Tag: Singapore

Free Internet Group’s Ideas Destructive To Mutiracialism

I refer to the report “Blogger group slams shutdown of website as blatant censorship” (May 5).

The apparent proponents of a free Internet are fighting for something that may eventually incite hatred between foreigners and Singaporeans and, more destructively, among the various races and religions here.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) was clear that it would have initiated the suspension of The Real Singapore (TRS) with or without the sedition charges and that its move is not dependent on the outcome of the charges.

If one fights determinedly for Internet freedoms with no inkling of the nature of the damage that irresponsible sensitive postings, especially faked news, could cause, one would pour fuel on the MDA’s statement with politically motivated rhetoric.

Here lies the difference, however, between these parties and those who have gone through racial riots and appreciate the real dangers.

If the Internet and social media had been available in the 1960s, the damage Singapore had seen would have been greater or even irreversible, beyond the point of superficial racial self-restraint.

We have benefited from having many people who survived the riots and who can tell us of the tensions and fears during those dark times and of the precious lessons thereafter.

We also have imprudent parties who have no care for responsible media, ever comparing media controls and the latest clampdown with freedom of speech in the West, yet are awkwardly in denial of the disastrous events unfolding there even today.

If one sees the shutdown of TRS as the loss of a feedback channel for the Government and a curtailment of online voices, then one also has no care for multiracial and multi-religious mechanisms, and a denial of various avenues of feedback.

Regretfully, some people should have experienced our past riots to wake up to the fact that this is not a region where audacious free speech may work but where irresponsible utterances might get us or our loved ones killed.

I have tried over the years to caution against such dangers and have been called naively many names, such as a puppet of the establishment, or asked to return to my “own country”; childishness and a lack of knowledge abound.

If one does not get to know more deeply one’s history and what makes up Singapore, this lack of understanding of how our integration started off reluctantly, but works well today for a reason, is what would set us back.

This article by Eugene De Rozario first appeared on Voices, Today, on 7 May 2015

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 7, 2015
Ismail Kassim: Amos Yee Should Be Lauded For His Guts And Talents

Part II: Amos Yee saga

A clarification: Contrary to earlier reports, Amos prefers not to be out on bail as he considers the bail conditions too onerous. This was made clear by his bailor.

16 year old Amos Yee continues to languish behind bars with no one willing to post bail for him.

Is he a victim of his own making? An insufferable boy, who cannot refrain from violating his bail condition, by continuing to post comments online. Or is he a little rebel protesting against the way he has been treated by the police and the courts for his video rant.

I am beginning to think that he is fighting a one-little-boy battle against the overkill mentality of the authorities. Is it going to be a test of will between a teeny-weeny juvenile and an all-mighty state?

The way the multiple charges have been laid out against him and the onerous bail conditions show that the old bureaucratic mentality still prevails.

This is a bad omen. It dashes hopes of a new beginning in the post-LKY era. Change, if any, must always come from the top and filter down to the police, the judiciary, the courts and the bureaucrats.

Unless the authorities change the way they treat him or he decides to behave – like other normal, logical, law-abiding citizens, fearful of their rice bowls; neither of which seems probable at the moment, he may end up in prison for months or even years.

I am afraid we are seeing the making of another political exile. Is he going to be hounded out of our little red dot? Amos seems to be on track to share the same fate as Tan Wah Piow, Tang Liang Hong and Francis Seow.

With his attitude, he cannot survive in our strait-laced little island and the best hope for him – if he cannot control his urges – is to seek political asylum in a more conducive environment where his talents will be much appreciated.

I do hope it will not come about, for it will be a great loss for all of us. The boy has got talent and he has also got lots of guts.

Source: Ismail Kassim

May 7, 2015
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 Rejected Bail Conditions To Defend His Freedom To Express Himself

What you don’t read in the mainstream media – why Amos Yee refused the bail conditions, even though the DPP had agreed to reduce them:

Even though the DPP had agreed to reduce bail from $30,000 to as low as $10,000, and was also agreeable to remove the daily reporting to the police, the DPP was not budging on the condition that Amos does not post anything online until his case is completed.

The DPP also wanted Amos to subject himself to “psychiatric counselling”.

At one point, the judge asked the DPP if this was necessary, given that Amos’ trial will begin tomorrow (Thursday).

“How many counselling sessions can he attend?” the judge said.

Do also note that the bail conditions and the daily reporting would have become moot points since Amos’ trial begins tomorrow. So, the DPP’s concessions are nothing to crow about, really.

Amos rejects the conditions because, as I understand it, he feels he should have the right to express himself, as guaranteed in the constitution. So, he is in effect standing for his rights.

Amos’ lawyers had countered-offered that Amos be disallowed to only post things related to his case, and that he be free to post anything else online.

The DPP countered that Amos is free to “communicate privately” with his friends, such as through email, and that Amos could also do “online shopping”.

The judge shot back that he doesn’t think Amos would be doing a lot of “online shopping” and that this was not really the point.

No news media has mentioned this.

Source: Andrew Loh

May 7, 2015