The Hanging of Flor

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Essay
WILLIAM SAFIRE
The Hanging of Flor
WASH INC TON
The dlctatonal regune In Slnga·
pore, long criucal of American weak·
ness In upholding the Jaw, hired a trio
ot Amencatl dry·bone experts to help
gain moral absolution for too quickly
executing a ·Filipino motd question·
ably convicted or murder.
Last month's hanging of Flor Con·
templacion. who was one of the 60,000
Filipino household workers treated as
little better than slaves by their Sin·
gaporean masters, has made a mock·
er'1 of Strongman Lee Kuan Yew's
pretense of upholding "Asian values"
against the decadent West.
Remember how Smgapore's prose·
cutors and local counsel extracted a
"confession" out of an American
teen-ager last year for the cnme of
graffiti?
The boy wa:~ :oentenced to lashing
by cane, and President Clinton's plea
for mercy got exactly two lashes ott
his brutal beatlf18. Dtctator Lee exult·
ed In humiliating the u.s., lecturmg
us on the efficacy of torture, wtule the
local U.S busmess commuruty, suck·
lng up to the dictator, cheered.
Now consider an Asian reacuon to
Singapore Jusuce. When a F1hpmo
maid and her ward were found dead,
suspiCIOn was directed away from a
father-employer and toward Mrs.
Contemplaclon, another maid.
She was jailed, confessed - perhaps under torture - and her coun·
try's embassy did little in her behalf.
Just another maid; who cared?
When Singapore's judges sentenced her to death, the Ph111pplne
public showed It cared. Protesters in
that democracy burned Singuporean
flags; Manila newspapers denounced
the ruthless judicial system.
Lee Kuan Yew shrugged that oft;
his judges rejected appeals for a real
investigation into the murders, the
presentation or new evtdence and m·
dependent tnterviews w1th the condemned woman. Promptly on sched·
ule, Flor Contemplac1on was hange<l.
Case closed. Message sent.
An unexpected message came
back. Filipinos erupted In fury. Presi·
dent Ramos, under election pressure,
fired his uncaring embassy officials
and sent home Singapore's ambassa·
·dor. The Philippine Foreign Minister
who failed to stop the hangmg quit.
When Filipino investigators dug up
the body of the murdered maid, they
found that she had been beaten, b<lnes
broken, and one later charged the
Singapore pathologists had "tampered with the cadaver to simulate
sig.ns of strangulation."
The dictator's front man, Prime
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Minister Goh Chok Tong, realized this
had caused a rift between two mem·
bers of w Assoc~auon of Southeast
Asian NaUons. He agreed to a jomt
autopsy, at which the Phlllpplne forensic experts saw their susplc1ons
confirmed, but the Singaporeans apparently supported by their Amerl·
con experts - professed co see the
opposite.
I cloubt If examinatiOn after four
years of a corpse will determine if the
hanged woman was guilty or If Singapore's judicial system protected a
wealthy man and framed an Innocent
domestic servant, thereby maintain·
ing its reputatiOn as the world capital
of punishment.
We do know this: the pccused was
81Ven madequate representation. As
questions arose, the accusers were
too quick with the noose - sugge$ung
cover-up of offtcial wrongdoing.
The Contemplacion case teaches us
also that democratic values - mdi-
Human rights
are Asian, too.
vidual rights - are not culturally
"Western," as the dactator scornfUlly
Insists, but universal. Even a poor
Asian expatriate worker abandoned
by her embassy has those rights.
Isn't It about time the world's free
press broke the shackles imposed by
Si.ngapore's
corrupt judicJary?
Here's an i~a I have not discussed
with colleagues (if it's antitrust,
come and get me) : only a united front
by all publishers with operations In
Singapore will stop the judiciary
from mtimidatlng us one by one.
The Economist, Time, The Wall
Street Journal, New York Times and
washington Post (owners of The International Herald Tribune) have all
thundered at Singapore in home pubUcations, but when publ.tShlng in the
Far East write on eggs for tea r of
libel jUdgments or circulation harass·
ment by the hanging judges.
KowtoWing to such coercion is not
" respecting the Jaws of other societies." Filipinos are showing us that
free speech knows no boUndanes, and
that silent submi!>s1on to inJuStice
need not be the pnce of domg busi·
ness m Asia.
And it economic solidarity does not
affect the dictator's jUdges- why not
cover the area from free Mamla? Q
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CYRIL H . WECH'l'. M.D.. J .D .
DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOOY
ST. :nu.NClS Cli:NTR.A.t. HOSPIT AL
1200 CENTR:I!: A VEN UE
PITTSBURGH. PENN'SYT, V A :-:IA
1~21 &
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FORENSIC PATHOLOGY
April 25 , 1995
J JI:.(IA (. MEDJOt~'£
LEITER TO TirE EDITOR
Editor,
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, New York 10036
RE:
Op Ed Essay by William Safire •
"The Ban2in2 or Flor" - April 24, 1995
Dear Sir:
For a renown language maven like William Safire to refer to two forensic
pathologists and a forensic anthropologist as "dry-bone experts" is quite disappointing.
Surely, someone as educated and intelligent as Mr. Safire must be aware of these
forensic scientific specialties and the nature of their professional expertise. The
disturbing fact that neither Mr. Safire nor any New York Times reporter ever attempted
to contact the three of us certainly suggests some journalistic bias, not to mention
obviously deficient investigative reporting.
Baden and Wecht (forensic pathologists) have collectively performed more than
30,000 medicolegal autopsies and reviewed or supervised a much larger number over a
period of 33 years. These cases have involved hundreds of exhumation autopsies,
including many in which evaluation of skeletal remains was critical in determining the
cause, manner, and mechanism of death. Maples (forensic anthropologist) has performed
thousands of examinations of human bones for the same purposes. Some of the cases in
which one or more of us has been involved as an official consultant by governmental
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Editor,
The New York Times
Page 2
April 25, 1995
agencies have included the John F. and Robert F. Kennedy assassinations, Charles
Manson murders, Branch Davidian deaths, exhumation of President Zachary Taylor,
Vincent Foster, 0. I . Simpson, and many other well-known cases. Furthermore, one or
more of us has also been officially involved in exhumation autopsies in Israel, Pakistan,
Russia, and Taiwan in recent years.
While all of this professional experience and acquired expertise do not guarantee
that our opinions in the Flor Contemplacion case are accurate, a knowledgeable journalist
should be expected to reasonably infer that the findings and opinions of such a trio of
experts are likely to be valid and credible.
Following a thorough review of all the medical reports and related documents in
this case, and our own examination of the skeletal remains in Manila on April 19, 1995,
we arrived at a unanimous and unequivocal decision that the original autopsy performed
on the murder victim, Della Maga, in Singapore in 1991, was complete and accurate.
The significant additional findings and opinions expressed by the Filipino doctors
following their exhumation of Maga's remains last month proved to be based upon their
misinterpretation of post-mortem artefacts.
In our capacity as forensic scientists, we were not asked to determine whether
Contemplacion had murdered Maga, nor were our opinions solicited regarding the sociopolitical philosophies of the Singapore government and the political demagoguery of the
various officials involved in the current Filipino nauonal election campaign. Moreover,
we were not consulted regarding our opinions about capital punishment, first amendment
rights, and the criminal justice system in Singapore. Our personal beliefs regarding all
these important issues played no role whatsoever in the scientific endeavor that we were
engaged in.
The New York Times and Mr. Satire have every right to challenge the Singapore
government regarding the execution of Flor Contemplacion, and to raise questions about
freedom of speech and justice in Singapore. However, in dismissing out-of-hand the
work that we did , and in cynically demeaning the critical roles of forensic scientists in
determining the cause of death and numerous other relevant issues surrounding the
circumstances of Maga's death, your newspaper has violated our rights, and in essence,
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Editor,
The New York Times
Page 3
April 25, l995
has performed the same kind of hatchet job on us that you have accused the Singapore
government of performing on Contemplacion.
Very truly yours,
Michael M. Baden, M.D.
Executive Director,
Forensic Sciences Unit
New York State Police
William R. Maples, Ph.D.
Professor,
Museum of Natural History
University of Florida
Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D.
Past President, American
Academy of Forensic Sciences
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