Everything About the Arrest of 21 People Involved in S’pore Shincheonji Church

By
Boon Hun
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Unless you’ve been on a social media fast since 2020 started, you’d have heard about the Shincheonji church in South Korea.

Identified as a cult, it was reported that there’s a local chapter of the infamous church in Singapore and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was investigating it for offences committed.

Well, it’s been 9 months and there’s now an update.

Everything About the Arrest of 21 People Involved in S’pore Shincheonji Church

On 9 Nov 2020, 21 people involved in the Singapore chapter of the Shincheonji Church (SCJ) were arrested.

The reason?

Because the 9 men (22-31 years old) and 12 women (21-49 years old) had restarted SCJ church activities despite being told not to do so.

Told To Stop By Authorities

After the authorities have repatriated the five South Korean nationals who held key positions in SCJ and dissolved the front companies of the church, the followers were told not to stop their SCJ activities.

If not, they might face “further action” from the authorities.

Unfortunately, the SCJ chapter in Singapore secretly restarted activities under the instructions of their parent church in South Korea.

Investigated Under The Societies Act

According to the police, the 21 suspects are being investigated under the Societies Act.

If you find the name familiar, that’s because the act was brought up in the case of men chanting gang slogans at a funeral.

It was added that another 11 people are assisting the police with their investigations. Nine of them are women and two are men.

If found guilty of being a member of an unlawful society, they could be fined up to S$5,000, jailed up to three years, or both.

SCJ S’pore

On 28 Feb 2020, it was reported that a local chapter of the infamous Shincheonji Church of Jesus exists in Singapore.

And it was unregistered too. In other words, it’s an illegal church lah. Churches in Singapore are supposed to register with the authorities.

However, unlike South Korea where it has over 1,000 churches and even more members worldwide, the local branch only has less than a hundred members.

The church members consist of both locals and foreigners.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) believes that the religious group “misled and defrauded people into certain actions”.

One of the ways includes forbidding members from contacting each other, verifying with other churches and to hide its existence.

It was only in Feb 2019 when the local chapter tried to set up a company here that they were discovered.

Various other front companies of the church were discovered as well.

Seeing as the church as allegedly brought in young people under “false pretences”, set up front companies and attempt to hide its existence, MHA believes that the church has “crossed a line”.

As mentioned in the first part of the article, MHA has shut down the SCJ chapter, including sending the key appointment holders of the church back to their home country and forbidding further activities.

Despite Singapore’s religious of freedom, the authorities are of the opinion that leaving it alone would cause great harm to our country.

And looking at what SCJ did to South Korea, it might just be the wisest course of action.

Featured Image: Bonma Suriya / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)

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Boon Hun
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