Remember Michael Fay?

Two Germans apparently didn’t get the memo about Michael Fay and the “rotan”.

Michael Fay was big news around the world when the then 18 year old teenager went on a vandalism spree. Although he denied the acts of vandalism and confessed to only stealing road signs, Michael Fay was still jailed and caned although his sentence was reduced from six strokes to four after mediation from the US government.

What happened after he left prison and returned to America? Nothing much has changed according to wikipedia which doesn’t include much of his adult life other than he has suffered more altercations, even blaming his ordeal in Singapore for turning to Butane sniffing in order to get high and forget the horrors he had to go through in Singapore.

The two young Germans who were recently caught and tried for trespassing and vandalising trains in the Bishan MRT depot were new to the world at the time of the Michael Fay incident and could probably be forgiven for never hearing of it. However it should come as no surprise that Singapore does have very strict codes of conduct and laws (it’s pretty well known, most foreigners know how strict the nation is).

The two Germans who were working in Australia, left the country after vandalising the train, and were caught in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur respectively. With the help and assistance of Malaysian and Thai counterparts, the police were able to extricate the two suspects and detain them before they could depart for Australia again.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Tan said that the suspects had displayed a blatant disregard of the law in Singapore. And that the police will spare no effort to hunt down locals and foreigners alike to bring them to justice. If found guilty, the Germans could face up to three years in jail, $2000 in fine and three to eight strokes of the cane.

Recommended for you