Amos Yee – A few good men

Amos Yee was remanded, and remained in Changi Prison for 4 days as reported in the ST, when his parents failed to bail him out. It was like the end of the world. Without M Ravi, there seems to be no lawyers left in this island. And all the activists and human rights groups too were not anywhere to be found. It must be a very uncomfortable moment when hope has gone on sabbatical. Just when the people were lost as to what to do, looking around but no one is there to lend a helping hand to this child, despair and fear crept in.
 
And the ever efficient, uncompromising and professional police, knowing how dangerous this boy is, or how serious the charges are, made sure that he would not be up to any mischief anymore. The boy was handcuffed and his legs shackled, this one reported in the main media but no photographs, the images of Guantanamo flashed through my mind, and taken to court to hear the charges.
Below is copied from an article in TRE.

‘3 charges have been leveled against Amos under Section 298 and Section 292(1)(a) of the Penal Code, and 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.’

These are very serious charges. As the door was closing down on this boy, 3 lawyers appeared from no where to act on behalf of the boy on pro bono basis. And a good Christian counselor, or an ‘activist’ as reported in the main media, wondering what that word connotes, came out with the bail. Vincent Law, a family and youth counselor, said, ‘I am a Christian and it seems that the charge said that he made disparaging remarks against Christianity. I’m a Christian and I’m stepping up to say that I’m not offended. I’m also a parent and I feel for his parents.’ It is good that a Christian stood up to show that they have nothing against the boy and Amos is a boy and is forgiven. Hope this would settle the offending remarks against the Christian community and no Christians or Christians would come out to say their feelings are hurt or they felt harassed.
 
The 3 lawyers representing Amos Yee are Alfred Dodwell, Chong Jia Hao and Ervin Tan. Their position is that Amos is a boy and he has the right to be defended in the court of law to get a fair hearing. It is so refreshing to know that there are still some good men around to give a helping hand in times of desperation. What a relief for Amos, for his parents and for Singapore and Singaporeans to see that there is still light at the end of the tunnel. In the darkest hour, there is hope, there is God. And there is justice and righteousness. Hope I am not wrong on this.
 
A few good men, commanded by their conscience, have stood out to come to the aid of a hapless boy facing incredible odds, fighting for his freedom alone against the machinery of the state and the rule of law.
 
This boy really needs all the help available. God, your helping hand is needed to see that justice is done.

PS. Thought of posting this tomorrow but so many things are happening.

Amos Yee: It is happening – The flutter of a butterfly

This is going to be the flutter of a butterfly that turned into a storm. Roy Ngerng, the unpretentious young man working as a social worker in a hospital was charged for slandering the Prime Minister. Then he went for broke. While waiting for the court’s judgement on the sum he has to pay as compensation, he must be expecting this to be prohibitive, Roy has taken a stance that there is nothing to lose. He is going to fight for every inch of the ground. He has internationalized his case by speaking to the world.
 
Now there is the case of a 16 year old boy, Amos Yee, being charged for sedition for his rant in a youtube video clip. He is still under detention as his parents could not put up the bail. While some were muddling around on how to help this boy, some already started crowd funding to raise fund for this legal battle, here comes Roy.
 
Roy has written an open letter of appeal for help to these international agencies, to take up the case of Amos Yee on the ground of child abuse. This is what he wrote in his letter, ‘On 29 March 2015, a 16-year-old boy Amos Yee was arrested and charged on 31 March 2015, just two days later, after he made a video which criticised the late first prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Amos also spoke about the high income inequality in Singapore and attributed it to the first prime minister as well….’
 
UNICEF:
Catherine Barnett, CPWG
Children Rights Manifesto:
Child Rights Information Network:
Save the Children:
Defence for Children:
International Institute for Child Rights and Development:
Child Helpline International:
Free The Children
ActionAid

The internalization of this case, if successful, is not going to look good to the govt. The question is whether these agencies would respond to Roy’s letter or ignore him. Then would the other human rights groups and local activists pick up the cudgel?
 
In the internet there has been a lot of comments and agitation for more to be done for Amos Yee. Where would these two cases lead to? Can the govt afford to ignore them, keep quite, don’t do anything and let the court to go through its due processes? If the foreign agencies and the UN choose not act, things could die down very quickly. But if these agencies start to make a case with the govt, then it is not pretty.

Tan Chuan Jin – Better to lie low

This is a comment posted in an article in TRE on what Chuan Jin said, ‘Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who has been recently assigned to take over the Ministry for Social and Family Development from Chan Chun Sing, told residents at a community event yesterday (19 Apr) that the government’s work cuts across all constituencies, and all Singaporeans are meant to benefit from it, regardless of who they voted for.’ The comments following this post has reached 105 and counting. What is clear in these comments is that none of them believe a word that Chuan Jin said. Many were walloping him from left to right and reminding him of what the PAP represents and what some ministers had said and done to opposition constituencies. It is a pathetic effort to say the right thing but with no one believing it. It is worst when the listeners treated it as hogwash.
 
My advice to Chuan Jin is to talk less, I am not going to say rubbish, get out from the hot seat in MOM and enjoy a rest. Go carry babies and kiss babies like Chan Chun Sing did and lie low, lie very low and do not try to defend what is indefensible. Recently he has made several comments that were badly received. And the people were still furious why his ministry did not say or do anything about the IDA affair.
 
Do not say things that would spring back and hit straight in the face. It would not do any good to his poster boy image. It would harm him more and destroy whatever little credibility he has left. I must be truthful to say that his credibility is at the lowest in his short career.
 
If he does not believe what I said, I would invite him to read the comments in TRE. Please don’t waste time reading Reach if he wants to know the real ground feelings. And if he wants to do something during his last few days to salvage a little of the damage, go do something positive and serious in the IDA case that is burning across the social media. Everyone is waiting to see if he is real, if he is going to do something in the face of such an undisputable violation.
 
The ball is at Chuan Jin’s feet. Do something or keep quiet and get forgotten in MSF. Do not say things that will only enrage the angry mob that is rapidly losing faith in him.

Redbean Soup – The next best seller in the making!

I am half way through in the compilation of my book and have decided that the title shall be ‘Redbean Soup’. I think this is going to be a best seller with so many articles that are eye popping and jaw dropping.
 
I really enjoy the honour of having orders before the book is even written, a rarity reserved only for very established authors. And me only a blogger, not even a writer: ) Thank you for your faith in what is going into the book.
 
I am still talking to the publisher and targeting the book to be out by July. Hopefully earlier.
 
With the confirmation that the book will be published, I can continue to take orders now. Don’t miss out on this unusual best seller : )

More 'ang tau tng' serving.

South Africa witnessing anti foreigner rioting

Shops were burnt and looted. The South Africans were targeting the foreigners whom they accused of taking over their jobs and shops. According to Reuter, ‘a wave of anti-foreigner violence that has killed four people near the city of Durban threatened to spread, police said. South Africa has erected safe camps in Durban, a key port on South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast, for fleeing immigrants, whose shops were looted and burnt in the two-week old violence.’
 
Singapore is so blessed with a meek and law abiding citizenship that were wrongly accused of being xenophobic. The truth is that many were victims of bashing by the foreigners and racist comments reported in the main media. And the Singaporeans would just take the bashing and hoping that the law would be on their sides. If they dare to hit back they would have to face the law and a lawsuit would be costly. Many would choose to be the punching bag, not resisting or at best run away if they could.
 
Would the tolerance of foreigners and bashing by foreigners reach a state like in South Africa? No way. Singaporeans are too polite, too good, too timid, too small, to resort to violence. The recent riots were against Singaporeans in Little India with Singaporeans and the police ended up as the victims of the foreigners. Singaporeans would not riot against the foreigners. They love the foreigners. They want to integrate with the foreigners. They want to make the foreigners feel welcome here, have good jobs and be happy.
 
Please foreigners, be kind to the Singaporeans. They would not behave like the South Africans, riot and loot and burn the foreigners. Please treat the Singaporeans well, and if you have to bash them, be merciful, don’t hit too hard. The Singaporeans are physically small and weak and their bones would be broken quite easily. And please, do not riot or burn the shops. They belong to Singaporeans. Singaporeans are not xenophobic. If you are stupid enough not to know what is xenophobia, go and visit South Africa now. Then you will know how nice Singaporeans are to foreigners.
 
Now who is the next idiot who is going to stand up and accuse the Singaporeans for being xenophobic? Please send him to IMH.