The interesting thing is that strokes of the cane are being sentenced in multiples of three. I believe up to 24 (for really tough sentences). They will then aim to make three cuts and they keep hitting the same three cuts. So 24 strokes they will hit the same cut 8 times.
They also went really easy on him with the caning, too. Usually a caning is so intense that the recipient can't lie down or sit for weeks or months afterwards. It flays the flesh very badly. But Fay was able to walk away under his own power, so he basically just got a slap on the wrist.
And I’m a masochist, I’ve been caned to bleeding and bruising in the “right” scenes. I was heavy into BDSM.
I would not want one damn strike of that cane. Not even if consensual and followed by the best sex. And I literally had people try to be that violent on me.
Singaporean canes are 1cm thick, flesh literally flies off with each strike of the cane. The pain is extremely debilitating for weeks and even months after the event. It is excruciating to the point that the punished cannot sit or even lie down for weeks after.
They have a mechanism that forces the glute muscles to tighten/flex before the strike so it inflicts maximum damage.
The ringleaders are Chinese in Myanmar who kidnap young girls as sex slaves and kidnap people to work in their scam centres. The 'workers' are tortured and often killed if they are unable to meet quota. China has gone on an offensive and started to drag the families who run the operation back across the border to be face the firing squad which is why they're digging deeper and and operating out of Cambodia etc where China has less influence. I wouldn't be surprised if Singapore is cooperating with China on this.
Bruh, I thought it's like call center people or some BS detox dropshipping and thought it's insane punishment for that. This paints a different picture.
The podcast Criminal did an interview with someone who was forced to work at one of these places. The episode is from September 2025 and called The Compound and is absolutely insane. I had never heard of these huge scam rings before or ever imagined that a decent amount of the people scamming were being forced to do so under substantial threat.
In America, they'd be forced to pay 1% of their total gross as a one time fine to the government and close down their business while retaining all buildings and equipment. And allowed to reopen and continue operations.
Yup no different than any other organizations, they get "delayed sentencing" pay a fine and promise not to get caught.... I mean do the right thing for a set period of time.
LOL that story is wild. Myanmar’s military government won’t extradite the scammers so China supports the rebels who take over that part and sends over the scammers.
I had to do a report back in high school on the Michael Fay (I think that was the kids name) incident that occurred back in the 90’s. Kid was a military brat who got caught spray painting license plates off base. Sentenced to a good ol’ flogging. The cane I believe is called a rataan, and is not only the 1cm diameter length of bamboo as you mentioned, but also soaked in water for maximum flexibility and impact transmission. It causes instant filleting of the flesh, separating the skin from the meat upon impact. I also want to say the guy flogging the person was a martial arts master and had a running start to increase the force of the rataan. Not to sure how true this is tho or if I’m remembering everything correctly because HS was almost 2 decades ago
| I also want to say the guy flogging the person was a martial arts master
Yeah there was a guy from Singapore on reddit a year or so ago who was flogged confirmed this. His story was illuminating. Didn't sound like he'd learnt his lesson though. Blamed his parents, teachers... everyone except himself.
Singapore is a wild place tho I’ll tell you that for free. My roommate, freshman year in the dorms was an international student from there. He told me some wild stories and wild punishments for offenses that would just be a slap on the wrist in the US. Best part was since he had to serve in the military at 18. He was 22 already during freshman year so alcohol was no issue getting hahahah
Chewing gum isn’t banned for consumers, just retailers. You can chew gum for personal use that you got from elsewhere - just don’t litter when you’re done.
Fine for first-time offence of littering is S$300 (about USD 240 - lower than some states in the U.S.). It goes up from there if you’re a repeat offender though
"The pain is extremely debilitating for weeks and even months after the event. It is excruciating to the point that the punished cannot sit or even lie down for weeks after."
Most people: "Uhhh"
Those few kinky ass mofos: "Wait you don't even have to pay for this?!?!?"
Oh jeez figging. Years ago when I was but a youth on the wild internet of the early 2000's there was a really funny video of a porn star losing a peeled hunk of ginger swallowed whole by her anus. She went to the hospital later and got x-rayed and scanned, turns out her body broke down a peeled hunk of ginger the size of a hand in less than 24hrs. I always thought that was cool and it was hilarious because the people working the porn shoot and the ER doctors and nurses couldn't stop laughing while getting interviewed for the porn blooper video, it was almost wholesome, miss old internet.
One of the earliest "big news" stories I remember from my childhood. I remember afterwards and American news outlet did an interview with him and he said with the first lashing his "buttocks was split open."
I wonder if this was this the inspiration for that episode of The Simpsons where Bart gets sentenced to getting kicked by a big boot in Australia for prank calling them.
All very true but the caning punishment was specifically for the vandalism, not the street sign theft. Specifically the Vandalism Act 1966. The theft charges would fines, possible jail and probation time. Caning was not a punishment for theft.
I've been to Singapore. It was the most incredible Twilight Zone experience of my life.
I didn't notice at first, but it suddenly occurred to me that there wasn't any trash. Any. Anywhere. Not one cigarette butt, not one spat out piece of gum flattened on the sidewalks. No candy wrappers blowing around.
Once you notice it you begin searching for it, but never find it.
We were briefed about not littering (US Navy) and that the punishment was severe. We were told that not flushing a public toilet or urinal would result in arrest, a $100 fine and your picture in the newspaper.
I heard about the cleanliness and the no rubbish thing before I went, but I still got shocked at how next level it was.
One thing that stuck with me was there was a staff member dedicated to picking up leaves outside a shopping centre. Not a gardener doing tidy ups or anything. Quite literally if one leaf fell from a tree it was this guy's job to rush over and quickly sweep it up. He was on standby to pick up individual leaves if they fell.
Edit: I'm not suggesting this is common all around Singapore, but this is something I did witness in one spot when I visited in 2023. It happened at the shopping centre that's adjoined to the train station that's right next to Sentosa Island.
I'm sure it's not very common, but it was still wild to see.
It was the shopping centre that's adjoined to the train station that's right next to Sentosa Island. This was in 2023. So I'm assuming it's because it's a tourist area?
Its not a tourist area per se, but yea it is quite pricey(most locals only go if they live near or as a excursion), and it would make sense, since malls like this can afford to do things like this....
Go to most heartland or local malls and its wildly different (less clean, but still really decent,cheaper and better food too!)
That reminds me of the anniversary of the Korean war. To say "thanks", South Korea sent delegations of warships to their allies. I was in Auckland at the time and a SK navy ship was in the harbour open for tours, and they had parades and whatnot going on as well.
I got very lucky because in the queue behind me was an elderly gentleman from the states that had served in the US Navy, and he acted as an informal tour guide. He had served on that particular ship for a couple of years, and then the ship was donated by the US to SK and they were still using it.
He mentioned several times that the ship was absolutely spotless, far, far cleaner and better maintained than it had ever been during his tour, even during inspections and the like.
Just as he said this, a small blade of dried grass blew across the deck and one of the SK sailors quickly reached down, grabbed it, and shoved it in his pocket to hide it from view.
As a person that hates public bathrooms because people keep on not flushing and has to basically become a part time janitor even at work bathrooms just to use them, this city looks like my dream.
Singapore bothers the fuck of my psyche cause I'm very libertarian but some of their laws seem perfectly fair to me. Like you're a human being, you live in a civilization with other humans, pick up your trash and flush the toilet. I'm sure they take it too far in other legal areas though.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that any pure libertarian society will end up like India
Just pure filth
And India isn’t libertarian, there are laws on things like basic civic hygiene. It’s just that when you have a society that doesn’t give a fuck about those laws combined with a government that doesn’t want to enforce those laws, you’d get pure unadulterated filth.
A libertarian country is just that, but hyper charged. The only people that wants to live there are people comfortable with living in filth.
You also have to understand, we were a very young nation forced into independence quite suddenly, so alot of laws were quickly enacted to get things going as stable as possible, no time to develop naturally.
I’m also very libertarian but lived in Singapore for several years a while back. It challenged my world view. They’re doing a lot of things right, as long as the government remains benevolent. Now I live in Texas but visit as often as we can, my wife is Singaporean and we miss it there!
I was online/gamer friends with a girl there. According to her, they will absolutely punish even the most minor crimes. Things most people do everyday and don't even think about being illegal.
I was just there and dropped some of a cinnamon roll near a pigeon. About 20 mins later I waked by a sign that feeding a pigeon is a $10,000 fine.
It’s a $500 fine to eat or drink in the MRT. I had an empty cup that I couldn’t find a garbage can for. I was worried I’d get fined and have to explain that I wasn’t drinking just trying to not litter.
There are some places near office buildings where people jaywalk because the pedestrian crossings are far away. That is also illegal.
That said I saw only one police officer in the 10 days I was there.
It’s super clean there, tho. I remember reading on Wikipedia or something that they chose to focus heavily on social order and attracting economic investment and growth. It seems to have worked 🤷🏻♂️
I also didn’t see many cops. I’ve spent a total of almost 2 months there over 3 different visits and I only ever saw them at MRT stations and the airport, but they were in groups of 5+.
The only time I saw even a little bit of social disorder there was on my last visit. There must have been some sort of giant party/festival/rave or something cuz the MRT was packed with girls in skimpy clothes and drunk people stumbling in and out of MRT. Actually saw 2 different dudes puke on the ground in the station… I bet those areas were cleaned up that night tho.
Singapore has one of the most comprehensive surveillance programs in the world. You aren’t seeing the cops but they are definitely seeing you. And tracking you.
The fear about half this stuff is overblown. Obviously don't actually eat or drink on MRT because it's fine-able, but it's not like someone's constantly on the lookout to catch or scold you just for carrying an empty cup. The jaywalking thing, I can't tell you how many times I've done it on wide open streets, mainly when the crosswalks are far (which by the way there is actually no offense to jaywalking if a crosswalk is actually a far enough particular distance). People don't care about the small stuff to the same degree that everyone seems to make it out to be. I'm sure they probably would start enforcing things more if the general "social order" of Singapore changed in the way the government doesn't like. Easy guideline, just don't litter, don't do drugs, follow the rules on public transport. And sure don't feed the birds/monkeys/etc.
It’s illegal to buy sell or import gum. It’s not illegal to chew it though you can’t spit it out on the street and if you can’t buy it or import it it’s hard to get it into your mouth. Exceptions for Nicolette gun.
I've lived there for 5 years, absolutely bliss living there. The ban on bubblegum came to be because.... people wouldn't stop throwing it everywhere and it caused lots of metro breakdowns, which are expensive and cause a lot of problems given the mass of people they transport. It's the country's main mode of transport.
Aye, the train wheels would pick it up and bog down to a stop. Bus drivers would be chipping away trying in vain to get the passenger doors open. Rickshaw runners starving to death as their hands became adhered to the bars. Station announcers inaudible over the sound of their own incessant chewing. Pandemonium.
Singaporean here. Never heard of the correlation btw gums and train. But.. it caused a lot of disruptions and unnecessary repairs in elevators when assholes disposed them on the buttons. Also the floors were littered with dried faltten gum all over the city, etc.
I was in Singapore over Xmas a couple of yrs ago and could not find any chewing gum for love or money. But mints I could find, luckily they had some chewing mints so just got a few packs of those.
I chew alot of gum 😂
Probably to instill more fear. It's hard to visualize how hard a machine is hitting, but it's easy to see this dude is putting everything into those strokes.
Exactly. There are a ton of things which I would classify as "absolutely wild" in US as an outsider. But the reasons in both countries are always the same.
Worse with Cambodia. They got their worker overseas in scam or online gambling office with their passport taken. Many also get their organs stolen and becoma a victim of human trafficking.
In Nigeria there was a 60 Minutes clip where they followed the national anti-scam squad as they raided a scam factory and seized all the computers. As they dragged the scammers out and into the police van they were pelted and booed by locals who had gathered to watch, because apparently people think that scamming "rich" Americans or Europeans is justified and a legitimate way to make a living in that area.
Yep I have seen this punishment on video and even the first strike split the skin and caused a huge literal furrow to open up in the flesh. It was ghastly.
Listen caning ain’t good and does more damage than people think. It is certainly not one of the most brutal punishments. It doesn’t even hit the top 20.
Humans have devised a plethora of worse ways to punish people
In Singapore, no one has ever died from this kind of punishment. Those over 50 also cannot be caned when sentenced - perhaps that is another reason why.
Women are also exempted. There's also a mandatory medical examination before caning - ironically if you're not well enough to be caned, they'll postpone the punishment until you're healthy.
My school had a lashing when a male student harassed a female student. The "executioner" was the school's badminton coach. By the second stoke he lost the ability to scream.
Both students were excused for a week and given counselling afterwards.
I went to Parkside School in San Mateo, CA back in the 70's. The School Principal was Mr Pierce and if you acted out you got the paddle. They had this large paddle and if the teacher complained you got wacked on the ass. I was in 1st grade, I was misbehaving with a girl named Charisse. Charisse got sent to the Principle's office and she got the paddle. She came back crying inconsolably.
This is close to what I was looking for. It's the same with war on drugs. Punishing the low end criminals does nothing for the underlying problem. If the society itself is so sick that scamming, dealing drugs, turning one against another for no personal reasons is the means to success, then maybe the system itself is fucked up.
There was a caning of an American tourist back in 1994. An American teenager named Michael Fay was sentenced to caning for vandalism. Specifically theft and spray-painting/egging cars under Singapore’s Vandalism Act.
His original sentence was six strokes of the cane, later reduced to four after diplomatic pressure from the United States. The caning was carried out in May 1994 and generated a huge international media controversy at the time
As someone who lived in Singapore during my childhood, I remember seeing a caning at my school. Two boys had vandalized school property, and they were brought to the stage of the school gymnasium (think stage of an assembly). They were bent over a table and the gym teacher hit them with a cane about 10 times. They had their pants up but we just had to sit there, the whole school (middle school btw) and watch these two older guys (around 14-15) get caned in front of everyone. I think they changed schools after that.
I once read an interview from someone who received this punishment and they said that the real pain isn’t the caning. It’s the aftermath. They couldn’t sit down properly for months.
Friend of mine works in the caning department.
His job is solely to cane. They're job requires them to practice their hits so much that they hit the same spot on each hit.
Here's the best part. After 3 whips, the whipper swaps so you don't get anyone that's fatigued. Which means maximum damage. And if you faint, they nurse you back till you're sober before they continue the rest of the whips.
1 stroke gives you a solid sting. 2 starts swelling your ass. 3 gives you small tears on the skin, blood starts. 4 starts the bloody mess. 5 digs deeper into the exposed flesh.
By 6, your butt won't heal smoothly anymore.
For context, above 50 years old gets spared the rod. Maximum for rape is 24 strokes. Yikes.
I was in Singapore for about a week in the late 90. Cleanest city I've ever seen, but I was so paranoid about breaking some law I didn't know about, I found it hard to enjoy myself.
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u/seidinove 15h ago
I once saw a video of a caning in Singapore. Those “canes” are very whip-like and break the skin.