International Bar Association’s (IBA) Conference Rule of Law Symposium

Sylvia Lim was invited to be a panellist at the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Conference Rule of Law Symposium held at Suntec City on 19 Oct.

The topic of the session was “The Rule of Law and Social and Economic Development – Post-Colonial Experience in Asia”. With her on the panel were Prof Simon Tay, NUS law lecturer and President of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs; Ms Ambiga Sreenavasan, President of the Malaysian Bar Council; and Mr Sobhraj Jha, partner of a leading Indian law firm. It was chaired by Mr Francis Neate, former IBA President and partner of a leading British law firm.

Prof Tay opened the session sketching progress made in ASEAN and various Asian countries towards building structures which would promote better governance. Ms Sreenavasan recounted Malaysia’s battle with threats to the rule of law, such as lack of judicial independence and the Constitutional crisis there in 1988. Mr Jha shared his observations about India and his native state of Bihar, and noted a general commitment to open government including freedom of information legislation. Sylvia noted that even though the Singapore legal system ranked highly on some international indices, there were still areas for improvement on rule of law issues such as finding adequate checks to the overwhelming dominance of government power and more due process in criminal justice.

The question and answer session was dominated by members of the Singapore Democratic Party airing their opinions and personal encounters with the legal system. The panellists and Philip Jeyaretnam, the Law Society President, responded to the points raised.

Sylvia’s speech can be found here.