Clash of leaders. Co-founder: I was abused repeatedly

The Straits Times (Singapore)/July 11, 1997

While he was a founder and a key leader of the Central Christian Church, Mr. Daniel Eng said he was called "a dog" and a "conniving snake" by his co-founder, Mr. John Philip Louis. He added that Mr. Louis would also shout at him and accuse him of being arrogant, proud or sinful regularly. He said that is was such abusive behavior on the part of the church's leaders that made him leave the church.

To support his claim, he gave examples which he said showed that the abuse took place even during casual conversations. He said Mr. Louis once asked him to rate his performance in a service. So he said that Mr. Louis was "too aggressive." "As soon as I had said that, he started to accuse me of being proud, arrogant and not having a disciple's heart," said Mr. Eng. "He said I should instead concentrate on the positive parts and not the negative parts of his life."

Contrary to what Mr. Louis had said, Mr. Eng pointed out that he was not testifying against his former church out of malice for having been sacked by the church. He said that he had not wanted to get involved at first in the present trial as "this was the past." "I did not want to come back to Singapore," he said. "People here have said so much garbage about me."

He agreed to testify only late last year, after much persuasion from defense counsel Tan Chee Meng, because he felt he "needed to correct the wrong," he said.