Fake Nuns for a Fake Institution

Below is a report in the Straits Times recently regarding fake Thailand nuns and monks in Singapore. I find that the most ironic and funny part about this report is that the 'real' Buddhists came out and said that these people are fake. Wow, talk about the pot calling the kettle. I mean, how can you accuse other individuals of being fake when the basis of your institution is founded on unsubstantiated myths and legends. It is just like Santa Claus accusing the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy of being imaginary...

But come to think of it, isn't this the modus operandi of all religions? My faith is the one true faith and yours is not. My god is the real one and not yours. My god is much better than yours. Just because you put form an official institution and legalize your faith doesn't make it less absurd.

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This time, more nuns

Fake monks and nuns trying their luck once again, two months after last crackdown
By Teh Joo Lin and Edwin Koo & Desmond Lim


THE same religious robes. The same unholy abode. The bogus monks and nuns are back at the same game.

Less than two months after 50 of them left Singapore in a hurry following police checks at their Geylang transit hotel, a smaller and sneakier squad has moved in.

One of them, a 61-year-old Thai woman, was arrested yesterday morning in Bedok following a Sunday Times tip- off to the police.

The first sign that they were back came from an SMS to this newspaper on Aug 22 from a man who works in the red-light district where they stayed.

Then, reader Winnie Wan spotted a 'monk' outside a supermarket in Tampines Street 43.

'He seemed nervous and jittery and he was eyeing me. He saw me and scuttled...maybe I looked official,' she said in an e-mail message.

The team, apparently all Thais, has been whittled down to a dozen, mainly female.

From about 6am, saffron-robed men with shaven heads and white-robed women would start streaming out of their lodging house in Geylang Lorong 28.

They did not emerge in a group as was the case the last time, but one at a time at irregular intervals.

Their destinations were the same, though: They boarded buses bound for places such as Eunos, Bedok and Tampines.

But while in the past they made a beeline for the food centres upon alighting and whipped out their alms bowls to patrons, this time, they were on high alert.

The Sunday Times team boarded the same bus as one 'nun' and trailed her as she got off outside Eunos MRT station on Thursday.

She did not home in directly on her primary target - the food centre at Block 4A Eunos Crescent.

Instead, she meandered through the HDB blocks, stopping at various points before crossing over to the food centre.

This 'nun' worked the tables the same way previous batches did - she took out her alms bowl from a white bag and held it out to patrons with a sage smile, never uttering a word.

When she was waved away, she moved on without any fuss.

Minutes later, she was on another bus heading for Hougang, where she made the rounds at another food centre and some coffee shops.

While the 'monks' The Sunday Times interviewed in July claimed they earned at least $20 to $30 a day, it is not clear how rich the pickings were this time.

Patrons at the food centre at Block 216, Bedok North Street 1, where the 61-year-old woman was begging, told The Sunday Times they knew the nuns were imposters.

Retiree Wong Liang Yong, 67, said: 'We know they are fake. When you ignore them, they just move away very quickly.'

The Singapore Buddhist Federation's Venerable Sek Kwang Phing said the bogus nuns' costumes do not even look authentic.

Mr Sebastian Wong, president of Palelai Buddhist Temple, explained that a genuine nun's habit includes a shoulder sash. Plus, real nuns shave their heads and eyebrows.

Men and women of the cloth also never ask for money.

When a Palelai temple monk collects alms, he uses a towel to cover the bowl. It is only when people approach to give food that the monk draws back the cloth.

'There is no asking for anything - monks are not beggars,' Mr Wong said.

Venerable Kwang Phing reckons that such bogus monks and nuns have been flocking here for six or seven years.

The Royal Thai Embassy expressed disappointment that the bogus monks and nuns were still preying on 'innocent and generous Singaporeans'.

Its spokesman urged people who knew of their whereabouts to report them to the police.

The embassy, too, 'would do all that is possible on our part to bring this to an end'.

Police have arrested some bogus monks and nuns in the past, and fined them. In 2004, a fake Chinese monk was caught when he approached a plainclothes policeman for donations to build a temple. He was fined $1,000.

According to the law, anyone who collects alms or solicits charitable donations under false pretences can be fined up to $2,000, or jailed up to three months, or both.

But some lawyers feel there is a limit to what the police can do based on the law, even when people are clearly masquerading as monks and nuns.

Lawyer Chandra Mohan said: 'If they are not caught in the act, there may not be enough evidence and it will be difficult to prosecute.'

This was likely the case in July, when the police visited the Geylang hotel but 'did not note any offence'. The occupants were advised that begging for money without a licence was an offence.

Making the police's job tougher is that the bogus monks appear to be controlled by slickly operated syndicates.

The Venerable Phramaha Rian Manone-Yang, honorary secretary of the Thai Buddhist Temple in Singapore, said previously that the syndicates were based in Johor in Malaysia and Hat Yai in southern Thailand.

The gang leaders work closely with their partners in Singapore, who pocket 30 per cent of their collections, he said.

Mr Wong agreed. 'Some locals are involved in organising these people. They know where to go, where to stay and they have a schedule of hawker centres to go to,' he said.

As long as Singaporeans continue to 'feed them money', they will continue to come, he added. So public education is key.

The remaining 11 'monks' and 'nuns' last night appeared to have been thrown into a tizzy after their 'sister' failed to return.

If the 61-year-old returns to the hotel, it would be to collect her luggage. The police said they have referred her to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority for action.

It is likely that she will be repatriated and barred from entering Singapore for some time.

When The Sunday Times approached the hotel staff last night, they said they were unaware of what business the 'monks' and 'nuns' were up to, or the purpose of their visit to Singapore.

'They just rent the rooms from us at standard rates,' a woman said.