21 YEARS AGO TODAY

This 19-year-old American who was caned in Singapore for vandalism said today that the bleeding it caused was "like a bloody nose."

The teen-ager, Michael P. Fay, said in an interview that the four strokes with a rattan cane on May 5 had left three dark-brown scars on his right buttock and four lines each about half-an-inch wide on his left buttock.

In his first description of the caning, Mr. Fay said that prison officials told him he shouted, "I'm dying," when the first stroke was delivered. He said he could not remember making the cry.

He said a prison officer stood beside him and guided him through the ordeal, saying: "O.K. Michael, three left. O.K., Michael, two left. O.K., one more; you're almost done."

The Government of Singapore has defended the punishment as a traditional part of the country's legal system. The caning strained Singapore's relations with the United States and has been seen as largely responsible for the United States' voting against holding the first summit meeting of the World Trade Organization in Singapore next year.

After confessing to vandalism, Mr. Fay was sentenced to four months in jail and six strokes with a half-inch-thick rattan cane on two counts of vandalism and possession of stolen road signs. The sentence was later reduced to four strokes.

After his confession, Mr. Fay contended that he had been coerced by police officers into saying he had spray-painting cars. The Government of Singapore denied that.

Mr. Fay had lived with his mother and stepfather in Singapore since 1992 and had attended the Singapore-American School. After being freed from prison on Tuesday, he returned to his father's home in this suburb of Dayton. Description of Caning

He said he had first looked at the scars in a mirror only two days ago. "I got a shiver down my back," he said, "and I couldn't believe I might have them for the rest of my life."

Mr. Fay said the caning, which he estimated took one minute, left a "few streaks of blood" running down his buttocks. But his description appeared less horrific than accounts of caning in the past.

"The skin did rip open," he said. "There was some blood. I mean let's not exaggerate, and let's not say a few drops or that the blood was gushing out. It was in between the two. It's like a bloody nose."

Mr. Fay said the wounds hurt for about five days, after which they itched as they healed. "The first couple of days it was very hard to sit," he said.

He said that he was able to walk immediately after the caning and that in the days after the punishment he was able to do push-ups.

Mr. Fay said he now wanted get on with finishing high school and then go to college "like any other kid in America."