How to Bust Bogus Monastics in Singapore
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More @ http://tinyurl. com/bogusbust
http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/operation-bogus-bust-part-2/
More Policing Against Bogus Monastics Needed
From the complaints of various friends, the appearance of bogus monastics or so-called ‘Buddhist monks and nuns (in white)’ is clearly still a recurring problem in Singapore. They thrive partly due to the still prevalent ignorance of the public that they are unholy confidence tricksters in disguise. As such, it would be good if the Singapore Police Force (SPF) regularly reminds the public via various media that such criminals should be reported and not supported.
This is especially so as under the Miscellaneous Offences Act, ‘anyone who collects alms or solicits charitable contributions under false pretences can be fined up to $2,000 or jailed up to three months, or both.’ Educational posters created by SPF in various languages put up at public places of worship and housing estates could prove useful in stamping out bogus monastics too.
In the past, bogus monastics usually stood stationary at busy public places to solicit for money (instead of food or basic non-monetary daily requisites, which is what genuine monastics would seek locally). However, after some legal scares, these criminals are much smarter nowadays, by being mobile with their bowls, moving from place to place. With this change in their methodology, it is much harder to apprehend them, even when the police are called for.
If the police wish to more conscientiously trace and weed out these increasingly cunning illegal elements, they ought to respond to calls upon sightings of bogus monastics by arriving swiftly in plain clothes to tail bogus monastics to their headquarters. From personal experience a few years back, I once called the police for investigating the identities of two bogus monastics, who were standing outside the popular temple at Waterloo Street. To my surprise, they had informers. Upon sighting two uniformed policemen some fifty metres away, the ‘monks’ fled, while the police arrived puzzled at the empty crime scene.
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Karma.
