Amos Yee, a 16-years-old boy, seems naïve and timid and but he is the man who challenged the Singapore’s laws.
Yee explained why he believes that his bl0og posts are worth jail time. “I feel like I’m the one who’s actually supposed to break that boundary so that other people will be able to talk about things in an honest way and discuss about it, which I feel is really important.” Said Yee.
In July this year, Yee was released from prison after 53 days. He has convicted on charges of obscenity and “wounding of religious feelings.”
“Because everyone is scared, everyone is afraid that if they say something like that they may get into trouble and give Lee Kuan Yew credit that was primarily the impact of his legacy.” Says Yee in a blog post in March.
Yee spent weeks in detention and claims he was strapped to a bed for long periods of time, fearful and distraught. Also, he says that he was put through psychological evaluations that he considered humiliating.
However, this situation did not changed his behavior. Yee is still posting videos from his bedroom.
Yee’s bathroom has all the trappings of a rebellious teenager. He spends hours in his room at the computer, shooting, scripting and editing. This is Singapore. An opinionated teenager speaking his mind can include incarceration.
“It’s perfectly normal for young people to write critical articles. And I think we should treat Amos Yee as a normal 16-year-old person. And let’s see what happens when he grows up,” said Kishore Mahbubani, Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.
At the moment, Yee remains free and continues to put in danger his own freedom. Yee says that he likes provoking. “One is just to make jokes, I mean because you can see my content is of really high comedic value, I think just making jokes and entertaining, there’s an appeal in that. I’ve experienced many things and I’ve learned quite a lot so yeah, it’s been quite a ride actually.” ” says Yee.
