Some have questioned the Singapore Buddhist Federation’s decision to form a committee to judge the Venerable Ming Yi.

The Straits Times reported that the panel’s scope and composition has come under scrutiny, with a senior monk, the Venerable Kwang Hian, asking who would be qualified to sit on a panel to judge one of their own.

Venerable Kwang Hian sits on the Sangha Council in Singapore, a disciplinary panel for Thai Buddhist monks.

The Singapore Buddhist Federation said previously that such a panel will appease calls for the Venerable Ming Yi to answer for the charges that led up to his six-month imprisonment this year.

Forgive and forget

Supporters of the Venerable Ming Yi, especially those from his Foo Hai Chan monastery, say that he has already paid his due in prison and that this matter should be forgotten.

In a surprising turn of events, The New Paper reported today that the Venerable Sik Kwang Sheng, president of the Singapore Buddhist Federation, had also encouraged the Buddhist community to move on and focus in the right direction.

The paper quoted him as saying that there was no point in raking up the past over and over, although he did not condone what the Venerable Ming Yi had done in the first place.

However, he did not rule out the possibility of the disciplinary panel.