, a close family friend said that the incident left him shaken.
‘He was really traumatised by what happened,’ she said.
Mr. Poon had apparently been going to City Harvest for a few years when he started to grow uneasy with some of the church’s practices.
‘He was uncomfortable with the way the leaders would use sermon and worship time to promote Ho Yeow Sun’s songs,’ the family friend said.
Ms Ho is the wife of Pastor Kong Hee, founder and spiritual leader of the church.
Apparently, Mr. Poon began asking questions on how church funds were being used after he had donated large sums of his money towards the construction of the City Harvest building at Jurong West.
But his questions to the church leadership went unanswered, she added. Frustrated, he called up and wrote in to The Straits Times alleging improprieties.
He claimed to have been ‘encouraged’ by his cell group leader to purchase Ho’s albums and that church funds were used for Ho’s publicity and promotional campaigns.
He said it was ‘unethical’ to mix religion with secular matters.
Responding to Mr. Poon’s allegations, the church challenged him to prove his case.
‘They told him that they would sue him if he had no evidence of them mismanaging church funds,’ said the family friend. ‘He was very frightened by those threats and felt powerless.’
With no proof or support from fellow church members, she said Mr. Poon felt hard-pressed and decided to retract all these statements.
He eventually issued apologies in five separate publications, some of which appeared on the same day that the church issued its own reply to the allegations.
The apologies cost more than $33,000. The family friend said yesterday that when Mr. Poon said he could not pay for them, an anonymous donor footed the bill.
Mr. Kong also asked the congregation to forgive Mr. Poon.
After the matter was resolved, Mr. Poon left the church but remained a believer. He has since retired and is now worshipping in another church.
‘After something like that which affected him greatly, he just wanted to keep a low profile,’ said Mr. Poon’s friend.
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He dared to ask about use of church funds
By Bryna Sim
28 June 2012
Almost 10 years ago, Mr. Roland Poon dared to ask whether City Harvest Church was using church funds to fund Ho Yeow Sun’s music career.
The question resulted in him having to make a public apology to the church in January 2003. The then-businessman left City Harvest soon after.
Now, the charges filed against five City Harvest church members seem to have vindicated Mr. Poon’s actions.
When The Straits Times visited Mr. Poon’s house yesterday evening, his daughter said the 62-year-old was out of town on a mission trip.
Attempts to reach him via e-mail were unsuccessful.
Speaking yesterday on condition of anonymity, a close family friend said that the incident left him shaken.
‘He was really traumatised by what happened,’ she said.
Mr. Poon had apparently been going to City Harvest for a few years when he started to grow uneasy with some of the church’s practices.
‘He was uncomfortable with the way the leaders would use sermon and worship time to promote Ho Yeow Sun’s songs,’ the family friend said.
Ms Ho is the wife of Pastor Kong Hee, founder and spiritual leader of the church.
Apparently, Mr. Poon began asking questions on how church funds were being used after he had donated large sums of his money towards the construction of the City Harvest building at Jurong West.
But his questions to the church leadership went unanswered, she added. Frustrated, he called up and wrote in to The Straits Times alleging improprieties.
He claimed to have been ‘encouraged’ by his cell group leader to purchase Ho’s albums and that church funds were used for Ho’s publicity and promotional campaigns.
He said it was ‘unethical’ to mix religion with secular matters.
Responding to Mr. Poon’s allegations, the church challenged him to prove his case.
‘They told him that they would sue him if he had no evidence of them mismanaging church funds,’ said the family friend. ‘He was very frightened by those threats and felt powerless.’
With no proof or support from fellow church members, she said Mr. Poon felt hard-pressed and decided to retract all these statements.
He eventually issued apologies in five separate publications, some of which appeared on the same day that the church issued its own reply to the allegations.
The apologies cost more than $33,000. The family friend said yesterday that when Mr. Poon said he could not pay for them, an anonymous donor footed the bill.
Mr. Kong also asked the congregation to forgive Mr. Poon.
After the matter was resolved, Mr. Poon left the church but remained a believer. He has since retired and is now worshipping in another church.
‘After something like that which affected him greatly, he just wanted to keep a low profile,’ said Mr. Poon’s friend.
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