Thread: Convicted Teen Blogger Remanded in Singapore

Bangkok Post / DPA
June 2, 2015

A 16-year-old teen blogger in Singapore, who was convicted of distributing an obscene image and offending religious sentiment, was remanded in custody for three weeks on Tuesday.

Amos Yee was first arrested on March 29 after posting the offending messages online about the late Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

He had been on bail ahead of an expected sentencing hearing, but was instead remanded while the court waited for a report on whether he could undergo reformative training.

The prosecution noted that Yee had failed to attend scheduled appointments with a probation officer, and that he had republished a video and blog post condemning Lee and containing an explicit picture of him and late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The prosecution recommended a period in a Reformative Training Centre, a punishment reserved for young offenders between the age of 14 and 21 years of age.

The defence argued that reformative training would not be proportionate to his crime, and said that a "short period of incarceration should suffice."

Yee will next appear before the court on June 23. The minimum period of reformative training is 18 months, with a maximum of three years.

Convicted teen blogger remanded for three weeks in Singapore | Bangkok Post: news

Interesting rant by the 16 year old.

he had republished a video and blog post condemning Lee and containing an explicit picture of him and late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Jailed for having an opinion and a sense of humour, what a fukt up justice system they have.

Having been essentially warned he did it again. Stupidity has no bounds?

Fuxx prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and any monkey official !

Hope you see your kids die in from of your eyes before you die yourself !

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Having been essentially warned he did it again. Stupidity has no bounds?

you quite obviously aren't even a key board worrier. you mistake balls for stupidity. why is he being prosecuted at all . we could do with a few more like him. 16 and prepared to stand up and be counted. good luck to u young man. long may u live.

Originally Posted by Stinky

he had republished a video and blog post condemning Lee and containing an explicit picture of him and late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Jailed for having an opinion and a sense of humour, what a fukt up justice system they have.

Same throughout SE Asia....

Essentially, Asians are natural born fascists.

Order and compliance through the suppression of free expression and creativity not sanctioned by the State.

That is why there can be no free press, no challenge to authority and certainly no japery at the expense of those who impose the diktat.

The thing is, that is why Asia is just so boring with no culture of its own other than some dreary folkloric nonsense. Singapore hasn't even got that and instead of embracing modernism properly it prefers the politics of the moral straitjacket.

One really does yearn for Europe.

Order and compliance through the suppression of free expression and creativity not sanctioned by the State.

That is why there can be no free press, no challenge to authority and certainly no japery at the expense of those who impose the diktat.

interesting article in todays bangkok post related to the development of the thai mind under the present regime.


Four horsemen of Thai democracy ride on apathy | Bangkok Post: opinion

i think the writer must have been following some teak door threads.

I rather think a reasonable translation of Mak Ngai might be feckless indolence.

Too many commentators, Thai and farang alike, seem to sidetrack themselves by trying to divine some mysterious and elusive explanation for a supposedly unique Thai mindset which is portrayed as a cultural hallmark that doesn't exist elsewhere on the planet.

Occam's razor time in my view: stupid, lazy, greedy, selfish, self indulgent, irresponsible, juvenile, indifferent and criminal are all terms in the lexicon of human frailty which apply equally to all cultures and nationalities. About time the Thai accepted their faults and abandoned their cheap excuse for tolerating inadequacy and incompetence under the banner of their need to save face. It's simply a mechanism for evading responsibility and pervades their society like a fault line ripping continents apart.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Having been essentially warned he did it again. Stupidity has no bounds?

He's a fucking child, you moron.

Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk

Amos Yee was first arrested on March 29 after posting the offending messages online about the late Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Ironically being arrested for insulting a dead politician only proves Yee is right. That place needs a regime change.
Funny how these sniveling human rights liberals ignore gross violations like this when they happen in certain countries.

US Detains Singapore Teen Seeking Asylum

SINGAPORE —
A Singaporean teenager whose video posts and blogs mocking his government and its late founder landed him in jail twice has been detained in the U.S. where he is seeking asylum, his lawyer and a human rights group said Saturday.

The Human Rights Watch deputy director for Asia, Phil Robertson, called on the U.S. to recognize Amos Yee’s asylum claim, saying he has been consistently harassed by the Singapore government for publicly expressing his views on politics and religion and severely criticizing the city-state’s leaders, including late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Yee, 18, was imprisoned for six weeks in September on charges of hurting religious feelings of Christians and Muslims after he repeatedly breached bail conditions following a four-week prison sentence he served in July last year on the same charges.

He was also due to be called up for mandatory military service.

In US on tourist visa

His U.S. lawyer, Sandra Grossman, told the South China Morning Post on Saturday that Yee was likely detained at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport because he entered the country on a tourist visa despite an intention to apply for asylum.

She said Yee would have to undergo a credible fear interview by an asylum official, who would assess if he faces a credible fear of persecution or torture back home. She said the process usually takes a few days, but the holiday season could delay it. He would then appear before an immigration judge, but that could take years because of backlogs in the immigration system.

Yee, who won a local filmmaking prize at age 13, ruffled feathers in Singapore with a video blog laced with expletives as the city-state was mourning Lee’s death in March last year.

Crossing a red line

Such open criticism and lampooning of leaders is rarely seen in Singapore, where laws are strictly enforced. The government of the multiethnic state says Yee crossed the red line on religion when he mocked Christians and Muslims and the law had to be enforced on him to protect racial and religious harmony.

Robertson said Yee has faced intensive government surveillance and monitoring of his public and online comments.

“Amos Yee is the sort of classic political dissident that the U.N. Refugee Convention was designed to protect, and Human Rights Watch hopes the U.S. will recognize his asylum claim,” he said in a statement.

US Detains Singapore Teen Seeking Asylum

was he protesting or looking for attention to show off as they all do at this age ?

There is a country in Asia that is more childish than Singapore, I happen to be connected to this arsehole place through marriage.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

was he protesting or looking for attention to show off as they all do at this age ?

The latter.

Singapore Blogger, Seeking Asylum in US, Regrets 'Overly Rude' Posts

CHICAGO —
A Singaporean blogger who is seeking political asylum in the United States said Friday that he regretted making inflammatory posts that landed him in jail twice in his home country.

Amos Yee, 18, now detained in Illinois, told Reuters that videos he filmed insulting Singapore's late prime minister and various religions were in bad taste.

"It is hate speech, it is overly rude, it isn't good activism," Yee said by telephone from the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in Illinois. "I completely regret making those videos."

Yee's posts, and subsequent trials and convictions in Singapore, have stirred debate in the conservative city-state about censorship and free speech. Rights groups and the United Nations watched his trials closely.

Last year, Yee was convicted on charges of harassment and insulting a religious group over comments he made about former Singaporean Premier Lee Kuan Yew and Christians soon after Lee's death. His sentence amounted to four weeks in jail.

Another jail term

In September, Yee was sentenced to six weeks in jail after pleading guilty of posting comments on the internet critical of Christianity and Islam.

Yee arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on December 16 and told U.S. customs officials he was seeking political asylum.

The blogger said that he wanted to live in Illinois and had no plans to return to Singapore, a Southeast Asian city-state that has compulsory military service for males, which Yee said he would not take part in.

Yee should have his first hearing in front of a judge within two weeks, according to his attorney, Sandra Grossman. Yee has had no contact with the Singaporean government since arriving, he said.

While highly critical of actions of the U.S. government abroad, particularly drone strikes in the Middle East, Yee said the country provided the best platform for spreading his political message of anarchist communism and ending private property and wage labor.

"It is not going to the best country. This is about going to the country that most effectively promotes my political philosophy of anarchical communism," Yee said.

Singapore Blogger, Seeking Asylum in US, Regrets 'Overly Rude' Posts

his political message of anarchist communism and ending private property and wage labor.

the self centred little prick should have sought asylum in north korea then.

I don't like Singaporeans.

They are a pain in the arse to deal with, are never wrong and only think of one thing..me,me,me,me and me.

Good on this young fella.

One should not overlook the fact that Lee Kuan Yew was originally a communist.

^ I never knew that.

Old Harry new how to deal with Asians,that's for sure. He built a great country and also made himself rich, but that doesn't mean that you have to like the little kunts, though.

I wonder if there is such thing as a Chinese communist - it seems just a useful vehicle for Machiavellian/Sun-Tzu-ian power politics and traditional Chinese "Confucianism" (i.e.: feudalism)... a slightly more bureaucratic form of gangsterism. The nipper surely had a notion that his performance was likely to prompt a response - perhaps it seemed an easier way of emigrating than enduring years of the Singaporean "system" to get to the point where he might be able to organise work in the USA? Singporeans I've met seem very middle class and archetypes of the oriental spoilt brat. It's their status as a trade hub and the lack of any serious regional competition that seems to keep the whole show on the road.

Amos Yee: Singapore teen blogger freed with asylum in US


Mr Yee was released from a Chicago immigration facility on Tuesday


A Singaporean teenager has been released from jail in the US after an American government appeal against him being granted asylum was dismissed.


Amos Yee, known for his political and religious criticism, sought refuge in the US in December after being convicted twice in Singapore.
He was detained upon arrival and granted asylum in March but remained in jail because of the appeal.


On Tuesday the immigration appeals board ruled in his favour.


The board agreed that he had a "well-founded fear of future persecution in Singapore", and noted that he had made online postings critical of government officials.


Mr Yee was released from a Chicago immigration facility on Tuesday, saying he was "stunned".


He said that he had "plans for more videos, much of it criticising the Singapore government" and added that he may "broaden my work to US politics too", reported the Associated Press.


Mr Yee was known for his online videos which criticised religion and the authorities. Singapore has strict speech laws banning insult of religion and race, and he was jailed in 2015 and 2016.


His first conviction stemmed from an expletive-laden video attacking the late revered leader Lee Kuan Yew and Jesus Christ, which was released in the week that Mr Lee died.


The incident provoked widespread outrage among the Singaporean public, but also a debate on censorship. Rights groups have criticised the government for prosecuting Mr Yee.

Amos Yee: Singapore teen blogger freed with asylum in US - BBC News

...quite a slap on the tush for the Singaporean authorities: a citizen being granted political asylum elsewhere...I understand the youngster was accused of chewing gum as well...

and yet these 3 fukkers ponce around with immunity