. EDITORIAL
Plan to vandalize?
Prepare for flogging
Spray-painting cars, throwing eggs and switching
license plates would be almost a welcomed spree of
crime in crime-ridden United States.
if caught, and after being strung through the ongoing
bureaucratic justice system that plagues this country, the
(riminal would most likely tie released with a firm slap
on the wrist — but not literally.
1 lowciver. the same crime
in Singapore represents a
sentence unheard of to
many Americans. Michael
Kay, an IB year-old Ameri
can. has been sentenced to
flogging, a $2,230 fine and
four months in jail for
going on a 10-day spree of
vandalizing. Pleading
guilty to vandalism, crimi
nal mischief and posses
sion of stolen property, he.
Flogging, the
practice of
whipping the
buttocks with a
moistened rattan
cane, can cause
serious and
obvious pain.
his family and the senator from his home state are fight
ing for a josser sentence for Fay.
Flogging, the practice of whipping the buttocks with a
moistened rattan c ane, can cause serious and obvious
pain. Carried out by a martial arts expert, the first flog
ging —- Fay was sentenced to six — usually tears the skin
upon. The subsequent one usually sends the victim into
a temporary state of shock, promotes severe blooding and
often leaves life-long scars.
The practice of flogging is inhumane and makes a
modern, civilized country look as if it is regressing to a
barbaric mentality of discipline.
However, in Singapore it is the punishment for many
minor crimes. It is not the punishment for Amorlcan cit
izens committing minor crimos in Singapore, but it is the
punishment for everyone residing in the country. The
punishment, like the entire culture, is different.
Fay took the opportunity to travel abroad. Like any
American, he subjected himself to the laws that govern
the country ho chose to reside in. Therefore, ho is enti
tled to the punishments of that country - even the inhu
mane ones. By Amorican standards the punishment of
flogging is cruel and unusual.
For Singapore to let Fay off with a lesser sentence
would undermine their judicial system. A little country
choosing a rigid system, it does not cater to petty crimes
and chooses to treat them accordingly.
Fay pit ked the wrong country to go on a crime spree,
but he should be reprimanded as the people of Singa
pore see fit. It is their country. The responsibility of
those visiting should not be left up to the people of the
country itself. It would be nearly impossible for every
country to educate every guest as to the ways of their
culture.
Oregon Daily Emerald
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_ A m* A S
OPINION
Don’t you want to have a say?
■■ ■ ----■ »■ —-J
Robbie Reeves
Isn't student government a
wonderful thing7 No, no. no.
This will not lie another col
umn that (teats up on the ASUO
for all of its shortcomings or for
some new controversy —
although there are plenty of those
for other columns I want to com
plain about something else
Namely, most probably, you.
Remember hoi k to about o
month ago. I .alt* winter term, the
ASUO had a special election to
dei ide the fate of the Incidental
Fee Committee, among other
tilings Public ized with numer
ous fliers around i ampus and
even more nils in the Emerald.
the elec turn was something that
you hod to consciously try to
avoid in order to be ignorant
about it
And wouldn’t you know, that
was exactly what happened
About -t }M*ri ent of the student
body dec ided to vote in that
election That's jus! less than
1,000 people More people voted
in my high si hool elections
For all anyone cared, the
Emerald proably could have
asked for money to take a
month-long staff retreat to tin*
South Pacific and it yvould have
sailed through to approval on
the ballot
I wonder yvhy people didn't
vote True, it is possible that stu
dents were too intimidated by
the awesome task of filling out
the ballot After all. it yvas pretty
difficult to do. (It included
marking all of less than 10 little
boxes on a ballot )
Maybe people couldn’t find
the poll booths For some this
might be true, though it seems
like I kept running into them no
matter where on campus I was.
And there was never a line at
any of them. Most of the time,
there was no one voting at any
of the booths that I saw.
There is also what is probably
the No. 1 reason why people
didn't vote.
Maybe they just didn't care
That is the worst excuse 1
have ever heard for not voting,
and yet it is the one that I hear
most often. I know of virtually
no one who voted in the elec
tion Students just don't seem to
think that their vote will really
count that much in a University
election Combine that with the
fact that the issues involved are
complicated (and. for that mat
ter. fairly boring) and there is a
perfect formula for a low
turnout election.
I'll admit that I'm not the
greatest fan of the ASUO I'm
not the biggest supporter of the
Incidental f ee Committee either,
or. for that matter, a lot of the
things that happen with either of
the two organizations
On the special election ballot.
I voted "no" on everything on the
ballot A protest vole? Kind of It
sceniw) to me that the AS! JO was
try mg to ramrod a whole hunch
of things down the throats of stu
dents. which is fine If students
voted, maybe some of the things
wouldn't have passisl Hut almost
no one voted, and almost t-yery
thing passed. A coincidence?
Hardly. If all of the ASUO [and
friends, roommates, etc ) voted,
one could almost account for ail
of the " ves" votes
1 bring this up not to rehash
old news or to fill space in the
paper (though both are noble
journalistic endeavors), but to
make a point Another ele< tion
+s coming up soon, one that has
even bigger implications for the
University. Candidates for office
will be elected, and important
issues will be on the ballot as
well. Do students really want to
leave those decisions about the
future of this University to a few
hundred people?
Maybe the ballot needs to be
lightened up a bit. Perhaps the
Oregon Duck can run as a candi
date for ASUO president so that
people who don't like any of the
other c andidates could vote for
someone else I don't know. Hut
something needs to be done to gift
more people out to the polls in
the next election.
It is obvious that there is a sub
stantial amount of apathy on
campus concerning student gov
ernment Mnvbe people don't like
participating in anything that is
remotely connected with the
ASUO Maybe people don’t like
t 'Diversity polic les or elected offi
c oils Whatever the problem is.
nothing is solved by not voting.
Students are cutting off their own
voices when they willingly
c hoose to forgo their right to vote
And that sounds prettv damn stu
pid to me.
if you don't like the candidates,
run yourself. Want money? Get a
proposition on the ballot. Real
ly want to get involved' Volun
teer to help with the election. Hut
most importantly, vote II you’re
really enthused, vote a c ouple of
times Vote a whole bunc h of
times. I'd love to be able to write
columns about election fraud.
lust vote. It's your money, and
it's your university. Don't you
want to have a s.iy'
Robbie Reeves is a columnist
fur the Emerald
COMMENTARY
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