Travel Advisory--When in Rome . . . : Singapore flogging case: Obey foreign laws

Honesty check: Who among us can truly say that he or she did not, if only for a fleeting moment, respond with approval to the news that a Singapore court had sentenced an American teen-ager to be flogged for vandalism?

Our informal survey suggests that this was probably the immediate reaction of most urban dwellers, who have had it up to here with graffiti and other community-blighting hooliganism. Finally, many must surely have thought, the punishment was being made to fit the crime. Except, as calmer reflection must make clear, the punishment in this case is obviously and grotesquely disproportionate to the deed.

Deliberately inflicting excruciating pain and lifetime scarring on a lawbreaker’s body may or may not deter others from committing crimes. Certainly, though, it represents a regression from the values that our civilization for hundreds of years has struggled to establish as matters of human right. Yes, this is happening in a small country far across the Pacific with its own laws and culture. It is happening to a young American whose behavior was stupid, irresponsible, arrogant and insulting to the host country. That is a fact. It’s no less a fact that the punishment that has been ordered is brutally excessive.

Michael Peter Fay, 18, spray-painted cars on a Singapore street and committed other acts of hooliganism. The mandatory sentence for such activities is six strokes across the bare buttocks with a wet rattan cane. The blows are delivered by a martial arts expert. They are meant to wound, and they do. Fay has also been sentenced to four months in jail and fined $2,200. He is now appealing his sentence while out on bail.

In the interests of good relations Singapore should not insist on corporal punishment for Fay. In the interests of their own well-being, Americans who travel should understand that their own country’s constitutional protections don’t accompany them abroad. Violate local law in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan and other countries and a flogging could result. Violate anti-drug laws in some countries--Malaysia, for one--and hanging can follow. Law-abiding travelers don’t have to be too concerned. Others had better beware.

Michael Fay should have been aware; Singapore makes no secret of its laws. But the effect of Fay’s crime also ought to be weighed. No permanent damage was done, restitution was made. Surely Singapore would not be demeaning itself by showing some flexibility in this case.