Limpeh's open letter to Amos Yee

Dear Amos,

I know you have a lot on your plate right now and that you are now in remand, so I don't know when you will ever going to get to read this. But having seen you go through so much in the last couple of weeks, I thought the best way for me to summarize a lot of my feelings is to write an open letter directly to you on my blog. This is not my style normally as a blogger and a social commentator, I normally step back and try to analyze the situation from all angles. But something about your story today struck a chord with me when I read about the way your abusive father beat you up.. I am somewhat older than you at the ripe old age of 39 and a lot of what you do remind me of a much younger version of myself all those years ago when I grew up in Singapore. Thus that is why I am writing this letter to you.

I took this photo on my phone recently - look at the way you have one cable going into the lamp post and so many coming out in different directions. That does summarize what you are facing at the moment Amos. You are at a very important crossroads in your life right now (and it seems so unreal that you're facing all this at the tender age of just 16), but what you do in the next few weeks could have a major impact on the quality of your life for the next few years, even the next few decades, so I would like you please to think very carefully about what you need to do next.

I shall jump to the punchline: you need to leave Singapore, the sooner the better. I don't know how much thought you have given to a future outside Singapore, but things have moved so quickly in the last few days that I hope you have come to the conclusion that you're far better off outside Singapore. There isn't any plausible alternative for you at this stage. I don't think you anticipated the kind of reaction you have had thus far to your LKY video and whilst I know you liked some of the positive reactions you have had (the New Yorker totally loved you), you cannot deny the fact that the kind of reactions you've had from average Singaporeans have been overwhelmingly nasty and viscous. We have had PAP grassroots leaders who have threatened to cut off your penis and bystanders who stood by and cheered when you were assaulted - what does this tell you about the kind of fucked up place Singapore is? What kind of values govern this place which puts a 16 year old on trial as an adult but cheers on a 49 year old man who beats up a child?

I am not going to censor myself: you have managed to reveal just how Singaporean society is fucked up beyond belief. Singapore may be a fabulously rich city with plenty of skyscrapers and malls, but allow me to quote Nelson Mandela: "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."Oh dear, if Nelson Mandela was alive today, he would be absolutely disgusted with the way you have been treated Amos. I have seen your LKY video and have blogged a lot about it - being Mr Marketing & PR, I felt that you had misjudged the tone of your video and made a fundamental flaw by not considering your audience enough. But that's a mistake that I don't believe you should go to jail for, or become public enemy number one in Singapore for. Can a society forgive a 16 year old who makes a mistake by making an ill-judged Youtube video? Apparently not. The death of LKY unleashed a lot of angry feelings amongst Singaporeans and I'm very sorry that you had to be the one to bear the brunt of it.

Will Singaporeans ever forgive Amos?

I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but if you want to be any kind of revolutionary figure, you need supporters and not haters. Right now, your haters outnumber your supporters by a very long way - that ratio means that there is really no point in you crucifying yourself just to show Singaporeans how messed up the justice system is. I'm afraid you've been thinking too much about what you want to say and not considering how the message is going down with your audience: ordinary Singaporeans. You have been craving attention so badly from the public - but there's a huge difference between adoration and hatred and I hope you've realized that you've mostly generated the wrong kind of attention. But there's something far more important that I would like to address instead.

Amos, you're a 16 year old teenager who hasn't had the opportunity to see much of the world beyond Singapore. Allow me to share my perspective as a 39 year old man from Ang Mo Kio who left Singapore in 1997 and has never looked back. There is a huge world out there Amos, this planet of ours is a fascinating place with so many countries, cultures and interesting people. If only we had the chance to sit down over coffee, I would tell you about some of the most crazy experiences I have had in my travels, some of the people I have met whilst working and some of the most memorable adventures in my memories. I do have a very unconventional life as a self-employed freelancer based in London going from contract to contract, never knowing quite where in the world my next contract will take me. The more I have seen of this amazing world, the more I want to see of it, the more I want to travel and experience.

I adore traveling and exploring new countries.

I would love to have the chance to open your eyes to the opportunities that are open to you out there, in this big wide world of ours, in countries far beyond Singapore. The things you could experience, the adventures you could have, the goals you could achieve Amos - there is so much more to life than making Youtube videos from your bedroom in your parents' house. You need to think big, have long term goals and aim a lot higher than simply chasing Youtube hits. I'm afraid that your misguided quest for attention has landed you in trouble when really, you should have been planning for something far bigger and more significant with your life. And now look what you have done, you have a major crisis to deal with that is going to mess the next few years up - all this, when you could have been planning the most productive years of your life as a young adult. Don't you realize how big the opportunity cost is Amos?

All of your current problems are only going to impede your eventual departure from Singapore Amos and like it or not, you really have two choices: to leave gracefully or to be hounded out like Anton Casey. I do hope you're not foolish enough to try to seek some kind of martyrdom by proving to the world what we all already know : that you're not going to get a fair trial and that the system in Singapore is (for want of a better word) kinda fucked up. Yeah, thanks for reminding us what we already know - but how is going to jail going to change anything or more importantly, help you and your future Amos? How will that make you happy? You don't strike me as the kind of person who will be able to survive well in a Singaporean prison, so why are you doing everything you can to make sure you spend a disproportionately long time in jail? If anything, I hope the time you are spending in remand will bring you back down to earth and make you come to your senses. Please don't make things worse than they already are for you, Amos.

Would Amos Yee be happier living in another country?

Perhaps you can say that I am a coward in taking the path of least resistance, but so be it: guilty as charged. I have no intention to try to take on the Singaporean system nor do I expect things to change in Singapore within my lifetime. But as one of my readers Prolalabear has pointed out, "I think Amos probably wants to test the limits of the legal system in Singapore and see how far he can be punished for that video and that drawing. After all, he is already ruined in Singapore, has little motivation in life, why not try use himself as an example to test the system, and get the maximum amount of infamy which will let him go down in history?" That does sound like an accurate summary of the situation - maybe you are doing just that, but you're going to be paying a high price to carry out this experiment of the Singaporean legal system. It's not worth it Amos - you're not going to change anything and few people are going to appreciate what you do. When you end up in a prison cell, you're going to have a very long time to reflect upon this terrible mistake you've made. It is just not worth it - whatever you're trying to achieve here with this 'experiment', it just ain't worth your freedom and your future. I hope you will eventually realize that.

But for now Amos, I am just going to try to plant a thought in your head: I want you to think about where you will be on the day you turn 30. What kind of job do you want to be doing then? What kind of house do you want to be living in? Do you picture yourself successful and happy - or will you still be living with your parents and making Youtube videos in your bedroom? What must you do to get you to where you want? Be constructive and pragmatic - it is time for you to do what is best for you. You really need to think about your long term future and not just about your next Youtube video. You have so much to give as a film maker and writer (amongst your many gifts - you're clearly a talented young man), so please don't squander your future - you know, you could potentially achieve so much in your adult life.

Can we help Amos make sense of the situation before him?

I wish you good luck in the coming months ahead. Stay strong and think carefully about your future.

Best wishes from London,

Alex (aka Limpeh)