In 2011, an ex Young People’s Action Party (YPAP) member, Jason Neo, posted online a photo he had taken of a school bus with Malay children from Huda Kindergarten, in Woodlands. The children were dressed in their uniform which includes traditional Malay headwear. Neo captioned the photo: “Bus filled with young terrorist trainees?”
Neo’s post went viral and caused a huge uproar of protests from members of the public. The expression of outrage prompted two PAP MPs who were leaders of the YPAP to personally tender their apologies to the pre-school.
Neo issued an “unreserved apology” to the Muslim community as well, and under public pressure, resigned from the YPAP altogether. The media reported that at least three police reports were made against and that the police were investigating the incident.
In 2015, netizen Paul Chen writing to Singapore Police Force in their Facebook asked what actions were taken against Neo.
Dear Sir,I would like to applaud SPF for the swift action against Amos Yee who made insensitive remarks against the…
Posted by Paul Chen on Monday, 30 March 2015
The Police replied to him and said: “when a report is lodged, the Police will assess the facts and circumstances of each case and take appropriate action.”
To date, the public is none the wiser about what actions were taken against Neo.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong responded to hate speeches such as Neo’s at that time and said: “It’s wrong that they did it and we will act against them.”
He asked Singaporeans to not get worked up by such hate speeches and to take it in our stride.