"Singapore Whipping"

You could not pick up a paper in April 1994 without reading about what happened in Singapore to Michael Fay, an 18-year-old American. The whole mess had become the center of an international controversy. Michael had lived in Singapore with his mother and stepfather since moving form Dayton, Ohio, two years prior to this incident. He should have known better than to do what he was charged with because he was not a foolish little kid. He must have had some idea of how people are punished on the island of Singapore when they break the law.

Let’s explain. Singapore has LAW and ORDER with capital letters! It is a tiny city-state, with a one-party government, a president, and a Prime Minister. It is considered by some to be a role model for excellence in Asia. It is also an important trading partner of the United States in Southeast Asia. In Singapore there is no free speech, no dissent, and no unemployment. The government has the right to intrude in the lives of its citizens all the time. The guiding philosophy—unlike that of the United States—is that the good of society is considered more important than the rights and liberties of individuals.

Singapore is a society in which gum is a controlled substance because it is dirty and fouls the environment. Reading materials considered indecent are banned; a citizen can be thrown into jail for littering; and it is a crime to neglect to flush a public toilet. It has been described as "a nation of 2.8 million people which is clean, green, safe…, rich and ruled by fear."

Michael Fay was arrested because he was charged with a ten-day spree of vandalism during which time he spray painted and threw eggs at 18 cars. He was sentenced to four months in jail, a $1,400 fine, and six lashes on his bare buttocks with a rattan cane. It was the idea of the caning which generated such an outcry and protest from many people all over the world.

To appreciate the severity of this punishment, one must visualize the scene. Prisoners are tied down to a wooden frame and whipped on their bare flesh with a moistened ½ inch thick rattan cane, which is treated so that it will not fray. The first lashes tear open the skin and the prisoner may lose consciousness within seconds from the extreme pain. If the prisoner loses consciousness, he is revived and the beating continues.

A description of rattan used in the whipping would be helpful. Rattan comes from a palm tree; a portion of the very tough stem is used for walking sticks, wicker furniture, cords, and ropes. The action of the cane lifts off long, bloody strips of flesh and often sends the victim into shock from loss of blood.

For a time following Michael’s arrest, he was released on bond and hospitalized for depression. After the sentence was handed down by the Chief Justice of Singapore, Yong Pung How, Michael was imprisoned again in preparation for the caning. There was some confusion in the accounts in the newspapers. Michael told his parents that the conditions in the prison were beyond endurance. He protested that he had been tortured into admitting his guilt. It seemed there were other boys involved who had since left Singapore. Later Michael explained that when he spoke with his father in America, Mr. Fay advised him to admit to the crimes and "Get it over with." This was before anyone realized what punishment lay in store for Michael.

There were pictures in newspapers and magazines of the young American walking from prison to the courtroom, crossing himself prayerfully, and hoping for some intervention. President Bill Clinton protested this "extreme" punishment to the Chief Justice Young Pung How and to Singapore’s President, Ong Teng Cheong, who had clemency powers but refused to yield. He did, however, make one concession and reduced the number of lashes to four instead of six!

Ralph L. Boyce, the United States’ State Department’s charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy, attended the Singapore Appeals Court hearing, hoping their government would reconsider the sentence. However, beyond reducing the number of lashes, the authorities stood firm.

Ironically, in Singapore, lashing is the identical punishment meted out to criminals guilty of rape and murder. Vandalism, in the minds of Americans, is not in the same class as violent t crimes committed against people, but there was no way to protest the unfairness of such laws in another country.

Probably, one of the most upsetting aspects of this situation had to so with the American public opinion polls, many of which were not sympathetic to Michael. Americans, fed up with juvenile crime and a lack of respect for authority, focused on this situation with personal anger. Many expressed the attitude that maybe corporal punishment was a pretty good idea to straighten out this kid and others like him. "Let this young vandal learn a tough lesson!"

The trouble was that some Americans saw this Singapore punishment as a deserved public humiliation. They felt Michael should have been punished harshly. What Americans did not realize was that the whipping was executed by a marital arts expert trained in the technique of causing extreme pain and injury. Indeed, some prisoners could die of shock as a result. The kind of beating, in America, would be regarded as torture.

And so May 5, 1994, came and went. On that date, Michael Fay received four lashes of the rattan whip. He survived. Neither his mother nor his father were permitted to visit him. They requested that a private physician be allowed to examine him but they were denied permission. The authorities announced that Michael was being given tranquilizers for his emotional state, but nothing to ease his physical pain. It is a certainty that he will have physical scars for the rest of his life—and perhaps mental scars as well.

In America, it was reported that promoters in New York and Hollywood were already hot on the trail of the rights to Michael Fay’s story. It is anticipated that a movie, a television special, or a book recounting the horrors of his jail experience will be marketed. Perhaps a commentary on the rigors of Singaporean law compared to the concept of U.S. justice will be examined! The money which Michael will receive for the rights to the story of his ordeal is purported to be in the big bucks! The attention and conflict of opinion he drew from the media, the world over, must have surprised even Michael Fay.