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PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:09 am 
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Perth man faces caning for 'swearing' on flight
Fiona Willan, ninemsn
10:31am January 23, 2013

A Perth man faces a possible caning for allegedly swearing at another passenger on a Tiger Airways flight to Singapore.

Maritime worker Bruce Griffiths, 47, has been charged with "outrage of modesty" offences, The West Australian newspaper reports.

Griffiths was reportedly involved in verbal stoush with another passenger on the January 4 flight after disturbing him while he was trying to sleep.

An unnamed colleague told The West Australian that Griffiths moved from a middle seat to allow a female passenger to go to the bathroom during the night.

A man sitting in the aisle seat allegedly swore at Griffiths for disrupting his sleep.

The crew became involved after Griffiths allegedly swore back at him.

He was arrested when he landed and cannot leave Singapore until the case is resolved.

Griffiths could be given 24 lashes with a rattan cane 1.2m long and 1.27cm thick if convicted.

Tiger Airways said it had a "zero tolerance approach towards inappropriate behaviour on board our aircraft" and the incident was being reviewed.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade updated its travel advice for Singapore on January 13, warning tourists of its strict laws against using inappropriate language and inappropriate touching.

"Offenders can be given prison sentences of up to two years, a fine, caning or combination of these punishments," the advice reads.

....more at link
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/201 ... g-on-plane

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:13 am 
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Perth man Bruce Griffiths won't face caning


THE Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade say a Perth man accused of swearing on a plane won't face the cane.

“Officials from the Australian High Commission in Singapore are providing consular assistance to a 47-year-old man from WA who was arrested in Singapore on 4 January 2013 by Airport Police," DFAT said in a statement.

"Police have advised that the man is not facing charges which are punishable by caning.

"Our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 constrain us from providing any further details of the case without consent of the individual concerned.”

...more at link
http://www.news.com.au/national/judicia ... 6560255859

Snip........

Recent cases of foreigners being caned in Singapore include Swiss national Oliver Fricker, who was sentenced to five months' jail and three strokes of the cane in 2010, after pleading guilty to cutting through a Changi train depot fence with an accomplice and spray painting two metro train carriages.

In the same year, former Florida State University NFL star Kamari Charlton was sentenced to the cane after he overstayed his tourist visa in Singapore and was charged with a phone scam against an Australian man.

American Michael Fay, 18, was sentenced to four cane strokes in 1994 for theft and vandalism.

The caning was carried out despite pleas for leniency from President Bill Clinton and US Embassy officials.

....more at link
http://www.news.com.au/national/judicia ... 6560255859

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:23 am 
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The Michael Fay caning happened while I was living in Singapore in 1994

I saw the INTERNATIONAL story via CNN... and the local TV take on it, and read about all the details in the Daily Straits Times Newspaper.

I also spoke to locals at the time.

My impression was that locals felt Fay should get six lashes (as his Asian co-offender got)

They certainly do not like the idea of foreigners interfering in Domestic Singapore affairs. Wanton Vandalism and repeat offences was always likely to be punished.

The story above is MISREPORTED!!

It was a concession for Singapore to reduce Fay's punishment from 6 to 4 lashes.

Fay's lesser involved ASIAN friend got the full six lashes. Singapore is very sensitive about foreign powers telling them how to run their own internal affairs... yet they did make a concession because Clinton asked.

It is perhaps hard for people to understand the Asian (Chinese) notion of "Face".
To make an exception and let Fay off would have been a huge loss of "face" for Singapore... even the reduction by 2 lashes was a loss of face. It actually shows a lot of respect for Clinton that they accepted that loss of face and reduced the number of lashes.

I might add that Fay struck me as a little shit who probably would have benefited from caning earlier on in his life. He did seem to lack discipline from indulgent parents.. at least the Mother as I recall.

His Asian co-offender took the 6 lashes without too much fuss. His parents showed genuine regret (and a little shame). They apologised for their sons behaviour.
Fays parents were on CNN (often) making excuses. It seems to me they had indulged their son in petty criminal acts in the past. Their tone was abusive towards Singaporeans ...

I have not seen any follow-up stories.... I hope Michael Fay got the point and got his act together after that.

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 10:01 am 
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I guess from some later articles about Michael (if true) the caning didn't help much.

Note to self not to swear if I go to Singapore.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 1:50 pm 
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I used to swear in Singapore :59

Not easy to do in Malay.... they don't have the same swear words for body parts and fornication.
The coarsest way to refer to sex is to talk about "play". Swearing is more to do with what we might call Blasphemy.

The place is not as people are led to believe.

I bet there is more to this story and that the Australian was probably drunk and very obnoxious on a plane... which is NOT a good idea these days. It seems he is not up to get lashes anyway.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:58 am 
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Interesting about how we refer to swearing in different countries.


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