Singaporean teen dissident Amos Yee has been granted asylum in the United States after a ruling that his prosecution and detention in the island state amounted to political persecution.
US immigration judge Samuel Cole stated in his judgment on Friday that the Singapore government’s prosecution of the 18-year-old blogger “was a pretext to silence his political opinions critical of the Singapore government.”
The decision represents the first time in years a Singaporean political dissident has applied for and received asylum in the West. The ruling, if not overturned by a US Department of Homeland Security appeal, could strain relations between the two strategic allies. The Singapore government has not yet responded publicly to the ruling.
Yee first rose to prominence after his arrest in March 2015 for an expletive-laden video entitled “Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead!” soon after the country’s elderly national founder expired of natural causes. In the video, the teen-aged Yee compared Lee to Jesus Christ, opining that both were “power hungry and malicious.”
The scathing video was posted during a week-long period of national mourning for the revered elder statesman, whose People’s Action Party (PAP) continues to govern Singapore today under the leadership of his son, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Yee was charged and later convicted for wounding religious feelings after an ordeal that involved over 50 days in remand, including a stint for psychiatric examination at the Institute of Mental Health.
In 2016, Yee returned to court where he was again found guilty of wounding religious feelings for comments on Islam and Christianity that he made on his blog and other social media platforms. He was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment and given a S$2,000 (US$1,379) fine for ignoring a notice issued by the police to present himself for questioning.
The Singaporean government has stood firm against assertions that Yee’s run-ins with the law amounted to suppression of free speech. Responding to a 2015 article on the saga in The Economist, Singapore’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Foo Chi Hsia said, “Amos Yee was convicted for insulting the faith of Christians…Protection from hate speech is also a basic human right.”
The PAP-led government is highly sensitive to allegations of political persecution via the courts. Earlier this month the Attorney-General’s Chambers threatened local activist Han Hui Hui with contempt of court charges and potential prison time for claiming on social media her conviction for staging an unsanctioned public protest was politically motivated. Han has since taken down her posts and issued an apology.
US judge Cole said in his decision that religion was only “tangential” in Yee’s YouTube video, and that the Singapore public’s response to it was because of his criticism of national founder Lee. Cole also noted that individuals who had made disparaging comments about religions but did not criticize the Singapore government had not been prosecuted.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam, secretary general of the opposition Reform Party, testified as a defense witness during Yee’s hearing. His deceased father, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, was an opposition parliamentarian who was frequently sued by PAP politicians for defamation, punitive lawsuits that crippled him financially. He was disqualified from Parliament in 1986 on charges of misreporting his party’s accounts.
“I don’t agree or pay much attention to what Amos says, which is mostly the typical sort of things that teenage boys might run, but I strongly believe in freedom of speech and the right to freedom of expression,” Jeyaretnam told Asia Times. “Given my family history I know that the Singapore government is very clever in cloaking its slapping down of dissidents as an exercise in rule by law.”
The US immigration court’s decision, handed down a day after the second anniversary of the senior Lee’s death, has been applauded by human rights groups.
“Singapore excels at creating a pressure cooker environment for dissidents and free thinkers who dare challenge the political, economic and social diktats from the ruling People’s Action Party,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, a rights lobby. “It’s clear the Singapore government saw Amos Yee as the proverbial nail sticking up that had to be hammered down.”
“Amos Yee might have said things that some people in Singapore disagreed with, but he should not have been prosecuted and jailed simply for causing offense,” the Community Action Network, a local nongovernmental organization that supported Yee since his first prosecution, said in a statement. The freedom of expression promoting group noted that many people in the US worked pro bono to secure Yee’s asylum.
The Singapore government has yet to respond to the US court decision. HRW’s Robertson noted that the US Department of Homeland Security strongly objected to Yee’s asylum application. The decision threatens to complicate US ties with Singapore, a strong regional ally on counterterrorism and intelligence-sharing.
The US Department of Homeland Security has 30 days to appeal the court’s decision, which will be final if they fail to do so. Yee has been detained by US authorities since he arrived to seek asylum last December, and is currently being held in the Dodge County Detention Centre in Juneau, Wisconsin.
With the US court’s verdict on Friday, he is now eligible for release.
Still can’t beat personality though. You also make the assumption that Yee is ‘uneducated.’ In the ‘east’ as you put it, your definition of having an ‘education’ is evidently extremely narrow. Personally I found Singaporeans very educated ON PAPER, but lacking in intelligence / and or personality. Actually, ESPECIALLY personality. Apart from people like Amos – who I respect far more than most Singaporeans – I found the city state of SG dull and sterile. In fact, unsustainable and unsuitable for a free and innovative mind (I’m not referring to Yee here by the way – just most SG people who would like to escape but can’t).
I’m not implying that western nations are better. In fact, in almost all respects western nations are economically and socially problematic. But there’s one thing the ‘west’ has that Singapore doesn’t: a damn sight more personality and charisma, entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, music, adventure, risk taking, freedom to actually damn our political leaders publicly – and a sense of humour.
The ‘west’ is too broad a term anyway. I prefer Europe to America. SG is a great clean, convenient and safe place. But I could name 10 places around the world just like SG…with FAR more character and without the worship that Singaporeans unjustly attach to paper qualifications and the PAP.
SG model economic model is good – but sustainable? I believe not.
Singapore would be very glad if the U.S. will accept any uneducated riff raff who opens his mouth willy nilly or metaphorically people who run before they can walk. Unlike the West in the East we put mutual respect, racial and religious harmony and tolerance and etiquette and civility in public before individual rights. The mouth must be silent, if it is going to be divisive or offend, act what your mind desires by casting the vote that you want at an election, in your own secret confidence in silence.
You are correct for the wrong reasons. Singapore is plenty happy Yee is Americas problem now.
Dear America.
Your problem now.
Love, Singapore.
P.S.
Can you take Han Hui Hui too? We asked Malaysia to take her back, but they laughed and said no take backs.
I don’t think the decision will complicate ties further. President Trump is no friend of Singapore.