A Morality Tale

Pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC) Lawrence Khong likes to claim that he is a man of principles, "I cannot allow a ruling that is passed that I feel is unjust to the church, that restricts the way we run a religious organisation." As an example of his principled rules, he maintains smoking is not acceptable for his employees - at the risk of termination - and it's not just that they can't smoke in the office, they can't smoke even outside or at home.

That could be one reason he has decided to take on Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, by asking the court to "give guidance" on the sanction to compensate an employee who was terminated without insufficient cause. Being an ex-military man, Tan is not accustomed to having his orders questioned, much less having to tangle with someone of such rigid convictions.

Engineers know that a rigid bar of metal can still be bent, stiffness is just the mechanical property of a solid body to resist deformation. Many years ago, Khong's daughter bore a child out of wedlock. Apparently the amorous young couple had the proverbial tumble in the haystack, strict parental upbringing notwithstanding, and a church sanctified marriage was not in the plan. Here's how Khong explained his non-malleable principles in that particular case of an unwanted (as in non-church approved) pregnancy:

"I understand it's not easy to be a single mother. However, I want to make the point that my daughter's case was different. My daughter was a single girl who made a mistake and was pregnant. In this case, she was a married woman who was in an adulterous relationship. I think the context is different. However, even for my daughter, I expect her to come to a place of repentance. We assigned leaders of the church to hold her accountable, to check on her. I took her off from any leadership role in the church until many years later. I hold the same standard for my own daughter."

If Khong could forgive his daughter and made her a pastor of his God fearing congregation, why is he not kinder to BG Tan? Some member of parliament once said Lui Tuck Yew would be uncomfortable meeting with CEOs if he was paid less than a million dollars. Hence, even after the token hair-cut, Lui is still one of Singapore's millionaires. Now, if Tan had been promoted to full minister, he could have been be spared the ignominy of having to show up in court like a common criminal. Is this just a case of "see me no up"?