Minister the Prime Minister’s Office, Grace Fu, has clarified a comment she had made to the media about 16-year old blogger, Amos Yee, and his family.
Her truncated comments had been criticised for being insensitive to the family of the youth.
Ms Fu did not mention which media outlets she had spoken to but she was quoted in The Washington Post which apparently had republished a Associated Press report.
The report quoted her thus:
“It’s not just any YouTube video. It crosses the red line on religion. But I think that Amos Yee is not doing himself or his family any favors,” she said. “How do you deal with a 16-year-old that is not able to comply with rules of society? It’s kind of a parent’s nightmare.”
However, posting on her Facebook page, the Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, said “the reporter omitted some parts of my conversation in his report.”
She then posted the full transcript of what she had told the media:
“The video that Amos Yee created crossed the red line on religion. I think Amos Yee is not doing himself or his family any favours by challenging the conditions of the bail. From my own understanding and also from what I read on the internet, not everyone is on his side. Many would question his motivation. Also, how do you deal with a 16-year-old that is not able to comply with rules in the society. It’s kind of a parents’ nightmare I think. I have a lot of sympathy and empathise with the parents. The parents tried as much as possible to get him to comply with the decision of the courts for conditions of the bail but I think that he’s just not able to follow.”
“Unfortunately, the reporter omitted some parts of my conversation in his report.
“I hope that Amos will come to realise the distress that he has caused his family and try to work things out with his parents.”
