Michael P. Fay
Encyclopedia
Michael Peter Fay is an American who briefly shot to international notoriety when he was sentenced to caning in Singapore
as an 18-year-old in 1994 for theft
and vandalism
. Caning is a routine court sentence in Singapore but most Americans were unfamiliar with it, and Fay's case was believed to be the first caning involving an American citizen.
The number of cane strokes in his sentence was reduced from six to four after U.S. officials requested leniency.
. His mother Randy divorced his father George when he was eight. In his childhood, Michael was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
, a fact that his lawyer would later claim made Fay not responsible for his actions.
Although Fay mostly lived with his natural father after the divorce, he later moved to Singapore
to live with his mother and his stepfather, Marco Chan. Michael was enrolled in the Singapore American School
.
in 1993 ran stories about car vandalism in Singapore. Unknown individuals, thought at first to be residents of the HDB apartments in which 85% of the local population lives, damaged their neighbors' cars with hot tar, paint remover, and hatchets. Taxi drivers complained that their tires were slashed. In the city center and the condos, cars were found with deep scratches and dents. One man interviewed by the Straits Times complained that he had to refinish his car six times in six months. In the fall of 1993 a vandal took red spray paint to six cars in a garage off Orchard Lane, making the vandalism highly visible. The next night someone sprayed a line of red paint right through the official seal of a judge's car that had been left out on the street.
The police eventually arrested a 16-year-old suspect, Andy Shiu Chi Ho 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 expatriate students from the Singapore American School, including Michael Fay, and later charged them with more than fifty counts of vandalism. 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.
Under the 1966 Vandalism Act
, originally passed to curb the spread of political graffiti
and which specifically covered vandalism of government property, he was sentenced on March 3, 1994 to four months in jail, a fine of 3,500 Singapore dollar
s (US$
2,214 or £1,514 at the time), and six strokes of the cane
. Shiu, who pleaded not guilty, was eventually sentenced to eight months in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.
Fay's lawyers appealed, arguing that the Vandalism Act provided caning only for indelible forms of graffiti vandalism and that the spray-painted cars were cheaply restored to their original condition. Although the appeal failed, Singapore President
Ong Teng Cheong
commuted Fay's caning from six to four strokes as a gesture of respect toward US President Bill Clinton
, who had made a request for clemency on Fay's behalf. (Shiu's sentence was later also reduced, from 12 strokes to six, after a clemency appeal to the Singapore President.)
Michael Fay duly received four strokes of the cane across his bare buttocks on May 5, 1994 at Queenstown Remand Centre.
U.S. President Bill Clinton
called the punishment extreme and mistaken, continuing to pressure the Singaporean government to grant Fay clemency from caning. Two dozen U.S. Senators signed a letter to the Singaporean government also appealing for clemency. After Fay's punishment was carried out, the United States Trade Representative said that he would try to prevent the World Trade Organization
's first ministerial meeting from taking place in Singapore. The Singaporean government pointed out that Singaporeans who break the law faced the same punishments as Fay. The Ministry of Home Affairs claimed that Singapore's laws had kept the city free of vandalism or violence of the kind seen in New York. Government-controlled newspaper The Straits Times criticized "interference" by the U.S. government and found it surprising that the President had found time to become involved, given the various foreign-policy and other crises it was facing.
Following Fay's sentence, the case received wide coverage by the U.S. and world media and dozens of reporters were sent to Singapore to cover the case. The New York Times
, The Washington Post
and The Los Angeles Times ran editorials and op-eds condemning the punishment. Some of the coverage was factually incorrect: for instance, Newsday
carried an interview with a person who claimed to have witnessed a public caning in Singapore, despite the fact that Singapore has never carried out canings in public. Some commentaries treated the Michael Fay affair as a clash of civilizations between Asian values
and the differing view of human rights common in liberal western cultures.
The extent of public opposition to the caning within the United States is unclear, as opinion polls produced by different news organizations contradicted each other. Nevertheless, a significant number of vocal Americans were in favor of the caning with the reasoning that Singapore had a right to use corporal punishment
if it chooses, or that the United States did not mete out severe enough punishment to its own juvenile offenders. Others pointed out that once Americans go abroad they are subject to the laws and penal codes of whatever country they visit. The embassy of Singapore to the United States said it received "a flood of letters" from Americans strongly supporting Fay's punishment, and some polls showed a majority of Americans favored it.
with Larry King
on June 29, 1994, in which he admitted taking road signs but denied vandalizing cars. In this interview, a transcript of which is online, he also claimed that he was ill-treated during questioning, and described his caning and its results in detail. He explained why he had shaken hands with the caning operative after his four strokes had been administered.
It was also in this interview that Fay revealed that, at the end of his punishment, his buttocks were bleeding only slightly, that he needed no immediate medical treatment, and that he was able to walk, albeit with "a lot of pain".
This, together with the information that Fay sat down when he met a US consular official the day after his caning, contrasts with some of the more lurid descriptions of Singapore caning ("bits of flesh fly with each stroke", etc.) that had been carried in the western press after the sentence was first announced. These had been taken from descriptions (originally derived from a 1974 press conference) of a much larger number of strokes than Michael Fay was ever going to receive for his relatively minor offense, compared with the maximum of 24 strokes that can be ordered for crimes such as rape and robbery.
While there was talk of a book or movie deal (neither of which ever materialized), Fay maintained that he would never sell his story for profit
. Later in 1994, Fay suffered burns to his hands and face after a butane
incident. He was subsequently admitted to the Hazelden
rehabilitation program for butane abuse. He claimed that sniffing butane "made him forget what happened in Singapore." 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. Later, in 1998, still in Florida, Fay was arrested for possession of marijuana
and drug paraphernalia
, charges to which he confessed but was not found guilty because of technical errors in his arrest.
In June 2010 his case was mentioned again in international news with another high-profile Singapore vandalism case involving a foreigner, Swiss IT consultant Oliver Fricker
, who was sentenced to 5 months' jail and three strokes of the cane.
Caning in Singapore
Caning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore. It can be divided into several contexts: judicial, military, school, reformatory/prison, and domestic/private....
as an 18-year-old in 1994 for theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
and vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
. Caning is a routine court sentence in Singapore but most Americans were unfamiliar with it, and Fay's case was believed to be the first caning involving an American citizen.
The number of cane strokes in his sentence was reduced from six to four after U.S. officials requested leniency.
Early life
Michael Fay was born in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. His mother Randy divorced his father George when he was eight. In his childhood, Michael was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder. It is primarily characterized by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.ADHD is the most commonly studied and...
, a fact that his lawyer would later claim made Fay not responsible for his actions.
Although Fay mostly lived with his natural father after the divorce, he later moved to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
to live with his mother and his stepfather, Marco Chan. Michael was enrolled in the Singapore American School
Singapore American School
RedWebsiteThe Singapore American School is a private international school in Singapore. Established in 1956, the school offers an American-based curriculum from preschool through to Grade 12 for approximately 3,800 expatriate students, making it the largest international school in the world...
.
Theft and vandalism
The Straits TimesThe Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
in 1993 ran stories about car vandalism in Singapore. Unknown individuals, thought at first to be residents of the HDB apartments in which 85% of the local population lives, damaged their neighbors' cars with hot tar, paint remover, and hatchets. Taxi drivers complained that their tires were slashed. In the city center and the condos, cars were found with deep scratches and dents. One man interviewed by the Straits Times complained that he had to refinish his car six times in six months. In the fall of 1993 a vandal took red spray paint to six cars in a garage off Orchard Lane, making the vandalism highly visible. The next night someone sprayed a line of red paint right through the official seal of a judge's car that had been left out on the street.
The police eventually arrested a 16-year-old suspect, Andy Shiu Chi Ho from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. 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 expatriate students from the Singapore American School, including Michael Fay, and later charged them with more than fifty counts of vandalism. 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.
Under the 1966 Vandalism Act
Vandalism Act (Singapore)
The Vandalism Act is a statute of the Parliament of Singapore that criminalizes a number of different acts done in relation to public and private property, namely, stealing, destroying or damaging public property; and, without the property owner's written consent, writing, drawing, painting,...
, originally passed to curb the spread of political graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
and which specifically covered vandalism of government property, he was sentenced on March 3, 1994 to four months in jail, a fine of 3,500 Singapore dollar
Singapore dollar
The Singapore dollar or Dollar is the official currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
s (US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
2,214 or £1,514 at the time), and six strokes of the cane
Caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...
. Shiu, who pleaded not guilty, was eventually sentenced to eight months in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.
Fay's lawyers appealed, arguing that the Vandalism Act provided caning only for indelible forms of graffiti vandalism and that the spray-painted cars were cheaply restored to their original condition. Although the appeal failed, Singapore President
President of Singapore
The President of the Republic of Singapore is Singapore's head of state. In a Westminster parliamentary system, as which Singapore governs itself, the prime minister is the head of the government while the position of president is largely ceremonial. Before 1993, the President of Singapore was...
Ong Teng Cheong
Ong Teng Cheong
Ong Teng Cheong was the first directly elected President of the Republic of Singapore. He was the nation's fifth President, and served a six-year term from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999.-Early life:...
commuted Fay's caning from six to four strokes as a gesture of respect toward US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, who had made a request for clemency on Fay's behalf. (Shiu's sentence was later also reduced, from 12 strokes to six, after a clemency appeal to the Singapore President.)
Michael Fay duly received four strokes of the cane across his bare buttocks on May 5, 1994 at Queenstown Remand Centre.
Response from the United States
The official position of the United States government was that while it recognized Singapore's right to try and punish Fay with due process of law, it deemed the punishment of caning to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. The United States embassy in Singapore pointed out that the graffiti damage that Fay made on the cars was not permanent, but caning would leave Fay with physical as well as long-term emotional scars.U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
called the punishment extreme and mistaken, continuing to pressure the Singaporean government to grant Fay clemency from caning. Two dozen U.S. Senators signed a letter to the Singaporean government also appealing for clemency. After Fay's punishment was carried out, the United States Trade Representative said that he would try to prevent the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
's first ministerial meeting from taking place in Singapore. The Singaporean government pointed out that Singaporeans who break the law faced the same punishments as Fay. The Ministry of Home Affairs claimed that Singapore's laws had kept the city free of vandalism or violence of the kind seen in New York. Government-controlled newspaper The Straits Times criticized "interference" by the U.S. government and found it surprising that the President had found time to become involved, given the various foreign-policy and other crises it was facing.
Following Fay's sentence, the case received wide coverage by the U.S. and world media and dozens of reporters were sent to Singapore to cover the case. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and The Los Angeles Times ran editorials and op-eds condemning the punishment. Some of the coverage was factually incorrect: for instance, Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
carried an interview with a person who claimed to have witnessed a public caning in Singapore, despite the fact that Singapore has never carried out canings in public. Some commentaries treated the Michael Fay affair as a clash of civilizations between Asian values
Asian values
Asian values was a concept that came into vogue briefly in the 1990s to justify authoritarian regimes in Asia, predicated on the belief in the existence within Asian countries of a unique set of institutions and political ideologies which reflected the region's culture and history...
and the differing view of human rights common in liberal western cultures.
The extent of public opposition to the caning within the United States is unclear, as opinion polls produced by different news organizations contradicted each other. Nevertheless, a significant number of vocal Americans were in favor of the caning with the reasoning that Singapore had a right to use corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
if it chooses, or that the United States did not mete out severe enough punishment to its own juvenile offenders. Others pointed out that once Americans go abroad they are subject to the laws and penal codes of whatever country they visit. The embassy of Singapore to the United States said it received "a flood of letters" from Americans strongly supporting Fay's punishment, and some polls showed a majority of Americans favored it.
Aftermath
Immediately on his release from prison in June 1994, Fay returned to the United States to live with his biological father. He gave several television interviews, including one for no fee (together with his US lawyer) on CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
with Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
on June 29, 1994, in which he admitted taking road signs but denied vandalizing cars. In this interview, a transcript of which is online, he also claimed that he was ill-treated during questioning, and described his caning and its results in detail. He explained why he had shaken hands with the caning operative after his four strokes had been administered.
It was also in this interview that Fay revealed that, at the end of his punishment, his buttocks were bleeding only slightly, that he needed no immediate medical treatment, and that he was able to walk, albeit with "a lot of pain".
This, together with the information that Fay sat down when he met a US consular official the day after his caning, contrasts with some of the more lurid descriptions of Singapore caning ("bits of flesh fly with each stroke", etc.) that had been carried in the western press after the sentence was first announced. These had been taken from descriptions (originally derived from a 1974 press conference) of a much larger number of strokes than Michael Fay was ever going to receive for his relatively minor offense, compared with the maximum of 24 strokes that can be ordered for crimes such as rape and robbery.
While there was talk of a book or movie deal (neither of which ever materialized), Fay maintained that he would never sell his story for profit
Son of Sam law
A Son of Sam Law is any American law designed to keep criminals from profiting from the publicity of their crimes, often by selling their stories to publishers. However, this is not in the same manner of asset forfeiture, which is intended to seize assets acquired directly as a result of criminal...
. Later in 1994, Fay suffered burns to his hands and face after a butane
Butane
Butane is a gas with the formula C4H10 that is an alkane with four carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of two structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, butane refers only to the unbranched n-butane isomer; the other one being called "methylpropane" or...
incident. He was subsequently admitted to the Hazelden
Hazelden
The Hazelden Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Center City, Minnesota. Hazelden has alcohol and drug treatment facilities in Minnesota ; Newberg, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; Naples, Florida and New York City, New York...
rehabilitation program for butane abuse. He claimed that sniffing butane "made him forget what happened in Singapore." 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. Later, in 1998, still in Florida, Fay was arrested for possession of marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
and drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia is a term used, often with a slightly negative connotation due to its use in criminal law field e.g. "possession of drug paraphernalia", to denote any equipment, product, or material that is modified for making, using, or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes...
, charges to which he confessed but was not found guilty because of technical errors in his arrest.
In June 2010 his case was mentioned again in international news with another high-profile Singapore vandalism case involving a foreigner, Swiss IT consultant Oliver Fricker
Oliver Fricker
Oliver Fricker is the second high-profile foreigner since 1994 to be sentenced to caning for vandalism in Singapore. On 25 June 2010, he was sentenced to five months' jail and three strokes of the cane under the Vandalism Act and Protected Areas and Protected Places Act...
, who was sentenced to 5 months' jail and three strokes of the cane.
Further reading
- Latif, Asad (1994). The Flogging of Singapore: The Michael Fay Affair. Singapore: Times Books International. ISBN 9812045309
- Baratham, GopalGopal BarathamGopal Baratham was a Singaporean author and neurosurgeon. He was known for his frank style and his ability to write about topics that were often considered controversial in the conservative city-state.-Life:...
(1994). The Caning of Michael Fay. Singapore: KRP Publication. ISBN 9810057474 - Reyes, Alejandro (May 25, 1994). Rough Justice: A Caning in Singapore Stirs Up a Fierce Debate About Crime And Punishment, Asiaweek, Hong Kong.
- The Asiaweek Newsmap (April 27, 1994). Asiaweek.
- Chew, Valerie (August 5, 2009). "Michael Fay", Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board.