SINGAPORE: A group of members who were expelled from the Soka Gakkai Singapore (SGS) Buddhist group turned to the High Court in hopes to reverse the decision, but failed in their bid.
The 20 of them had been expelled as they formed a WhatsApp group chat called "Solidarity of Genuine Sensei's Disciples" (SGSD), which they described as the Buddhist equivalent of a Bible study group. One of their main leaders was an expelled former member of SGS.
SGS found that the subgroup was a "faction" and contrary to the interests and harmony of the main group. After fixing disciplinary committee hearings which the claimants did not attend, SGS expelled them.
The 20 expelled members then turned to the High Court seeking a declaration that the decisions of the SGS to expel them from membership were made "in breach of the rules of natural justice" or were irrational or unreasonable, and are therefore null and void.
In a judgment released on Tuesday (Jul 8), Justice Philip Jeyaretnam dismissed the application by the 20 members: Tang Huixian; See Soon Leong; Loi Wei Ling; Tan Ying Wei, Melvin; Quek Kwang Hwee, Vincent; Chua Yu Zhang; Tiang Tsui Ling Serene; Chan Wei-lien Aaron; Chua Wen Hui; Lee Kang Hee; Tang Sok Mun, Joy; Kuek Yong Liang; Tan Han Peng; Ang Wei Ming, Kevin; Wong Fui Yoong; Ang Pei Shan, Grace; Foo Chuan Hui; Ang Wai Loong, Sebastian; Chen Kezhi, Dennies; and Hou Chun Choon.
They were represented by Choo Zheng Xi, Tan Jin Yi and Donaven Foo from RCL Chambers, while SGS was represented by Goh Kok Yeow, Andrew Goh and Alvin Sng from De Souza Lim & Goh.
SGS is a Buddhist organisation practising Nichiren Buddhism in Singapore, registered first as a society in 1972 and a charity in 1985.
Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism originating in Japan, founded by the Buddhist priest Nichiren.
SGS is part of an international network of affiliated organisations under Soka Gakkai International, and the only constituent organisation of Soka Gakkai International in Singapore.
According to SGS' constitution, management of its affairs is invested in its management committee.
Its constitution allows for the expulsion of members, for reasons including breaching any provision of its constitution, rules and bylaws or doing something "against the interests or harmony of the association".
According to the claimants, SGSD is an informal group of family and friends who came to study and practise Nichiren Buddhism together and encourage each other in their faith.
The chat group was created around February 2021 and subsequently renamed "Solidarity of Genuine Sensei's Disciples".
Their main activity comprised monthly study sessions over Zoom video call, and they also pooled funds to purchase study materials and develop a mobile application.
Around 2015, some of them pooled funds for a media project relating to the passing of a founding president of Soka Gakkai.
In early August 2022, one of SGSD's members revealed the existence of the group to an SGS leader. He is no longer a member of SGSD, and is the former husband of one of the claimants.
The managing committee of SGS decided that the formation of the group was unorthodox and unacceptable and required further investigation.
The Buddhist Council of SGS, which is in charge of matters of faith, took the view that the alleged members of the group who were leaders of SGS would have their leadership statuses revoked pending investigations.
Senior leaders of SGS later made statements during training sessions for its leaders about SGSD, saying they had held their own activities, "completely ignoring" SGS and soliciting donations from members, in violation of the principles of SGS.
The senior leaders also charged that the members of SGSD had "spread resentment and dissatisfaction towards SGS and its central figures", and that their most serious offence was "disrupting the harmony of the Buddhist Order, which is considered one of the five cardinal sins in Buddhism".
The senior leaders said SGS leaders needed to "confront the influence of evil" and "crush the malicious actions".
They then said they would contact SGSD members for discussions to encourage them to stop associating with "this faction".
SGS set up disciplinary committees to look into the matter and fixed hearings, but none of the 20 members attended them. They said SGS had not provided them enough information to effectively respond to the charge stated in the notices.
The hearings were held and the disciplinary committee panels reported their deliberations, findings and conclusions to the management committee.
In December 2023 and February 2024, SGS sent letters to the 20 claimants informing them of the outcome and requesting their resignations.
The claimants did not resign, as they did not think SGS had any basis to call for their resignation.
SGS then issued notices of expulsion to them in March 2024.
The claimants said the leadership of SGS was set against SGSD, and that the disciplinary committees and management committee were tainted by apparent bias.
However, the judge reviewed transcripts of recordings of the training sessions and found that "a fair-minded observer attending these sessions would have considered them to be good faith attempts by SGS leadership to look into SGSD".
"A fair description of them using milder religious language would be that they were an attempt to bring the claimants back into the fold," said the judge.
"Indeed, a fair-minded observer would have been surprised that those of the claimants who were present at the dialogue sessions did not take the opportunity to explain, if it were possible, how SGSD could be reconciled with the core principle of unity even though it stood outside the organisational structure of SGS," he said.
He said it was "striking" that instead of recognising what were "obviously valid concerns of SGS leadership", some of the claimants had to resort to secretly recording the sessions.
"The purpose of such recordings can only have been for use in anticipated legal proceedings," said the judge. "Such conduct strongly suggests that the claimants were not seeking compromise let alone making any effort to seek unity."
Counsel for the claimants suggested that the name of SGSD came about merely as a name for a WhatsApp group chat formed during the COVID-19 pandemic days, when group members could not meet in person.
But the judge said this "anodyne description did not seem entirely accurate given the evidence of SGSD's activities".
He said establishing a self-directed subgroup of SGS members led by an expelled former member of SGS was something the management committee considered inconsistent with SGS' interests or membership.
Justice Jeyaretnam found that the claimants had been given ample notice of the allegations they had to answer in the disciplinary committee hearings.
"As it turned out, none of the claimants attended the (hearings)," he said. "I would infer that this was a coordinated position and choice on the part of the claimants, which itself indicated that they were operating as a group."
He found that SGS had given the claimants a full and fair opportunity to be heard at the disciplinary committee hearings, but the claimants "chose not to avail themselves of this opportunity and cannot complain that they were denied the right to be heard".
"The argument that the decision to expel the claimants was irrational has no basis whatsoever," said Justice Jeyaretnam.
"The short point is that (there was) ample evidence of SGSD being an organised group with an expelled former member of SGS as a central leadership figure and having objectives and activities that were not authorised by SGS," he said.
In dismissing the application, the judge said this does not mean that the claimants are not free to pursue their faith, only that they must do so outside membership of SGS.
Costs were awarded to SGS.
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The 20 of them had been expelled as they formed a WhatsApp group chat called "Solidarity of Genuine Sensei's Disciples" (SGSD), which they described as the Buddhist equivalent of a Bible study group. One of their main leaders was an expelled former member of SGS.
SGS found that the subgroup was a "faction" and contrary to the interests and harmony of the main group. After fixing disciplinary committee hearings which the claimants did not attend, SGS expelled them.
The 20 expelled members then turned to the High Court seeking a declaration that the decisions of the SGS to expel them from membership were made "in breach of the rules of natural justice" or were irrational or unreasonable, and are therefore null and void.
In a judgment released on Tuesday (Jul 8), Justice Philip Jeyaretnam dismissed the application by the 20 members: Tang Huixian; See Soon Leong; Loi Wei Ling; Tan Ying Wei, Melvin; Quek Kwang Hwee, Vincent; Chua Yu Zhang; Tiang Tsui Ling Serene; Chan Wei-lien Aaron; Chua Wen Hui; Lee Kang Hee; Tang Sok Mun, Joy; Kuek Yong Liang; Tan Han Peng; Ang Wei Ming, Kevin; Wong Fui Yoong; Ang Pei Shan, Grace; Foo Chuan Hui; Ang Wai Loong, Sebastian; Chen Kezhi, Dennies; and Hou Chun Choon.
They were represented by Choo Zheng Xi, Tan Jin Yi and Donaven Foo from RCL Chambers, while SGS was represented by Goh Kok Yeow, Andrew Goh and Alvin Sng from De Souza Lim & Goh.
WHAT HAPPENED
SGS is a Buddhist organisation practising Nichiren Buddhism in Singapore, registered first as a society in 1972 and a charity in 1985.
Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism originating in Japan, founded by the Buddhist priest Nichiren.
SGS is part of an international network of affiliated organisations under Soka Gakkai International, and the only constituent organisation of Soka Gakkai International in Singapore.
According to SGS' constitution, management of its affairs is invested in its management committee.
Its constitution allows for the expulsion of members, for reasons including breaching any provision of its constitution, rules and bylaws or doing something "against the interests or harmony of the association".
According to the claimants, SGSD is an informal group of family and friends who came to study and practise Nichiren Buddhism together and encourage each other in their faith.
The chat group was created around February 2021 and subsequently renamed "Solidarity of Genuine Sensei's Disciples".
Their main activity comprised monthly study sessions over Zoom video call, and they also pooled funds to purchase study materials and develop a mobile application.
Around 2015, some of them pooled funds for a media project relating to the passing of a founding president of Soka Gakkai.
In early August 2022, one of SGSD's members revealed the existence of the group to an SGS leader. He is no longer a member of SGSD, and is the former husband of one of the claimants.
The managing committee of SGS decided that the formation of the group was unorthodox and unacceptable and required further investigation.
The Buddhist Council of SGS, which is in charge of matters of faith, took the view that the alleged members of the group who were leaders of SGS would have their leadership statuses revoked pending investigations.
Senior leaders of SGS later made statements during training sessions for its leaders about SGSD, saying they had held their own activities, "completely ignoring" SGS and soliciting donations from members, in violation of the principles of SGS.
The senior leaders also charged that the members of SGSD had "spread resentment and dissatisfaction towards SGS and its central figures", and that their most serious offence was "disrupting the harmony of the Buddhist Order, which is considered one of the five cardinal sins in Buddhism".
The senior leaders said SGS leaders needed to "confront the influence of evil" and "crush the malicious actions".
They then said they would contact SGSD members for discussions to encourage them to stop associating with "this faction".
SGS set up disciplinary committees to look into the matter and fixed hearings, but none of the 20 members attended them. They said SGS had not provided them enough information to effectively respond to the charge stated in the notices.
The hearings were held and the disciplinary committee panels reported their deliberations, findings and conclusions to the management committee.
In December 2023 and February 2024, SGS sent letters to the 20 claimants informing them of the outcome and requesting their resignations.
The claimants did not resign, as they did not think SGS had any basis to call for their resignation.
SGS then issued notices of expulsion to them in March 2024.
The claimants said the leadership of SGS was set against SGSD, and that the disciplinary committees and management committee were tainted by apparent bias.
JUDGE'S FINDINGS
However, the judge reviewed transcripts of recordings of the training sessions and found that "a fair-minded observer attending these sessions would have considered them to be good faith attempts by SGS leadership to look into SGSD".
"A fair description of them using milder religious language would be that they were an attempt to bring the claimants back into the fold," said the judge.
"Indeed, a fair-minded observer would have been surprised that those of the claimants who were present at the dialogue sessions did not take the opportunity to explain, if it were possible, how SGSD could be reconciled with the core principle of unity even though it stood outside the organisational structure of SGS," he said.
He said it was "striking" that instead of recognising what were "obviously valid concerns of SGS leadership", some of the claimants had to resort to secretly recording the sessions.
"The purpose of such recordings can only have been for use in anticipated legal proceedings," said the judge. "Such conduct strongly suggests that the claimants were not seeking compromise let alone making any effort to seek unity."
Counsel for the claimants suggested that the name of SGSD came about merely as a name for a WhatsApp group chat formed during the COVID-19 pandemic days, when group members could not meet in person.
But the judge said this "anodyne description did not seem entirely accurate given the evidence of SGSD's activities".
He said establishing a self-directed subgroup of SGS members led by an expelled former member of SGS was something the management committee considered inconsistent with SGS' interests or membership.
Justice Jeyaretnam found that the claimants had been given ample notice of the allegations they had to answer in the disciplinary committee hearings.
"As it turned out, none of the claimants attended the (hearings)," he said. "I would infer that this was a coordinated position and choice on the part of the claimants, which itself indicated that they were operating as a group."
He found that SGS had given the claimants a full and fair opportunity to be heard at the disciplinary committee hearings, but the claimants "chose not to avail themselves of this opportunity and cannot complain that they were denied the right to be heard".
"The argument that the decision to expel the claimants was irrational has no basis whatsoever," said Justice Jeyaretnam.
"The short point is that (there was) ample evidence of SGSD being an organised group with an expelled former member of SGS as a central leadership figure and having objectives and activities that were not authorised by SGS," he said.
In dismissing the application, the judge said this does not mean that the claimants are not free to pursue their faith, only that they must do so outside membership of SGS.
Costs were awarded to SGS.
Continue reading...