Singapore Rejects Account of Caning Boy's State
 

Washington Times, DC, 8 May 1994

By Richard Hubbard
Reuters News Agency


SINGAPORE—The government yesterday denied claims made by the father of American teen-ager Michael Fay that the boy was “bloodied” and had trouble walking after being caned for vandalism.

The government also said that the youth had shaken the hand of the man who caned him four times across the bare buttocks Thursday and also told his father to “shut up” about the flogging.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong later said Singapore was ready to leave behind the controversy over Mr. Fay’s caning.

“As far as Singapore is concerned, the episode is closed. The decision has been taken, the teen-ager caned and the matter has been left behind us,” he told reporters.

The government took the unusual step of allowing the Prisons Department to publish its version of a 45-minute meeting Friday between a U.S. consular official and Michael Fay, 18, who received four strokes of the cane a day earlier.

According to the government account, Mr. Fay laughed and smiled throughout the meeting. “He sat on a chair shortly after the interview started and remained seated throughout.”

“When asked whether the caning cut his skin, Michael Fay said that it did and there were a few drops of blood,” the Prisons Department statement said.

The Prison Department said Mr. Fay “passed the message that his mother should be told ‘not to worry’ and asked the U.S. consular official to tell his father to ‘shut up’.”

“Michael Fay walked back on his own to his cell after the caning, saying he wanted to act like a man. He shook the caner’s hand and smiled when he went back to his cell,” the Prisons Department statement said.

The government said the latest information was that Mr. Fay was cheerful and his general condition good. “The cane marks are almost dry and clean,” it said.

The description contrasts sharply with statements made by Mr. Fay’s father, George, and the father’s lawyer, Theodore Simon, in the United States Friday after they were briefed by the consular official.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday called in U.S. Charge Ralph Boyce and Vice Consul John Coe about statements attributed to one of them concerning Mr. Fay’s condition, a government spokesman said.