PROBABLY not this week, but sometime soon, six swift strokes with a cane will leave a mark not only on the backside of Michael Fay, the American delinquent sentenced to caning by a Singaporean court, but also on the minds of people worldwide.
Almost anywhere else only one or two decades ago, they would merely be six strokes on the bare bottom of another misbehaved youth. Whether administered in a school hall or backyard woodshed, the beating would have gone unnoticed by the national, let alone the global, media, and would have been quickly forgotten by all but the victim.
But this lashing is destined to be different. Careful attention will be paid to it in Washington, it will be analysed at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, and described to millions of listeners around the globe by the BBC.
Already the British tabloids have descended on Singapore, whetting the world's appetite for details by describing the dimensions of the rattan wand (1.21-metre long and 1.25 centimetres in diameter) and explaining the martial arts expertise of the man who will wield it.
The tabloid hacks have forecast every detail of the likely fate of 18-year-old Fay, in court for acts of vandalism. They have described how, when the boy's appeals finally end, and the president rejects his plea for clemency, Fay will be stripped naked and strapped to a trestle, then bent forward to receive the blows. His spine will be protected by thick leather. The first stroke will draw blood. Fay will probably faint after the third blow, as do most victims of the cane, and when it is finally over, he will possibly be scarred for life.
The incident itself is expected to have an equally lasting impact. Long after the blows themselves, the subject of an appeal from United States President Bill Clinton, have become history, the event and its impact will continue to be debated. The entire legal process - from arrest and trial through the endless appeals - will not quickly be forgotten.