Many in Singapore would been well aware of who Amos Yee is and the charges which he faces for the video that he posted on 27 March after the passing of late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Some may also be informed earlier by a Straits Times report on 31 March that Amos’s mother, Mrs Mary, filed a police report on her son.
The report said:
“A teenager who is in police custody for posting a video online that insulted Christianity and attacked Mr Lee Kuan Yew has been declared by his mother to be beyond her control.
A reliable source told The Straits Times Amos Yee’s mother has made a police report to that effect.”
Many might have assumed from the write up that Amos’s mother has given up on Amos as her child and have asked the police to arrest him for his actions.
However, Mrs Mary told TOC that her visit to the police station has been taken out of context in the report.
According to her, the reason for filing the police report was because at that point in time, Amos had just published a vulgar image despite her objections and she feared for Amos’s safety.
As Mrs Mary presumed the police might be taking action soon against her son, she went to the Ang Mo Kio police station on Sunday 29 March at around 1.30 pm and told the police that she wanted to apologise to the nation for the actions of her son.
With the apology, she had hoped that the police could be more lenient in handling of her son’s case. In the report, she also asked if the police could advise her on where her son could be put through counselling.
The report write up can be seen in the photo below.
Also in the ST report, it was written that “More than 20 police reports have been lodged against him over the video as well as over obscene material posted on his blog on Sunday.”
Mrs Mary expressed her displeasure to TOC that her police report and public apology appears to be associated or counted together with the other police reports lodged to have her son arrested.
“I did not file a police report to have my son arrested.” said Mrs Mary.
While she disagreed with the rudeness and vulgarity of his video and image, she personally did not see the need for criminal penalty be imposed on his form of expression and hence would not have made a police report to that effect.
Amos was brought in for questioning on the same day at around 1 pm by around 8 plain clothes police officers with 5 of the officers entering the house. Amos was handcuffed and brought to the station in his pyjamas as he declined to change into another set of clothes.
In response to TOC’s attempt to clarify the source, the reporter wrote back to say, “You can ask Amos’ mother to call me at 6XXXXXXX tomorrow and I will address any concerns she has with my report.”
