Michael Peter Fay, 18 years old and from Dayton, Ohio, was staying with his mother and stepfather in the authoritarian island democracy of Singapore when he was arrested for spray-painting cars and possessing stolen street signs. He pleaded guilty to vandalism but now claims he did so out of fear and only after being intimidated, struck and abused as "white scum" by his interrogators.
After being judged guilty by a court in Singapore, Fay was given a four-month jail sentence, $2,200 fine and six strokes of the cane. If the sentence is carried out, Fay will become the first American subjected to this type of state-sponsored torture.Caning, in Singapore, is administered by a martial arts expert who uses a rattan cane that is four feet long and half an inch in diameter. After being stripped and tied to a wooden trestle, the man (women are not caned) is beaten across the buttocks. The executor pivots on his feet while using his entire body to strike as hard as possible at half-minute intervals.
Each stroke splits open the flesh. Generally, victims collapse from shock after the second or third stroke. A physician is usually present to apply antiseptic on the bloody buttocks and to revive those who collapse - to ensure the completion of the sentence. Typically, the person caned is taken to the hospital and is unable to sit down for about three months. The scars are permanent.
It is indisputable that Michael Fay deserves to be punished for his actions. What is debatable, however, is if part of that punishment should be through the cane. True justice is based on the certainty that a culprit's punishment is commensurate with his/her crime. That most certainly is not the case in Fay's sentence.
The government of Singapore and certain Americans have tried to justify the sentence, and with it the practice of caning, as a sure way to inhibit crime. Consequently, caning is idealized as a panacea, with one led to believe that if this country were to resort to the same measures, Singapore's utopia (an understandable misperception) could transplant America's dystopia.
There could be dozens of variables that impact upon Singapore's clean, safe and orderly habitat. To suggest, therefore, that caning is the sole and absolute consequence is to wallow in simplicity. If it were not so, how does one explain the clean and safe streets of a host of other cities in the world that do not resort to caning?
I wonder if all those Americans who clamor for Fay's sentence to be carried out know what they support.
Neil DeVotta
Provo