Bebel Without a Clause

Bebel Without a Clause

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Teenager Amos Yee was charged today (31 Mar) in the State Courts with multiple charges. He was arrested on Sunday (29 Mar) for a video he posted that allegedly celebrated the death of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The eight-minute-long video also included remarks about Christianity that some people found insensitive.

The three charges, which were read out to him in court today, were under Section 298 and Section 292(1)(a) of the Penal Code, as well as Section 4(1)(b) of the Protection from Harassment Act:

Penal Code
Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious or racial feelings of any person
298.  Whoever, with deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person, or makes any gesture in the sight of that person, or places any object in the sight of that person, or causes any matter however represented to be seen or heard by that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both.
Sale of obscene books, etc.
292. (1) Whoever -
(a) sells, lets to hire, distributes, transmits by electronic means, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation, or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, transmission, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces, or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure, or any other obscene object whatsoever;
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine, or with both.
Protection from Harassment Act (2014)
Harassment, alarm or distress
4. (1)  No person shall by any means -
(a) use any threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour; or
(b) make any threatening, abusive or insulting communication,
which is heard, seen or otherwise perceived by any person (referred to for the purposes of this section as the victim) likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.
(2)  Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and, subject to section 8, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.

For the first charge under Section 298, the charge sheet stated that the YouTube video created by Amos Yee “contained remarks against Christianity, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians in general”.

As for the Protection from Harassment Act charge, Amos Yee’s video “contained remarks about Mr Lee Kuan Yew which was intended to be heard and seen by persons likely to be distressed” by the clip, according to the charge sheet.

The Court also granted him a bail amount set at $20,000, under the condition that he will not post, upload or otherwise distribute any comment or content, whether directly or indirectly, to any social media or online service or website, while the current case against him is ongoing. The amount has been posted, and he is out on bail.

After the charges were read, his father told reporters, “I want to take the opportunity to say very sorry to Prime Minister Lee.”

The video, called Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!, had been viewed more than 600,000 times.

Lawyer Chia Boon Teck, who was among those who made police reports against the teenager, said:

“Mr Lee spent his life helping Singaporeans to put food on the table and build roofs over our heads. Since we need not worry about food and shelter, we can indulge in contemplating our right to hurt others with our words in the name of freedom of speech.”

News of Amos Yee’s arrest has made headlines over the world (‘Arrest of Amos Yee made World News‘).

One person who was upset with the teenager for creating the video is Telok Blangah grassroots leader Jason Tan. In a Facebook post, Mr Tan has threatened to cut off the teenager’s penis and “put it in his mouth” (‘Grassroots leader threatens to cut off boy’s penis‘):



Mr Tan has since deleted his Facebook page.

Meanwhile, a netizen Abdul Salim Harun told TRE that he made a similar police report against former YPAP member Jason Neo in 2011.

At the time Jason Neo had posted a religiously and racially offensive caption to a photo which he uploaded on his Facebook page.

The posting showed a photo he had taken of a school bus with Malay children from Huda Kindergarten, in Woodlands, dressed in their uniform which includes traditional Malay headwear. On the photo, Jason Neo captioned it as:

“Bus filled with young terrorist trainees?”
(i.e, implying that the Malay children from Huda Kindergarten were “terrorist trainees”)

Jason Neo’s posting caused a furor online and police reports were made against him.

In Jan 2012, Mr Abdul received a letter from the police informing him that investigation is still in progress:



About a year later on 25 March 2013, Mr Abdul posted a note online saying that he still had not received any updates from the police with regard to their investigation on Jason Neo’s racist remark.

Yesterday (30 Mar 2015), Mr Abdul told TRE that since the last letter he received from the police in Jan 2012, he has heard nothing. That is, more than 3 years have past and nothing is heard on the outcome of the investigation on Jason Neo (‘No news on Jason Neo case after more than 3 years‘).

But in the case of Amos Yee, it appears that the police were very efficient in conducting their investigation, able to bring charges against the teenager in a record time of 4 days, after he posted the offending video on 27 Mar.

Yee’s pre-trial conference has been set for two weeks from now, at 4pm on Apr 17
Teenager Amos Yee was charged today (31 Mar) in the State Courts with multiple charges. He was arrested on Sunday (29 Mar) for a video he posted that allegedly celebrated the death of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The eight-minute-long video also included remarks about Christianity that some people found insensitive.

The three charges, which were read out to him in court today, were under Section 298 and Section 292(1)(a) of the Penal Code, as well as Section 4(1)(b) of the Protection from Harassment Act:

Penal Code
Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious or racial feelings of any person
298.  Whoever, with deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person, or makes any gesture in the sight of that person, or places any object in the sight of that person, or causes any matter however represented to be seen or heard by that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both.
Sale of obscene books, etc.
292. (1) Whoever -
(a) sells, lets to hire, distributes, transmits by electronic means, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation, or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, transmission, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces, or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure, or any other obscene object whatsoever;
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine, or with both.
Protection from Harassment Act (2014)
Harassment, alarm or distress
4. (1)  No person shall by any means -
(a) use any threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour; or
(b) make any threatening, abusive or insulting communication,
which is heard, seen or otherwise perceived by any person (referred to for the purposes of this section as the victim) likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.
(2)  Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and, subject to section 8, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.

For the first charge under Section 298, the charge sheet stated that the YouTube video created by Amos Yee “contained remarks against Christianity, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians in general”.

As for the Protection from Harassment Act charge, Amos Yee’s video “contained remarks about Mr Lee Kuan Yew which was intended to be heard and seen by persons likely to be distressed” by the clip, according to the charge sheet.

The Court also granted him a bail amount set at $20,000, under the condition that he will not post, upload or otherwise distribute any comment or content, whether directly or indirectly, to any social media or online service or website, while the current case against him is ongoing. The amount has been posted, and he is out on bail.

After the charges were read, his father told reporters, “I want to take the opportunity to say very sorry to Prime Minister Lee.”

The video, called Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!, had been viewed more than 600,000 times.

Lawyer Chia Boon Teck, who was among those who made police reports against the teenager, said:

“Mr Lee spent his life helping Singaporeans to put food on the table and build roofs over our heads. Since we need not worry about food and shelter, we can indulge in contemplating our right to hurt others with our words in the name of freedom of speech.”

News of Amos Yee’s arrest has made headlines over the world (‘Arrest of Amos Yee made World News‘).

One person who was upset with the teenager for creating the video is Telok Blangah grassroots leader Jason Tan. In a Facebook post, Mr Tan has threatened to cut off the teenager’s penis and “put it in his mouth” (‘Grassroots leader threatens to cut off boy’s penis‘):



Mr Tan has since deleted his Facebook page.

Meanwhile, a netizen Abdul Salim Harun told TRE that he made a similar police report against former YPAP member Jason Neo in 2011.

At the time Jason Neo had posted a religiously and racially offensive caption to a photo which he uploaded on his Facebook page.

The posting showed a photo he had taken of a school bus with Malay children from Huda Kindergarten, in Woodlands, dressed in their uniform which includes traditional Malay headwear. On the photo, Jason Neo captioned it as:

“Bus filled with young terrorist trainees?”
(i.e, implying that the Malay children from Huda Kindergarten were “terrorist trainees”)

Jason Neo’s posting caused a furor online and police reports were made against him.

In Jan 2012, Mr Abdul received a letter from the police informing him that investigation is still in progress:



About a year later on 25 March 2013, Mr Abdul posted a note online saying that he still had not received any updates from the police with regard to their investigation on Jason Neo’s racist remark.

Yesterday (30 Mar 2015), Mr Abdul told TRE that since the last letter he received from the police in Jan 2012, he has heard nothing. That is, more than 3 years have past and nothing is heard on the outcome of the investigation on Jason Neo (‘No news on Jason Neo case after more than 3 years‘).

But in the case of Amos Yee, it appears that the police were very efficient in conducting their investigation, able to bring charges against the teenager in a record time of 4 days, after he posted the offending video on 27 Mar.

Yee’s pre-trial conference has been set for two weeks from now, at 4pm on Apr 17

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