News Digest

Singapore police arrest 17 year-old over anti-Lee Kuan Yew video

Singaporean police on Sunday arrested a 17-year-old teenager who posted a YouTube video which celebrated the death of the country’s first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. It came on the same day Lee was honoured in an elaborate funeral. Police received 20 reports against the Amos Yee since March 27, when he first posted the video. In the eight-minute long video titled “Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!”, Amos says that the late “Lee Kuan Yew is a horrible person because everyone is afraid that if they say something like that, they might get into trouble.” Amos compared the late Lee to Jesus Christ, by saying both figures “are both power-hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking they are both compassionate and kind”.

[Lee] was a dictator but managed to fool most of the world to think he was democratic… by granting [Singaporeans] the opportunity to vote to make it seem like we have freedom of choice.

Amos Yee

One student - Yuen Wei Ping - who filed a police report said that Amos’ video “made insensitive comments against the late Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) as well as against the Christian faith”.  Yuen said the video’s content could be an offence under Section 298 of the Penal Code. Under this section, anyone found uttering words “with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person” could be sentence to 3 years imprisonment, a fine, or both. In the video, Amos issued a challenge to prime minister Lee Hsien Loong - who is the son of the late Lee Kuan Yew, when he asked if the latter wanted to sue him for his opinions on the video.

If Lee Hsien Loong wishes to sue me, I will oblige to dance with him.

Amos Yee