Michael P. Fay

Michael Peter Fay (born May 30, 1975) is an American citizen who caused a temporary strain in Singapore–United States relations in 1994 when he was sentenced to six strokes of the cane for theft and vandalism at the age of 18 and lived in the country. Fay pleaded 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.

For other people named Michael Fay, see Michael Fay (disambiguation).

Michael Fay
Born
Michael Peter Fay

(1975-05-30) May 30, 1975
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationSingapore American School
OccupationCasino manager
Known forBeing caned in Singapore
Criminal charge(s)Violation of the Vandalism Act
Criminal penaltySix strokes of the cane, ultimately reduced to four
Criminal statusReleased
Parents
  • George Fay (father)
  • Randy Chan[1] (mother)

Although caning is a routine court sentence in Singapore, its use caused controversy in the United States, and Fay's case was believed to be the first caning involving an American citizen.[2] The number of cane strokes in Fay's sentence was ultimately reduced from six to four after United States officials including then U.S. President Bill Clinton had requested for leniency.

Early life

Fay was born in St. Louis, Missouri.[1] His mother, Randy, divorced his father, George, when he was eight.[1] As a child, he was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which, his lawyer later claimed, did not contribute to Fay committing vandalism and theft in Singapore.[3]

Although Fay mostly lived with his father after the divorce, he later moved to Singapore to live with his mother and stepfather, Marco Chan, and was enrolled in the Singapore American School.[1]

Theft and vandalism in Singapore

In October 1993, The Straits Times, Singapore's main English-language newspaper, reported that car vandalism in Singapore was on the rise.[4] Cars parked at apartment blocks were being damaged with hot tar, paint remover, red spray paint, and hatchets. Taxi drivers complained that their tires were slashed. In the city center, cars were found with deep scratches and dents. One man complained that he had to refinish his car six times in six months.[4]

The Singapore police eventually arrested 16-year-old Andy Shiu Chi Ho, a Chinese citizen from Hong Kong. He was not caught vandalizing cars, but was charged with driving his father's car without a license. After questioning Shiu, the police questioned several foreign students from the Singapore American School, including Fay, and charged them with more than 50 counts of vandalism.[4] Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing the cars in addition to stealing road signs. He later maintained 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 signs.[5][6]

Under the 1966 Vandalism Act, originally passed to curb the spread of political graffiti and which specifically penalized vandalism of government property,[1] Fay was sentenced on March 3, 1994, to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,514 or £1,914 at the time), and six strokes of the cane.[7] Shiu, who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to eight months in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.[8]

Fay's lawyers appealed, 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.[9]

Response

From the United States government

The official position of the United States government 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 pointed out that, while the graffiti and physical damage to the cars was not permanent, caning could leave Fay with permanent physical scars.[1]

Bill Clinton, the President of the United States, 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.[3]

From the Singaporean government

The Singaporean government pointed out that Singaporeans who break the law faced the same punishments as Fay,[2] and stated that Singapore's laws had kept the city free of vandalism and violence of the kind seen in American cities such as New York City.[10]

Nevertheless, Ong Teng Cheong, the then head of state of Singapore, commuted Fay's caning from six to four strokes as a gesture of respect toward President Clinton.[11][3] Shiu's sentence was later also reduced, from 12 strokes to six, after a similar clemency appeal. Fay was caned on May 5, 1994, at Queenstown Remand Centre.[12][13]

Public reaction

Following Fay's sentence, the case received wide coverage by the American and international media.[14] The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times ran editorials and op-eds condemning the punishment.[15] USA Today reported that caning involved "bits of flesh fly[ing] with each stroke."[16] The punishment had to be accomplished by trained warders holding high grades in martial arts.[17]

Public opinion in the United States was mixed. A survey of 23,000 people conducted by the National Polling Network (now merged with the Pew Research Center) found that up to 60% "favored whipping and other harsh sentences as an acceptable deterrent to crime in the United States".[18][19][20]

Caning

Describing the caning day, Fay told Reuters he did not know the time had come for punishment when he was taken from his cell. He said he was bent over a trestle so his buttocks stuck out, with his hands and feet buckled to the structure. He was naked but with a protective rubber pad fixed to his back. The flogger, a doctor, a nurse and prison officials were also present.

Fay told Reuters the caner walked sharply forward three steps to build power. "They go 'Count one'—you hear them yell it really loud—and a few seconds later they come, I guess I would call it charging at you with a rattan cane." He noted that a prison officer guided him through the ordeal saying: "OK Michael, three left; OK Michael, two left; OK one more, you're almost done." Fay reported that when the fourth stroke was delivered he was immediately unbuckled from the trestle and taken to a cell to recover. The caning, which Fay estimated took one minute, left a "few streaks of blood" running down his buttocks, and seven weeks later, left three dark-brown scar patches on his right buttock and four lines each about half-an-inch wide on his left buttock. He said that the wounds hurt for about five days after which they eventually healed. "The first couple of days it was very hard to sit," Fay reported, but he said he was able to walk just fine after the caning.[21]

Aftermath

After his release from prison in June 1994, Fay was deported and ultimately returned to the United States to live with his biological father.[22] He gave several television interviews, including one with his American lawyer on CNN with Larry King on June 29, 1994, in which he admitted stealing road signs but denied vandalizing cars.[23] He also claimed that he was ill-treated during questioning, but had shaken hands with the caning operative after his four strokes had been administered.

It was reported by a Singaporean news outlet in August 2018 that Fay was currently working as a casino manager in Cincinnati.[24]

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 claimed 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]

During an interview with CCTV in June 2004, Lee Kuan Yew, then Senior Minister of Singapore, said that Fay hit his father upon his return to the United States, which was suppressed by the American media.[32] In June 2010, Fay's case was recalled in international news, after another westerner in Singapore, Swiss IT consultant Oliver Fricker, was sentenced to five months in jail and three strokes of the cane for vandalizing a train.[33]

Season 19, episode 18 of Saturday Night Live cold-opened with a sketch of Michael Fay's caning. The players included host Emilio Estevez as Fay, Kevin Nealon administering the caning, Rob Schneider as the warden, and Phil Hartman as the doctor.[34][35]

In September 1994 "Weird Al" Yankovic released a song, "Headline News", which satirized the Fay case along with the Tonya Harding and Bobbitts stories.[36]

"Headwriter", a 1994 episode of The Larry Sanders Show opened with Sanders making a joke about Fay in the character's opening monologue: "Michael Fay is back in the U.S. from Singapore. And I can assure you, that is a long flight, especially when you have to stand the whole way."[37]

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube referenced the caning in their 1994 single "Natural Born Killaz".[38]

The case inspired a 1995 Simpsons episode, "Bart vs. Australia", in which Australia is to punish Bart via "booting"—a kick in the buttocks using a giant boot (later reduced to a shoe).[39]

The 1994 professional wrestling event When Worlds Collide promoted by Eastern Championship Wrestling featured a "Signapore canes" match with The Sandman (wrestler) and Tommy Dreamer, with the loser to receive ten strikes from a cane.[40]

See also

References
  1. Reyes, Alejandro (May 25, 1994). "Rough Justice: A Caning in Singapore Stirs Up a Fierce Debate About Crime And Punishment" Archived May 11, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Asiaweek. Hong Kong.
  2. Wallace, Charles P. (March 9, 1994). "Singapore Blasts Back at Clinton in Caning Case". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  3. Richardson, Michael (May 5, 1994). "Responding to Clinton's Plea, Singapore Cuts 6 Lashes to 4". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  4. Tan Ooi Boon (October 7, 1993). "9 foreign students held for vandalism". The Straits Times (Singapore). p. 1.
  5. Philip Shenon (March 16, 1994). "A Flogging Sentence Brings a Cry of Pain in U.S." Archived August 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times.
  6. "Cane teen says he's innocent", Daily News, New York, June 22, 1994.
  7. Charles P. Wallace, "Ohio Youth to be Flogged in Singapore" Archived June 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1994.
  8. Ian Stewart, "Flogging for vandal" Archived September 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), April 22, 1994.
  9. Elena Chong, "Fay loses appeal" Archived September 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, The Straits Times, Singapore, April 1, 1994
  10. Karen Fawcett (March 9, 1994). "Americans in Singapore condemn caning for teen". USA Today. Washington D.C. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  11. William Branigin, "Singapore Reduces American's Sentence" Archived March 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post, May 5, 1994.
  12. Singapore Frees Flogged U.S. Teen-Ager : Asia: Michael Fay is 'happy to be out' after early release. He leaves the country, heads for home. Archived May 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1994
  13. "Singapore Carries Out Caning of U.S. Teenager" Archived April 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Philip Shenon, The New York Times, May 6, 1994
  14. Rocco Parascandola (August 1994). "Singapore Hosts Some Most Unruly Guests". American Journalism Review. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2007.
  15. "What US columnists say about Fay's caning". The Straits Times. Singapore. April 8, 1994. Archived from the original on September 20, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  16. E.g. "Don't copy Singapore" Archived February 8, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, USA Today, Washington, D.C., April 5, 1994.
  17. P.M. Raman, "Branding the Bad Hats for Life" Archived May 7, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, The Straits Times, Singapore, September 13, 1974.
  18. Andrea Stone, "Whipping penalty judged too harsh – by some" Archived June 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, USA Today, Washington, March 10, 1994.
  19. Mike Royko, "Readers get 'behind' flogging of vandal" Archived June 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Daily News, New York, March 30, 1994.
  20. "'Joe Public' backs caning of American" Archived October 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, David Usborne, The Independent, London, April 2, 1994
  21. Arkus, Michael (June 25, 1994). "Teen tells of scars in Singapore caning: Fay says Flogging Lasted about a minute". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  22. "The Road From Singapore" Archived March 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Daily News, New York, June 22, 1994.
  23. "Larry King Live" Archived March 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, CNN, June 29, 1994.
  24. Venkat, Naveen (August 2, 2018). "Michael Fay Today". Must Share News. MS News. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  25. "Michael Fay," People Magazine, December 26, 1994, p.60.
  26. "Drug Rehab For Teen Caned in Singapore," Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1994, p.14.
  27. "The Nation," USA Today, Washington, D.C., September 29, 1994, p.03A.
  28. "Teen Punished in Singapore Has Drug Habit – Michael Fay Was Sniffing Butane," Times-Picayune, New Orleans, September 29, 1994, p.A24.
  29. "Q&A," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 13, 2003, p.B2.
  30. Boy Caned in Singapore Makes News Again Archived June 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine," Christian Science Monitor, Boston, April 9, 1998, p.18.
  31. "Drug Charges Dropped," Asiaweek, Hong Kong, June 29, 1998, p.1.
  32. "Conversation with LKY (CCTV) Part 1/2 (June 2004)". Youtube. October 7, 2011. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  33. "Graffiti man faces Singapore caning". BBC News. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  34. "SNL Transcripts – Michael Fay Caning". snltranscripts.jt.org. April 16, 1994. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  35. "Caning in Singapore Cold Open". NBC.com. NBCUniversal. May 25, 2015. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018. Mr. Fay. I have some good news, and bad news.
  36. Yankovic, Alfred M. (November 14, 1994). "WONC 89.1 FM" (Interview). Interviewed by Chad Mitchell. Archived from the original on September 5, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  37. "The Larry Sanders Show (1992) s03e09 Episode Script | SS". Springfield! Springfield!.
  38. https://genius.com/Dr-dre-and-ice-cube-natural-born-killaz-lyrics Archived June 5, 2019, at the Wayback Machine Natural Born Killaz lyrics
  39. Mirkin, David (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart vs. Australia" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  40. Flackett, Chris (October 21, 2019). "Blinding in Hostile City: Tommy Dreamer, kayfabe, and The Sandman". SportsObsessive.com. Retrieved October 2, 2020.

Further reading
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