Category: Politik

Ismail Kassim: Public Should Not Judge Amos Yee

The Amos Yee drama is getting more exciting with its unexpected twists and turns.

He is back in remand and self-righteous Singaporeans wring their hands in despair. Out of frustration, some even go to the extent of lashing out at him for not behaving ‘’in ways that they themselves would if they were in his shoes.’’

I am not sure at this stage what’s wrong with him. Has he – and I don’t rule it out – some kind of psychological problem? Perhaps, there is a medical explanation for his inability to control himself. Like an addict who cannot keep away from drugs.

Or, is there some rationale behind his apparent madness. Could it be just a small boy’s vain attempt to shoulder a big man’s job in pushing forward the boundaries of self-expression? A boy, who is willing to martyr himself, for the larger good of all.

A more democratic society with less personal restrictions cannot come about just by wishing or twiddling our thumbs. Someone has to do something at some risk to self. Has Amos self-appointed himself to undertake a one-boy struggle for more freedom for all of us?

Let us not be too hasty to judge him with our middle-class morality and logic as to what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

Let us not forget even for one minute that our values have to a large extent been shaped by growing up and living under a strict and restrictive social and political environment.

What he has done so far is not a crime in many other countries, and even if he is in a few, he would not have been hand-cuffed and shackled like what happened to him here.

Amos Yee needs our sympathies. Pity him if you like, but please refrain from passing judgement.

Source: Ismail Kassim

May 7, 2015
Amos Yee Refuses To Back Down, Bail Condition Stays As Trial Begins

After having been held in Changi Prison for one full week, teenage blogger Amos Yee’s bid to vary the conditions of his bail was thrown out today (May 6), after he held out on his terms.

Prosecutors offered to lower his bail amount by one-third to S$10,000 and not require him to report daily to Bedok Police Divisional Headquarters, provided the 16-year-old continues to go for psychiatric counselling. The ban on making postings on social media before his trial concludes, however, must still stand, while those that he had posted in breach of bail conditions have to be taken down.

Amos, however, refused to budge on all three fronts.

There have been many dramatic developments, including a stranger stepping forward as his bailor and another stranger assaulting him outside court, before Amos’ two-day trial for uploading an obscene image and content intending to wound the religious feelings of Christians begins tomorrow (May 7).

The latest emerged today when the court was told that Amos’ mother, Madam Mary Toh Ai Buay, had taken him to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) on April 3, three days after he was charged with criminal offences for content posted online. After attending two sessions, he refused to continue.

Asked today if he would resume the sessions in return for relaxed bail conditions, Amos indicated his refusal from the dock.

Decked in purple prison garb, Amos, who appeared in good spirits, frowned and shook his head when Deputy Public Prosecutor Hay Hung Chun called him a troubled person needing psychiatric help.

When Mr Hay mentioned Amos’ blogged about his bail conditions in “not-too-polite terms”, Amos grinned.

His lawyers Alfred Dodwell and Ervin Tan argued the ban on him posting online content is too broad and disproportionate, while the teenager felt taking down the posts in question was tantamount to an admission of guilt. Mr Dodwell said Amos has been on social media since the age of 8 and engaging online is “equivalent to drinking water” for the blogger, who has decided to stop schooling despite good results in the O Levels.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hay Hung Chun retorted that the conditions were “not about drinking water”, as Amos would still be able to communicate privately with others and even shop online. “He wants to drink Coke,” Mr Hay said.

High Court judge Tay Yong Kwang questioned why it was so difficult to temporarily refrain from public online posts, and said the teenager would just have to learn to curb himself. With Amos’ refusal to go for psychiatric counselling, Justice Tay said he saw no reason to vary the bail conditions.

The prosecution said it only learnt yesterday (May 5) about Amos’ visits to the IMH after an officer from the Ang Mo Kio Police Divisional Headquarters contacted Mdm Toh that afternoon to follow up on a police report she had made on March 29.

Contrary to reports that she had lodged the report against her son, Mdm Toh had instead done so “as a formal apology to the nation”, after her son’s YouTube video with remarks made about former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew went viral.

She had stated in the police report that she would like to seek help from “the proper agency” for her son as she was unable to get through to him and was afraid the situation might “escalate further”. But she told the police yesterday that she no longer wanted to provide a statement.

The hearing today was attended by civil society activists including Mr Vincent Law, the family and youth counsellor who posted Amos’ bail initially, as well as blogger Roy Ngerng.

Outside court, Mdm Toh told reporters that as she was making the report in Ang Mo Kio that day, police from Bedok were on their way to arrest her son. She received a call from her husband shortly after stepping out of the police station, she said.

Mdm Toh said she had taken Amos to IMH to understand why he seemed “too daring” and feared nothing, and not to find out if he was insane. Amos did well enough in his O Levels to qualify for a junior college, but did not like the Singapore school system, she added.

Meanwhile, police told TODAY that investigations on the 49-year-old man arrested in connection with Amos’ slapping incident on April 30 are ongoing.

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 7, 2015
Amos Yee Wants Bail Conditions Reviewed As It Amounts To Gag Order

A bail review for teenage blogger Amos Yee will be heard on Wednesday morning at the High Court.

Yee’s lawyer Alfred Dodwell told The Straits Times that his 16-year-old client will be challenging the conditions of his bail, which do not allow him to post anything online.

Mr Dodwell said that at present, the bail conditions amount to a gag order and infringes on his client’s constitutional right to freedom of speech.

“The reason why he is sitting in prison today is because he has a fundamental problem with the bail conditions. He feels that they are just wrong,” said Mr Dodwell.

Yee was sent back to remand at Changi Prison last Thursday, and has stayed there since, after his bailor discharged himself and the court raised the bail amount to $30,000 from $20,000.

The day before Yee had written two blog posts titled “The Ridiculous Terms of my Bail” and “My Abusive Father”. He shared them on Facebook on Thursday morning.

Both actions breached the terms of his bail. During Thursday’s pre-trial conference, District Judge Kessler Soh asked Yee to take down his latest posts, but he refused. The judge then raised the bail amount.

Meanwhile, Yee’s two-day trial is set to begin on Thursday.

He faces charges of attacking Christianity and transmitting an obscene image.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 6, 2015
Andrew Loh: Are Actions On AHPETC Really Not Political?

If you haven’t been following the AHPETC vs MND court case, it is like this, in a nutshell:

MND wanted to appoint an independent accountant to oversee AHPETC’s spending of S&C grants. MND laid out some terms. AHPETC agreed to all the terms, except one – that PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) not be the accountant, which is what the MND wants.

AHPETC explained that this is because PwC was also the auditor engaged by the AGO to go through AHPETC’s account during the AGO audit.

A potential for bias, AHPETC said. This is indeed a reasonable concern. AHPETC suggested having a retired judge or a senior counsel appoint the independent accountant instead.

AHPETC made all these suggestions in a letter to the MND on 29 April.

But MND refused, and preferred to take AHPETC to court.

I think you can judge for yourself if all this is not political and a waste of everyone’s time.

Source: Andrew Loh

May 6, 2015
MND Legal Counsel: AHPETC ‘Technically Insolvent’

The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) is “technically insolvent” and its chairman Sylvia Lim had been “economical with the truth” when she said in Parliament in February that the town council has been making transfers to its sinking fund for the 2014 financial year.

These were the charges levelled today (May 5) by the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) legal counsel — and were unchallenged by AHPETC — during the second and final day of a hearing on the ministry’s application to the courts to appoint independent accountants to safeguard government grants to the town council.

AHPETC had not made payments to the sinking fund for two quarters of FY2014, even though these were “mandatory obligations”, as the Attorney-General’s Chambers deputy chief counsel for litigation Aurill Kam, who is representing the MND, put it.

The court had heard that AHPETC’s income from service and conservancy charges (S&CC) was insufficient for it to make the quarterly sinking fund transfers. If the town council had made the transfers as required, it would not have enough money, Ms Kam noted. “From that point of view, it would not be an overstatement to say that (AHPETC) is technically insolvent,” she said.

The MND has withheld the service and conservancy charges (S&CC) grants to AHPETC for financial years 2014 and 2015. Its application was meant to safeguard fresh grants disbursed, following a report in February by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO), which found major lapses in AHPETC’s financial management, governance and compliance with the Town Councils Act.

“There is a suggestion that (MND’s application) is unprecedented. We submit that the adverse findings in the AGO report is unprecedented. The conduct of the defendant is unprecedented. Their response to calls to do the responsible thing is unprecedented,” Ms Kam said.

She added: “We say that unless these independent accountants are appointed, no serious steps will be taken to credibly review whether there has been any wrongful payment, breach of duty or unlawful conduct.”

Referring to Ms Lim’s comments in Parliament, Ms Kam said: “The reality was that at that time, the January 2015 transfer had already been missed. This wrong impression was reinforced when the defendant informed this court on March 27 this year, that it did not need fresh S&CC grants urgently, and could do without the funds for the next three months.”

AHPETC lawyer Peter Cuthbert Low had argued on Monday that the courts do not have the power to assign independent accountants to co-sign payments a town council makes using government grants, and that the Town Councils Act was intended to give elected Members of Parliament and town councillors full autonomy in managing town council funds — and to be accountable only to their residents.

MND had proposed that the court appoint Mr Ong Chao Choon and Mr Chan Kheng Tek from accounting firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), to be the independent accountants, or any other people the court deems fit and proper.

Today, Mr Low objected to the ministry’s nomination of the two individuals because PwC was involved in the AGO report. “So my client’s position is that there is a suspicion of bias,” said Mr Low. “We are not saying that… they will be biased, but because they came from the same auditing firm and PwC was the firm which was engaged.”

He added: “They need not come with preconceived notion, but as long as there is a perception…” Instead, the town council proposed that a “neutral” third party such as a retired judge or a Senior Counsel should nominate the independent accountants.

To address weaknesses in its accounting practices, AHPETC has hired Audit Alliance as its auditors and sole-proprietorship Business Assurance as its financial consultant. Lawyer Terrence Tan, who is also representing AHPETC, said the town council is on track to submit its overdue accounts for the FY2013/2014.

Judgement was reserved. After the hearing, Ms Lim told reporters that the town council looks forward to a fair outcome.

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 6, 2015