The trail of sex and scandal that dogged The Family way

THE sleepy village of Hac Sa, nestling on the tip of Coloane Island, has always attracted tourists looking for tranquillity. But few were as unlikely, and often unwelcome, as the members of controversial religious cult The Family, who made Hac Sa their home, writes Allan Glen. Lured to the group by a heady mix of religion and free sex, once there were up to 70 members living under the guidance of the charismatic Jonathan Berg, son of the cult's controversial founder, David Berg. But the use of sex to hook new members, known as 'flirty fishing', soon provoked more sinister rumours . . . that the sect was simply a front for child sex and prostitution. Over the years, members of the Macau commune left to join up with other families in Russia, South America and Europe. And when, last summer, Jonathan Berg packed his bags and became, with his two 'wives' and nine children, the last cult members to leave Hac Sa, few villagers were sorry to see them go. One of the few cult members still in Macau said last week she had left after four years because 'I realised my mistake'. Mrs Yip, who refused to give her real name, said she joined The Family in 1990 because she was looking for 'something different'. She still lives in Hac Sa with her husband and seven children. 'In the end I just couldn't take any more and decided I had to get out, for the sake of my sanity, my husband and my children,' she said. 'It got to the stage where I was working a lot of hours for the group doing administration work, but at the end of every week I had to give all the money back to The Family. 'I was left with nothing to buy clothes for my family. If I wanted to buy shoes or a shirt for one of my children, I had to go on bended knees and ask Jonathan for the money. 'Sometimes he would give me it, but more often than not my request would be refused.' The cult was well known in Macau, and its members were often given donations for their 'church'. But although he conveyed himself as a deeply religious man, Berg was known to be keen on making money. The group's principal money-spinner was the Macau Horse Riding Centre, also in Hac Sa, but which now stands derelict and deserted. It is understood a villager has bought the six horses once kept there. Berg was a regular visitor to the luxurious Westin Resort holiday complex on Hac Sa beach, and was also often seen at the popular Fernando's restaurant in the centre of the village. One restaurant regular described him as a 'very odd character'. 'He used to slope about the village with his two wives on his arm, as if to say 'look at me, I've got two lovely women to sleep with',' said the man, who asked not to be named. 'The villagers here are quiet and reserved. This man flouted their culture and for that reason I don't think he or his group were very welcome. I'm glad they've left.' Berg always maintained 'his Family' were 'good people' who were being persecuted. But as investigations into the group's activities spread across the globe, so rumours about the Macau group grew. In recent years: Police in Buenos Aires raided several homes belonging to the sect in September last year, taking 268 children into protective custody and seizing allegedly pornographic videos; Sect members were probed in France, Spain, Australia, Venezuela and Peru following claims of forced labour, child abuse and prostitution; A three-year investigation in London, concluded in October, found evidence that up to 1,000 British children had been recruited and were probably living in communes; and, Investigators identified four Britons - two of them children - in a video found at a commune in the Philippines in 1992 that featured naked young girls. To the Macau villagers, the controversy came as no surprise. 'There was a lot of talk going around the village about what they got up to in the house,' said one villager who lived next to the cult for five years. 'Free love may be okay in places like America, but Hac Sa is just a small village of people who want to get on with their everyday lives. This is not New York or London where you can hide something like that. 'In the end the villagers decided enough was enough and made it very difficult for them to stay,' he said. 'I think Jonathan realised that he was fighting a losing battle and got out before it turned nasty.' Mrs Yip left the cult earlier this year but remained on 'friendly' terms with Berg and his followers. 'I didn't see why I should have to leave the village just because I had left the group,' she said. 'It was quite awkward living next door to them after I left but I tried to make the most of it. The members would ask me to come back but I just refused. 'I don't keep in touch with Jonathan or any of the other members anymore and I have no desire to see any of them.' The owner of the house rented by the cult said it would cost 'thousands' to redecorate. The woman, who asked not to be named, said no one had lived there since the sect left in June. 'They left very quickly. None of them said goodbye or thank you. They were not exactly friendly,' she said.