Best Mother's Day message: Amos Yee's mom loves him more than the mainstream media cares to show

Awww.

Belmont Lay| May 10, 03:30 PM

Poet-playwright Alfian Sa’at posted a note on Facebook on May 9, 2015, detailing his supper meeting with Amos Yee and his parents.

Although he did not state when it occurred, the encounter most definitely took place in that period after Yee made a name for himself following his arrest and was out on bail.

For all their front-facing stoicism when confronted by the media and with headlines like "Amos Yee's mother took him to see a psychiatrist but he stopped after two visits", you'd think Yee's parents are at their wits' end and have given up on their son.

But that probably couldn't be further from the truth.

From Alfian's post:

I had the pleasure of having supper with Amos and his family. The mother, Mary Yee, is a twinkly-eyed lady who would lean in to listen to you speak. She looked perpetually curious and attentive, her head craning around even as she hugged her floral tote bag close to her. One could speculate that she's passed on some of that inquisitiveness to her only child. The father, Alphonsus Yee, was a bit more reserved, a burly man who rides a motorcycle and who would stand around with his arms crossed, palms cupping his elbows. It seemed to me that the mother still thought of her son's antics as an enduring source of mystery, whereas the father had reached his limit with such unsolvable enigmas. I tried to break the ice with the father by saying, "I think your son is very intelligent."

And the father said wearily, “Yes, he's intelligent. But he's not wise.”

You can read the full post here:

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wasn't planning on writing about Amos Yee, but I'm quite upset by the way the media is painting him—with insinuations...

Posted by Alfian Sa'at on Saturday, May 9, 2015

 

And for all his outward punk ass abrasiveness, Amos is still a small boy highly dependent on his mother, at least according to this observation in The Online Citizen's interview with Vincent Law, a family counselor and a Christian, who bailed the teenager out from police remand on April 21 but subsequently discharged himself as bailor on April 30:

When Mr Law was at the recent play, “Public Enemy” by W!ldRice with Amos and his mother, it struck him that Amos is just a boy who has yet grown up despite his outwardly maturity. Apart from requesting to be seated beside his mother, Amos also has his water stored at his mother’s bag, asking from the mother when he needs the water.

This definitely paints a different picture from what one can gather from the mainstream media press coverage.

Far from the image that she is portrayed in the media as having washed her hands off him, Yee's mom is constantly engaged with her son to hear out the advice of others on possibly how to deal with him when the state and others have forsaken him.

Happy Mother's Day.

 

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