despite appeal from no less than from the American President, WE caned him.
Fay was never caned. We said we caned him but actually we did not.
The world was made to believe that we caned him.
A deal was struck so that all 3 sides walked away happy and we were none the wiser.
American president could brag that he got Fay caning reduced from 6 to 4.
SG govt looked good because it appeared they stood up against the mighty USA and upheld the law.
And Fay got away with his butt intact.
Everybody happy. And we were the idiots.
What happened was they probably let the cane touch his butt 4 times and that was it. Technically it was still a caning. Technically.
America would have been up in arms if he really was caned, because in American culture, caning is in their view, a cruel and unusual punishment.
And Fay would have been a multi millionaire showing everyone him cane marks, selling his story in books and making the rounds on the media circus.
But all that did not happen. He flipped burgers instead.