Kong Hee and Superman

I was at KL with close friends in the mid-August weekend and so didn't have the chance to read the Saturday straits times. But I came back on Sunday night and stumbled upon this intriguing exchange between pastor Kong Hee and his former loyal supporter, Chew Eng Han, in the city harvest trial.

It reads, "As the originator of the Crossover Project, senior pastor of City Harvest and a man of God, wouldn't it be responsible and right for you to take responsibility as the key decision-maker for the financing of the project?" Chew asked.

The 49-year-old, who has been on the stand all this week, answered: "I wish I could do everything and be a Superman... But the church is so big. It is very difficult for one man to make all the decisions." Mm...

Lesson? I guess I can see 5 similarities between Pastor Kong and Superman.

First, Superman always kept his identity from the public. He therefore led a double life, a nerd by day and Super-dude by night (so to speak). Pastor Kong also led a "double life", that is, he is a fierce leader by the pulpit and a meek follower by the stand.

Second, we all know Superman wore his underwear outside for whatever reasons. This is actually a metaphor for "airing your dirty linens in public". Unfortunately, Pastor Kong shared this public fetish with the man of steel too. They both aired their linens in public except that one was more firmly held than the other.

Thirdly, when he came of age, Superman visited an icy place where he talked to a hologram of his father, Jor-El. It's not real of course. Now in 1999, Pastor Kong had the same experience with the crossover project. Again, it's not real of course.

Fourthly, we know that Superman is bullet-proof. He could also run faster than a bullet train and leap over a skyscraper. Here, symbolically speaking, Pastor Kong also believed all that (and probably still believed in it). The sorry fact is that both are clearly delusional. One is a make-believe character and the other is a character belief-making.

Finally, Pastor Kong and Superman both wanted to save the world. Superman does it by going into the world without changing himself. He is still the cape-cladding, underwear super-model hero. Pastor Kong does it by going into and transforming into the world, that is, from a Bible thumping preacher to a hip-gyrating supporter. Cheerz