The Caning Of Michael Fay In Singapore
YouTubeThe caning of Michael Fay was a big 1990s scandal, but some Americans thought that the teenager deserved to be punished since he had vandalized cars in another country.
In 1993, 18-year-old Michael Fay got in trouble for vandalizing cars in Singapore, where he lived with his mother and stepfather. To the outrage of many authority figures in the United States, the Singapore government decided that Fay would be punished for the vandalism — through caning.
The proposed caning of Fay became an international incident. American newspapers published articles about it, Fay’s parents objected to what they felt was a harsh punishment, President Clinton pled for clemency in Fay’s case, and many countries urged Singapore to stand its ground.
“[Fay] went through a trial process, it was very highly debated, not just in Singapore but in the United States, all over the world,” CNN reported about the caning of the teen. “A lot of countries who feel that the United States tries to bully them into accepting what the U.S. wants, and that was exactly the situation in Singapore. The reaction there was, why should we make an exception because the American president asks?”
X (Formerly Twitter)Michael Fay was ultimately struck four times with a rattan cane.
Interestingly enough, many ordinary Americans also thought that Fay deserved to be punished for vandalizing the cars.
In the end, Michael Fay was caned on May 5, 1994. He was struck with a rattan cane — but just four times instead of six, his original sentence — which left scars on his buttocks. Fay told The New York Times that a prison guard overseeing the caning coached him through it, saying: “O.K., Michael, three left. O.K., Michael, two left. O.K., one more; you’re almost done.”
“There was some blood,” Fay told The New York Times. “I mean let’s not exaggerate, and let’s not say a few drops or that the blood was gushing out. It was in between the two. It’s like a bloody nose.”
