Copycat Kiss The Rat Go Home Give Your Mother Slap

Tuesday, 13th January 2009

"Copycat. Kiss the rat. Go home give your mother slap."

Here is another nursery rhyme I learnt as a kindergarten kid. Just like the one I blogged about yesterday, the 2nd and 3rd parts of the rhyme are superfluous and probably added for rhythmic purposes, since "rat" and "slap" are supposed to rhyme with "cat".

At that age, one's vocabulary as well as manner of expressing oneself would be somewhat limited, and so it would be inevitable for a person to imitate what another person said or did. For example, imagine Jane coming to school one day and using bombastic words such as "refrigerator" or "airconditioner" while others were still using "fridge" and "aircon". If Joe also started to use these big and lengthy words, the other kids will chide him for copying Jane by chanting the above.

Which brings me to the subject of today's post.

The recent case of plagiarism by Rev Peter Koh would probably evoke such a response if we were all juveniles. Rev Koh would be likened to the one who kissed the proverbial rat. I would be the one who perchance to have smelt it when I accidentally came across P G Mathew's article when doing the Google search. Sze Zeng would the one who appears to want to become like one, trying to wriggle his way out with semantical cartwheels. Finally, Stan would be the one who forced him into a corner by exposing the futility of those antics.

But rather than sending the copycat back home to be slapped by his mother, the Lord has placed in my heart the need for His restoration work to be done.

I remember back in August 2008 when news first broke about Mike G, the pastor of Planetshakers, and how a member of the LCEC had sent me an email. My response was that nothing catches God by surprise and likewise, this incident with Rev Koh does not catch God by surprise either. Clergy or laymen, we are all human after all, and it is times like these that serve as reminders that we should look unto Jesus as our perfect example, and not to any "man of God".

From what one has read on my blog so far, one may get the impression that Rev Peter Koh is a control freak who is against the grace gospel, and will stop at nothing to get rid of those who do not agree with him. This latest plagiarism incident is probably only going to accentuate those negative impressions of him.

And that is why I am going to go on of a limb here to deliberately mention only good and wonderful things about him, and I mean every single word I am saying here.

In August 1993, the Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup was posted from Wesley to become senior pastor of PLMC. He was to remain as our senior pastor for a good 12 years until December 2005, after which Rev Peter Koh took over as senior pastor in January 2006.

Rev Dr Wee was appointed *TRAC President in November 2004, but he requested permission to stay on in PLMC an entire additional year while looking for a successor. So in the year 2005, he was concurrently wearing 2 hats -- both as TRAC President as well as Pastor-in-Charge of PLMC.

(* For the sake of those not familiar with how the Methodist system works, TRAC stands for TRinity Annual Conference, and represents the 20 English-speaking congregations. The President oversees the affairs of these 20 churches and is also responsible for making the annual pastoral appointments)

Like I mentioned in previous posts, Rev Dr Wee is someone I hold in very high regard, and I am very certain that he must have sought the Lord earnestly and prayerfully to reveal to him who his successor should be. During that year, speculation was rife as to who would and could fill his shoes and the names thrown up included ex-pastors, pastors who grew up in PLMC, as well as those in the ministry for dozens of years. After all, PLMC is not a small Methodist church; it is 2nd only to Wesley in terms of number of members.

And so, it took virtually everyone by surprise when a relatively-unknown pastor who had only been in the ministry for 5 years was selected. Rev Dr Wee must have seen lots of potential in Rev Koh. Furthermore, Rev Wee, being an "old boy" of PLMC, would not have wanted any harm to come to his own home church.

On 1 January 2006, Rev Dr Wee officially handed over the reigns of PLMC to Rev Peter Koh. I would imagine that Rev Koh would have had some reservations about what some had termed a "triple-promotion" for him, viz:

1. He was being promoted from a junior pastor to a senior pastor
2. He was moving from a smaller church to the 2nd largest Methodist church
3. He was going to be the senior pastor of that larger church, whereas previously he was only one of the pastors in that smaller church

Although not officially mentioned, I believe he must have asked Rev Dr Wee to send over his best friend, Rev Barnabas Chong, who was then at Faith Methodist, as part of the deal. So for the first time in the history of PLMC, we actually had 2 new pastors coming in simultaneously.

Here is a write-up on Rev Chong that appeared in the 29 Jan 06 edition of Heartbeat to introduce him to our congregation.

When Rev Chong was posted out in August of the following year, I recall Rev Koh saying at the farewell service that he felt "as though his right arm had been chopped off". I also recall a conversation I had with one of the church staff when there were unfounded rumours that I was behind Rev Chong's removal. I told her in jest that if that were indeed so, it would not only be his right arm that got chopped off but his entire head as well!

But I am digressing here...

Here are 5 incidents that took place subsequent to Rev Koh's appointment as PLMC's senior pastor that demonstrates that he is actually a kind-hearted person who genuinely cares for his sheep:

Incident One

Sometime in July 2006, I was approached by a fellow NTU Christian Fellowship Alumni member, FT Liu. He was looking for a place to hold a talk and asked me if this could be held in PLMC. I approached Poh Chye, the staff member in charge of facilities, and was pleasantly surprised when he told me that Rev Koh was willing to let me use one of the rooms, even though this was not for a church event. Furthermore, my appointment as Honorary Treasurer would only commence a month later in August 2006, so I was technically still only an ordinary member. Yet, here was Rev Koh bending over backwards to accomodate us, even though he was under no obligation to do so.

Incident Two

In March 2006, my then- cluster leaders had approached me to start a new cell. This cell was to be launched effective January 2007, be called 3L7 and to multiply out from the existing cell 3L2.
Sometime in December 2006, when gearing up for the launch, I was told by one of the cell members in 3L2 (who was identified as one of them coming over to join 3L7) that her husband would also like to join the newly-formed cell. We were supposed to use a book entitled "A Passionate Commitment" for our cell meetings, and so I had to get an additional copy of the book for him. I went to look for Asher, the church staff in charge of cell ministry but he was on an extended annual leave. I happened to bump into Rev Peter Koh in the church office, and when he heard my predicament, gave his own personal copy of the book to me! Here was yet another case of him going the extra mile.

Incident Three

This one was related to me by my then- cluster leader. She is based in PLMGS Primary as the church worker attached to the school. When Rev Koh first visited her office sometime in 2006, he found that it was pretty stuffy and thus recommended for it to be air-conditioned. By then, I was already the Honorary Treasurer and gladly approved the purchase. Once again, Rev Koh did not have to do so, but he stood up for the welfare of his staff.

Incident Four

This was also related to me by my then- cluster leader. After one of the chapel sessions during which Rev Koh was the speaker, he knelt down and helped to roll up the microphone wires even though it was not his job to do so. What he did was exemplary of a servant-leader.

Incident Five

This took place during the Ohana Church Camp in June 2007 and was related by one of the campers during the sharing session on the last day of the Camp. While the majority of us had arrived at the hotel in Kuala Lumpur either late in the morning or early in the afternoon on the first day of the Camp, Rev Koh only arrived late in the evening because he had some appointment in Singapore to attend to. Although tired from a long day, Rev Koh went down to the basement carpark in his hotel bedroom slippers when he heard that one of the cars had some trouble with the alarm, which was sounding incessantly. The member shared that he was very touched by Rev Koh's selflessness.

From these 5 incidents (and I am sure there are many others which I am unaware of), and adding to these the fact that he was specifically chosen by his predecessor Rev Dr Wee, one can conclude that Rev Peter Koh is actually a kind-hearted man who truly wants the best for PLMC. Yes, he may have had to take drastic actions against the likes of me and others whom he considers to be embracing heresies, but that is because he sincerely believes he is protecting the sheep that God has placed him in charge of at this season of his ministry.

I am very sure he does not have anything against me personally (just like I do not have anything against him personally). It is unfortunate that we stand at opposite ends as far as the grace gospel is concerned. However, my prayer is for restoration to take place in PLMC.

I have been told by some that my relationship with him has deteriorated to the extent of it becoming beyond redemption and repair. However, that is when we look at things from the natural, and I firmly believe that with God, all things are possible (Mt 19:26) . And so, I look forward to the day (hopefully this side of heaven) where Rev Koh and I can be caught up in a warm, brotherly embrace with tears flowing freely down our cheeks from our bloodshot eyes. Amen?