Amos Yee uploaded eight-minute video Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally
Dead! and claimed others were scared to speak out against late
founding prime minister
Police in Singapore have arrested a 17-year-old who posted a video
highly critical of Singapore’s late founding prime minister, Lee
Kuan Yew, according to local reports.
Numerous police reports had been lodged against
Amos Yee since he first uploaded the eight-minute video, Lee Kuan
Yew Is Finally Dead!, on 27 March.
“Lee Kuan Yew was a horrible person, because everyone is scared,”
Yee said in the video. “Everyone is afraid if they say something
like that, they might get into trouble … which, give Lee Kuan Yew
credit, that was primarily the impact of his legacy. But I’m not
afraid.”
He also likened Lee to Jesus Christ, saying that they “are both
power-hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking they
are both compassionate and kind”.
Police confirmed on Monday to the Guardian that a 17-year-old male
Singaporean had been arrested.
Lawyer Chia Boon Teck, who lodged one of the police reports against
Yee, said: “The individual had said many things against Mr Lee and
the government that are defamatory under the penal code as well as
in violation of the sedition act. His utterances against Christians
also amounted to a ‘deliberate intent to wound religious feelings’
under the penal code
“There is a limit to freedom of speech. If the line separating
freedom and offence is crossed, the person will have to face the
consequences,” he added. Yee has since taken down the video, but it
has been re-uploaded by others on YouTube.
Lee died in the early hours of 23 March from severe pneumonia in
hospital, where he was on mechanical ventilation in an intensive
care unit.
Lee’s death led to a seven-day period of national
mourning, with some standing in hours-long queues to pay their
respects while his body was lying in state.
The mourning period has caused controversy – while many laud him
for his contributions to building Singaporeinto a wealthy city state, others have criticised
his rule as one where the media was controlled and dissent was
crushed.
For some, the lodging of police reports and subsequent arrest of
Yee is a sign that the suppression of free speech during Lee’s time
in power has continued as a part of governance in Singapore.
Independent filmmaker Martyn See – who has seen his work banned in
Singapore – told the Guardian: “The People’s Action party has only
known to counter dissent by crushing it. It’s in the DNA of all
authoritarian systems.
“But I do not foresee this as sustainable, as its current leaders
will find it hard to justify such a knuckleduster approach without
the moral authority of a Lee Kuan Yew.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/30/singapore-police-arrest-17-year-old-amos-yee-critical-lee-kuan-yew-video