(Warning: Distressing references ahead)
Here I am, on the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan as per time of writing, writing about some Singaporean guy who ran his mouth so bad, he caused multiple headaches across two different countries. You see, as per my stance across multiple pieces of article, freedom of speech is an essential part of a functioning society. Without freedom of speech, any discourse would simply be obsolete, as the top majorities be it big government or big tech that would dictate the society's school of thought. But I must iterate something here. While freedom of speech is encouraged, it doesn't shield you from the consequences that it may cause. We've seen how it would turn out with those LGBT discourses being slammed and condemned due to its main target audiences, i.e., underage kids.
When it comes to the region of Southeast Asia, the region I proudly call home, the notion of freedom of speech is quite grey to say the least, as some countries have varying degrees of control of speech. In Singapore, these rights are restricted to some degree as Singaporeans are not protected against government-sanctioned surveillance and varying constrictions of credible opposition parties' growth in terms of freedom of expression, assembly, and association, while also guaranteeing the rights of peaceful assembly without arms.
And from this country too, came a former child actor turned social commentator turned online creep named Amos Yee. He was born Amos Yee Pang Sang, on the 31st of October 1998, just two years younger than yours truly. He was initially raised a Catholic, but then turned to Atheism after he was kicked out of his congregation. Back then, he was known as a child actor with esteemed accolades, as evidenced with his award-winning short film Jan, which is a "self-written, self-directed film" he made when he was 13 years of age. The film was so successful, Singaporean filmmaker Jack Neo took Yee under his wing and offered him an internship, as well as an audition offer to Neo's film, We Not Naughty, which revolved around juvenile delinquency. And from his foray with Neo, young Amos Yee continued to the path of satirical comedy, or as we call it in Indonesia, "Cliff-edge comedy" (komedi tepi jurang). Hell, prior to his first scandal, he already uploaded several videos on his YouTube channel detailing various subjects, most notably abut Singapore's ban on same homosexuality and his decision to drop out of school to focus on his YouTube career.
And in 2015, Amos Yee's first entanglement with law happened on 28 March. To better explain the context, five days prior, Singapore lost its first Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew after a bout against severe pneumonia. Naturally, the entire city-state mourned the departure of the esteemed statesman, who was the first ever Prime Minister along with Yusof bin Ishak acting as the first President after Singapore's involuntary independence from Malaysia in 1965. Everyone was saddened by the news, everyone except Amos Yee. The jack-butt had the audacity to post a nine-minute video tarnishing LKY's legacy, calling him a "horrible person", an "awful leader" and the most heinous of all, a "dictator but managed to fool most of the world to think he was democratic". He even challenged Mr. Lee's son and current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The video itself resulted in more than 30 police calls, and even after that, Yee doubled down by producing and publishing a picture depicting Prime Minister Lee doing an intimate act on former British Prime Minister Margaret "The Iron Lady" Thatcher. He was arrested and charged with three counts of harassment, based on his video essays and his obscene picture. He was initially released on bail with condition of he must not post any content while the case is still ongoing which he breached by posting two blog posts. From this case, he was sentenced to 4 weeks imprisonment and the bail was set at SG$ 10.000.
His second case was a blasphemy case. It all started on 27 November 2015 when he addressed Businessman Alvin Cheng's comments about terrorism and proceeded to mock the religion of Islam. This resulted in another arrest and another incarceration, this time for six weeks. While serving his jail time, he was visited by US-based Singaporean activist Melissa Chin and by her own admission, provided Yee with documents needed for Amos to flee the country to the States. In December 2016, Amos Yee fled to the United States via Chicago O'Hare Airport to seek political asylum. Shortly after his arrival, he was detained by the Immigration and spent his 9 months pending his asylum status in two places, those being McHenry County Jail in Illinois and Dodge County Detention Facility in Wisconsin. By doing this, he also breached another Singaporean law, this time about compulsory military service for Singaporean men when he turned 18 years of age. Singapore is one of few countries like the two countries in the Korean Peninsula, as well as Finland to have mandatory military conscription for their citizens over the age of 18.
You may think that Amos Yee's shenanigans in his home country is dangerous enough, but in the US, he became something more sinister: an advocate for pedophilia. In November 2017, he uploaded three videos on YouTube, all discussing his views in favor of grown adults initiating intimate advances on minors. This time, the banhammer was swift, those videos eventually got all of his social media accounts banned and his Harvard invitation rescinded. And to put a cherry on top of this filth-infested cake, he was arrested in Illinois in October 2020 on state charges of solicitation and possession of child pornography after an allegation of him exchanging risqué contents and messages with a 14-year-old Texas girl. He was denied internet access during custody and his bail was set on US$ 1 Million. He initially plead not guilty to the charges in November 2020, he eventually accepted a plea deal in late 2021 in exchange of a six-year incarceration, with the implication of deportation, denied future entries to the US and ultimately denied of naturalization as a U.S. citizen. If he would be deported, he still has to face the charge of draft evasion by fleeing to America, and in turn, failed to report for enlistment in the first place, a crime that carries up to 3 years in prison and a SG$10.000 fine under Singaporean law.
When it comes to someone like Amos Yee, this is the case of someone testing the limits of freedom of speech and its implications, while at the same time, toying with the notion that nothing is off limits, even if it means that some parts of their statement might be detrimental to their own well-being as well as others surrounding them. Yes, freedom of speech is highly encouraged in this day and age, but as like other forms of expression, every statement has its consequences. And by guaranteeing freedom of speech doesn't guarantee freedom of consequences either. For Amos Yee, for all of the stuff that you've done, I hope you find peace for yourself.
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