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President's Message |
Seeing the World As the World Sees Us
The Middle East and South East Asia have been part of the same trading and commercial world for two thousand years. Traders from the Middle East have left a significant legacy in Singapore. In particular, in the nineteenth century, Arabs from the Yemen such as the Alsaggoffs, the Aljuneids and the Alkaffs were highly influential in trade and business. All three families left their mark on the street names and buildings of Singapore.
And eminent members of our profession, including David Marshall, Joe Grimberg and Harry Elias, are of Jewish Iraqi descent, whose families migrated here from the 1850s onward.1
In the first two decades following Independence, a combination of factors, including the arrival of communism in South Yemen, reduced the quantity of cultural and economic contact between Singapore and the Middle East, other than in the petroleum sector. Of course, those of us who travelled regularly to England in the seventies will well remember Bahrain Airport: three hour stopovers in the middle of the night, tired passengers roused from sleep for duty free shopping.
In the past decade in particular, the smaller sheikdoms on the southern rim of the Persian Gulf have moved rapidly to diversify their economies beyond oil. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have joined Bahrain in the Singaporean consciousness as important centres for international business.
One part of the strategy adopted by these cities has been to establish mechanisms for dispute resolution derived from best international practice. Thus, Dubai has established within its International Financial Centre an independent commercial court. On its website, it notes that this operates within 'a legal framework based on best practices of leading jurisdictions in Europe, North America and the Far East while maintaining the principles of efficiency, transparency and integrity'. One of those leading jurisdictions is Singapore, and Dubai's readiness to take the best from wherever it hails is epitomised by the appointment of one of our own senior counsel, Michael Hwang, as its Deputy Chief Justice.
It is obvious that there are good opportunities for our lawyers in many of these emerging commercial centres. We hope that this issue of the Gazette will provide some guidance on how lawyers can make the most of these new opportunities.
Last month saw our population of lawyers virtually double, with the IBA Conference taking place at the Suntec Convention Centre. The legal world came to Singapore. The profession's host party, sponsored by law firms, law agencies and institutions, took over Canning Hill for an evening. It was a record-breaking conference - the largest ever IBA conference anywhere. As the conference took place in Singapore, the spotlight was on the capabilities of our profession and legal system. Many of our practising members spoke. The Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, Justice Judith Prakash and Justice Lee Seiu Kin gave their time to participate as speakers on various subjects through the week. The opportunities for education and networking were tremendous, and delegates left with a great impression of Singapore as a place to do business, and hopefully therefore as an arbitration centre.
The cultural issues session was a great hit as well, and highlighted for me how important it is today that Singapore sustain a thriving arts community, especially in the performing arts, not just for the cultural good of our nation, but for its economic good. The best business talent wants to live in a city with a strong and confident arts scene, which in turn will depend on how much we increase our investment in arts education and relax censorship of the arts.
Hosting the IBA conference carried with it a penumbra of other events, such as the Asian Maritime Law Conference, the International Institute of Law Association Chief Executives Conference and meetings of member firms of law alliances that have taken to coordinating their meetings with the IBA Main Conference.
Apart from matters of business, the IBA Conference brought into focus assistance for less developed bars, through the Developing Bars Programme, which we assisted the Japan Federation of Bar Associations to create and manage. This is an initiative that we must build on - to extend a helping hand to particular developing bars where our help can make a difference.
The conference also highlighted the importance of the rule of law to international business. This was the theme of Minister Mentor's dialogue with delegates at the Opening Ceremony. The Law Society was able to facilitate and host a successful Rule of Law Day, open to the public. Readiness to engage and openness to dialogue and debate are also key features of a successful global city. Delegates heard from three Singaporean lawyers on the platform - Deputy Prime Minister Professor S. Jayakumar, academic and think tank chair, Associate Professor Simon Tay and Workers' Party chair and NCMP, Ms Sylvia Lim. They also heard directly from several non-lawyers, including Dr Chee Soon Juan, speaking from the floor. Just as we make up our own minds about the world, the world could make up its own mind about us.
There are many challenges that we face as a result
of globalisation. But at the same time we can be confident that we can do
well as a profession, and more than hold our own, making a good living by
being useful to the world around us.
Philip Jeyaretnam, SC
President
The Law Society of Singapore