Amos Yee, Free Speech and Singapore's Sovereignty

Besides the concept of free speech, the on-going court case Amos Yee has also surfaced the issue of Singapore's sovereignty.

Outsiders like the United Nations and International Human Rights Groups based overseas have started to lobby for Amos' release. What many have failed to realize, or choose to ignore, is that Amos' predicament is a direct result of his own actions. The court was willing to deal with Amos as a child and offer him probation, but Amos himself rejected the offer of probation and proceeded to deliberately challenge the judiciary. As a system, no Court (in any country) can allow an individual to challenge it without consequences, as allowing an individual to openly defy court orders would lead to anarchy.

As for the issue of sovereignty, we find it disappointing that Singaporeans would tell our Government to cave in to the demands of the UN. Singapore is a sovereign country and we cannot allow our laws to be determined by others. If we bowed to outside pressure to change our way of life to what others think is the "correct" way of life, where do we draw the line. How do we know that the actions of these organizations is done in the best interest of Singapore or Singaporeans? At the end of the day, Singaporeans must decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. Whatever we decide, we must then answer for it as a country.

Government has repeatedly toed the line that Singaporeans determine their own future. The fact that Singaporeans like Chee Soon Juan and Roy Ngerng are free to go overseas to critize Singapore is proof that the Government allows Singaporeans to do this. We always find it ironic that Roy Ngerng would claim that there is no freedom of speech in Singapore, and yet he repeatedly says this in public. If indeed there was no freedom of speech, why is Roy free and able to continue saying what he is saying?

The Singapore General Election 2016 is just around the corner. If Singaporeans truly believe that this is not the Government they want, then that is when they can exercise their right. Until then, we believe that Singaporeans need to rally around their own Government and tell outsiders to stop interfering in our domestic affairs.