Teen in anti-Lee Kuan Yew video 'beyond mum's control'

A 16-YEAR-OLD in soup for posting an anti-Lee Kuan Yew video online is said to have been declared by his mother to be beyond her control.

A reliable source told The Straits Times that Amos Yee's mother had lodged a police report to say she was not able to control him.

On Sunday, Amos was arrested by police for a video he uploaded on Friday that allegedly celebrated Singapore's founding prime minister's death and criticised his political career. The eight-minute-long video also included insensitive remarks about Christianity.

Amos, a school-leaver who wrote in his latest blog post that he intended to pursue a career in film and YouTube videos, has largely been slammed by netizens for the video, although some have defended his right to his opinion.

More than 20 police reports have been lodged against him, not just for the video, but also obscene material he posted on his blog on Sunday.

Both the video and the blog post were no longer available by Sunday evening.

Police confirmed they had arrested the teen in relation to the case. Amos is believed to still be in their custody.

In a statement released yesterday, police said the teenager will face charges under Section 298 of the Penal Code for utterances against Christians with a "deliberate intent to wound religious feelings". Other charges include circulating an obscene object and making threatening, abusive or insulting communication which is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Yesterday, lawyer Chia Boon Teck, who was among those who made a police report, gave his statement at Bedok Police Divisional Headquarters.

The video, called Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!, was viewed more than 600,000 times by Sunday. In it, Amos called Mr Lee a "horrible person" and said "everyone is afraid that if they say something like that, they might get into trouble".

Amos also likened Mr Lee to Jesus Christ, as being "power-hungry and malicious, but deceive others into thinking they are both compassionate and kind".

Mr Lee died on March 23 at the age of 91, plunging the nation into mourning.

Said Mr Chia: "Mr Lee spent his life helping Singaporeans to put food on the table and build roofs over our heads. Since we need not worry about food and shelter, we can indulge in contemplating our right to hurt others with our words in the name of freedom of speech."

joycel@sph.com.sg

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