Caning of Michael Fay

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In 1994, a court in Singapore sentenced an American teenager, Michael Fay (born 30 May 1975),^[1] to be lashed six times with a cane for violating the Vandalism Act. This caused a temporary strain in relations between Singapore and the United States.^[2]

Fay was arrested for stealing road signs and vandalizing 18 cars over a ten-day period in September 1993. Fay pled guilty, but he later claimed that he was advised that such a plea would preclude caning and that his confession was false, that he never vandalized any cars, and that the only crime he committed was stealing road signs. Although caning is a routine court sentence in Singapore, Fay's sentence garnered controversy and was widely covered in the media in the United States, as it was believed to be the first judicial corporal punishment involving an American citizen.^[3] The number of cane strokes in Fay's sentence was ultimately reduced from six to four after United States officials requested leniency, and the sentence was carried out on May 5, 1994.

Fay's parents divorced when he was a child. After living with his father for a time, he was sent to Singapore to live with his mother and stepfather, where he was enrolled in the Singapore American School.^[4]

In September 1993, 67 cars were vandalized in various neighborhoods of Singapore. The damage included spray painting and being pelted with eggs, and at least one had its windshield smashed.^[2][5]

The Singapore police eventually arrested two teenagers who were driving a car similar to one that witnesses had described as being involved in the vandalism. During questioning, the two gave seven names, all male students from the Singapore American School and ISS International School, whom police tracked down and raided. They found about 50 stolen items, including a telephone booth and road signs.^[5]

Fay was one of these students.^[2][6] He later claimed that he had been intimidated and threatened during the police interrogation,^[2] and maintained that he had been advised such a plea would preclude caning and that his confession was false, that he never vandalized any cars, and that the only crime he committed was stealing signs.^[7]

Under the 1966 Vandalism Act, originally passed to curb the spread of political graffiti and which specifically penalized vandalism of government property,^[4] Fay was sentenced on March 3, 1994, to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (at the time equivalent to US$2,230 or £1,450), and six strokes of the cane.^[8][9] Another student who pleaded not guilty was sentenced to eight months in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.^[10]

Fay's lawyers lost on appeal after arguing that the Vandalism Act provided caning only for indelible forms of graffiti vandalism, and that the damaged cars had been cheaply restored to their original condition.^[6]

Following Fay's sentence, the case received coverage by the American, Singaporean and international media.^[11]

Some US news outlets launched scathing attacks on Singapore's judicial system for what they considered an "archaic punishment", while others turned the issue into one of Singapore asserting "Asian values" towards "western decadence".^[12] The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times ran editorials and op-eds condemning the punishment.^[13] USA Today reported that the caning involved "bits of flesh flying with each stroke."^[14]

However, Singapore also found supporters among the foreign media and the US public. For example, Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko reported that he had been sent a large number of letters, nearly all of which supported the punishment.^[15][16] A Los Angeles Times poll found that Americans were evenly divided (49% approved, 48% disapproved) as to the appropriateness of the punishment, but would have only been 36% in favor had the sentence been handed down inside the US.^[17]

The official position of the Clinton administration was that although it recognized Singapore's right to punish Fay within the due process of law, the punishment of caning was "excessive" for a teenager who committed a non-violent crime.

The United States Embassy in Singapore claimed that, while the graffiti and physical damage to the cars was not permanent, caning could leave Fay with permanent physical scars.^[4][18]

Bill Clinton, the then-President of the United States, also called Fay's punishment "extreme" and "mistaken", and pressured the Singapore government to grant Fay clemency from caning. Two dozen United States senators signed a letter to the Singapore government also appealing for clemency.^[19]

The Singapore government stood its ground.^[3]

Nevertheless, on May 4 that year, the Singapore government reduced the severity of both sentences out of consideration for President Clinton as it valued the good historical relations between the two countries.^[20] Fay was caned on May 5, 1994, at the Queenstown Remand Centre.^[21][22]

After his release from prison in June 1994, Fay returned to the United States to live with his biological father.^[23] He gave several television interviews, including one with his American lawyer on CNN with Larry King on June 29, 1994, in which he admitted taking road signs but denied vandalizing cars.^[24] While he did not detail his experience, he said that he was "ill-treated" at times during questioning, but had shaken hands with the caning operative after his four strokes had been administered and the prison guards when he was released.

Several months after returning to the United States, Fay suffered burns to his hands and face after a butane incident.^[25][26][27] He was subsequently admitted to the Hazelden rehabilitation program for butane abuse.^[25] He said that sniffing butane "made [him] forget what happened in Singapore."^[28] In 1996, he was cited in Florida for a number of violations, including careless driving, reckless driving, not reporting a crash, and having an open bottle of alcohol in a car.^[29] Later, in 1998, still in Florida, Fay was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, charges to which he confessed but was acquitted^[30] because of technical errors in his arrest.^[31]

In June 2010, Fay's case was recalled in international news, after another foreigner in Singapore, Swiss national Oliver Fricker, was sentenced to five months in jail and three strokes of the cane for trespassing a rail depot to vandalise a metro train that is a part of the country's Mass Rapid Transit.^[32]

• Latif, Asad (1994). The Flogging of Singapore: The Michael Fay Affair. Singapore: Times Books International. ISBN 981-204-530-9
• Baratham, Gopal (1994). The Caning of Michael Fay. Singapore: KRP Publication. ISBN 981-00-5747-4
• The Asiaweek Newsmap (April 27, 1994). Asiaweek.
• Chew, Valerie (August 5, 2009). "Michael Fay", Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board.