Fay caning shows bizarre truth about a civilized country

By Nazly Siregar

BERKELEY, California (JP): Michael Fay is supposed to be an ordinary young man. But he is not. In the 18th year of his life he has become the most talked about person in America.

His achievement: vandalism.

The sentence for vandalism is a piece of cake in America. Unfortunately he did the crime in Singapore, creating a spectacular story. For vandalizing 50 luxurious cars in a posh part of Singapore last year he was sentenced to four months in prison, a US$2,200 fine and six lashes (later reduced to four lashes) of a cane to his buttocks.

The fine is no big deal, since his father is the chief executive officer of a US$55 million company in Dayton, Ohio, and his stepfather is an executive of Federal Express. Four months in prison could be hard. Now: six lashes?

The American government which is always itchy to influence other country's policies has started lecturing the world on how to behave humanely. No less than President Clinton himself has protested the sentence and called it "extreme."

Amazingly his fellow Americans do not seem to be that outraged. Unlike their president, many American people who consider themselves members of a civilized society do not object too strenuously to the idea of caning. A recent Newsweek magazine poll showed that 38 percent of Americans approved of the sentence, while 52 percent did not. More erratically, of the 70,000 callers to Hard Copy -- a television tabloid aired by NBC -- 91 percent think caning should be practiced in the U.S., while only nine percent do not think it is appropriate. What is going on here?

Michael Fay is not a typical youth. He is one of the thousands of U.S. teenagers whom other Americans think have criminal potential. He is one of the myriad children of divorce who lack parental guidance. All of a sudden Americans are realizing that there are too many brats among their offspring; kids with bad teeth and pregnant teenagers. Michael simply reminds people how chaotic the society is.

American society is not as well organized as propaganda would have it. America is not a heaven. Poverty, crime, violence, illiteracy -- characteristics most often attributed to developing nations -- describe America as well. Its government fails to provide the basic elements of a healthy society: social justice for all, security, a workable legal system and safety for the entire populous.

Nevertheless, the father, George Fay, desperately seeking mercy for his son, has garnered enough supporters. People, who claim to be better-educated and more civilized than the caners, have begun preaching proudly about how humane American society is and how primitive the Singaporean system of justice is. Well, it is America, right? As usual there are opponents and supporters of any issue.

So what are the truths in this matter?

First the critics of Singapore's policy say that corporal punishment is uncivilized. Delaware was the last state in the U.S. to flog a man, and that was way back in 1952. Amnesty International calls the practice "torture." Now, this seems somewhat amusing in light of the fact that the nation we are talking about is the one with the highest crime rate among industrialized countries.

People criticize many kinds of punishment as excessive, but no one seems concerned about the victims of the crimes for which the stiff sentences are handed down. As a matter of fact the victims are often more tortured than the convicts over a much longer period of time.

For example: Rape victims suffer from paranoia, nightmares and low self esteem for the rest of their lives. So isn't it time we stopped lecturing on the impact of punishment. Is corporal punishment really torture? Is it the seeking of revenge? It could be these things, but it could also be a deterrent.

Another fact that belies this overt concern over the caning of a delinquent youth is that corporal punishment itself is a popular way to discipline among parents and teachers. People can write with a million mesmerizing words describing how marvelous American families are, but statistics shows another picture entirely.

Last year, one million children were abused or neglected by their own parents and 1,300 of them died. During the 1991-1992 school year, more than 500,000 public school students were subjected to physical punishment.

In light of the above, the fact that Americans envision themselves as civilized seems ironic. To this can be added the information that the American justice system still accommodates capital punishment, although most countries in Europe view the death penalty as barbaric.

Most of these advanced countries know that the death penalty is not the way for a civilized society to deal with crime, so they have discontinued the practice.

Yet the American critics of the caning point out how devastating the situation in Singapore is. They say that despite the high standard of living, safety and cleanliness, the freedom of speech does not exist. The people in Singapore are living under fear of their government. Censorship rules journalism there.

Americans may feel fortunate that they are conferred with everything they perceive that a modern society demands. Criticizing their president and his administration seems to be a hobby among Americans.

And, indeed, this kind of outspokenness would seem an impossibility in most other countries. Their freedom of speech is one of a kind. And of course you can purchase Playboy and Cosmopolitan. Isn't it a free country?

Well, that is not entirely true. Perhaps if measured by the American yardstick, they are enough free. But the people of Old World countries may not see them as so.

In America you will not hear the four-letter words on television. Front views of naked people are never presented in any kind of advertising. Going topless at beaches is taboo. Movies are censored before being aired on television.

Finally, the most absurd of the incongruities of American society: Young people, who are deemed old enough to die for their country and who have the right to purchase and carry guns, do not have the right to purchase and drink alcoholic beverages. You have to be 21, or over, in most states to do that.

American young people must envy the way teenagers in Europe live. Although drugs and prostitution are widely tolerated in Holland, the crime rate there is kept at acceptable levels.

Beer can be purchased in any McDonald's in Germany and wine is served at the same fast-food chain's outlets in France. People not only go topless on the beach, but also on terraces in apartment buildings. Television programs are uncensored. Naked women appear in them. Advertising is completely original.

The weird thing is, that although, in reality, America has tighter regulations compared to most western European countries, this country has a poorer record when it comes to controlling crime. Over the last three decades, the incidence of violent crime in the United States has increased by more than 500 percent. Los Angeles, whose area is the same as Singapore's, recorded 1,100 murders last year, while Singapore recorded only 58.

Michael Fay's case once again exhibits the most embarrassing mistake of Americans: They rarely show respect for other country's policies. Not only do they attempt to impose American values on foreign lands, they try to force the people of other nations to acknowledge their rules as the most perfect laws human beings have ever made.

Well, in this case, that does not seem likely to work. Instead each critical statement made by Americans in relation to the caning is reflecting back on their own floundering legal system.

Michael Fay was only doing exactly what thousands of American teenagers do in their own country. The difference is that he did so in another country where the reaction to graffiti and other forms of vandalism is different.

Also, his case emerged at a time when the majority of Americans have become tired of living in fear, of being intimidated and of feeling pressured by the violence and crime they have to face in their daily lives.

To many Americans, Michael Fay symbolizes the inability of the parents of the United States to teach their children even basic moral values at home, choosing instead to just pass off the responsibility to their government.

If viewed rationally and honestly, the Michael Fay case could serve to awaken many Americans from the stupor of pretentiousness. It is time to face the truth! American is facing social, legal, and educational catastrophes in its children.

Michael Fay could help Americans to understand their society better. His behavior and the subsequent consequences could be used by thinking Americans to focus that nation's vision of itself and to wake their fellow countrymen up to the fact that the everlasting happiness promised by Hollywood is an illusion that the reality of Los Angeles so eloquently counters if people would only open their eyes.

The Michael Fay story tells more about America than the thousands of words spouted forth by the nation's politicians.

The bottom line is actually pretty simple: No given rule, law, custom, or legal system, can be applied in every country because each nation has totally different needs. We must not expect other countries to automatically take on our concepts and policies because, basically, we are pursuing different goals. Each country has its own choices in setting up standards of justice.

Singapore does not need Cosmopolitan or Playboy, and would probably say that such publications do not fit in with its Asian values. On the other hand, the United States does need the death penalty because there are too many cold-blooded killers and sex offenders wandering its streets.

I personally think that California, in particular, needs to maintain capital punishment and its tough policy of "three strikes and you are out."

The case of Michael Fay shows that America must re-evaluate its own moral judgments in light of the values and ethics of other nations worldwide.

Although the United States may well be the greatest country in the free world, it needs to realize that it is no sin to admit that it could learn something about discipline and moral staunchness from such a tiny city-state as Singapore.

The writer is assistant associate editor of Grand Times magazine.