Amos Yee to plead guilty to enlistment-related offences on Sept 7

SINGAPORE - Former child actor Amos Yee is set to plead guilty on Sept 7 to charges that he had avoided National Service obligations.

Yee, 27, was handed three charges under the Enlistment Act in March.

According to court documents, Yee failed to report for the national service pre-enlistment medical screening and had remained outside the country without a valid exit permit after leaving for the US in December 2016 to seek asylum.

Yee is said to have left Singapore without a valid exit permit from Dec 13, 2015, to April 19, 2016, and from Dec 15, 2016, to March 19, 2026.

During this period, he allegedly failed to report for national service medical screening from April 26, 2016, to March 19, 2026.

Yee fled to the US after repeated run-ins with the law in Singapore over comments that he made that were derogatory to Christians and Muslims. He was granted asylum in the US in 2018.

He was deported from the US on March 19 following his conviction by a grand jury in an Illinois court for solicitation and possession of child pornography. His record was expunged from the website of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

Upon his arrival at Changi Airport, Yee was arrested by enlistment inspectors from the Central Manpower Base.

Yee was offered bail of $10,000 on March 26.

Offenders who flout NS enlistment rules can face a fine of up to $10,000, a jail term of up to three years, or both.

In May, Yee was assaulted by an 18-year-old at Suntec while attending an anime convention.

Bosco Chun Ho Wang was later arrested and charged in court for being a public nuisance on May 11. Chun was also handed another charge for voluntarily causing hurt.

His case is still pending before the courts.