... Harding11
Senior Lecturer School of Oriental and African Studies, London University; presented in the Asian studies seminar series State and Law in Asia, Asian Studies Centre, St Anthony's College, Oxford, 19 October 1993.
... port;22
It is interesting to note that the BBC's excellent documentary intelligent-island, focused on the operation of the port of Singapore as the most obvious example of the ``on-line'' society. Whatever else is argued in this paper, it may well be that in the field of information technology the Asia-Pacific region's future will resemble Singapore's present.
... Asia,33
Or the Malay world, as he would have called it.
... present)44
In 1990 Lee stepped down as Prime Minister after 29 years, but since then, under the leadership of Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister, Singapore clearly stills follows all the principle points of Lee's policy, even if some slight differences in style of Government can be detected. As Senior Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Lee still clearly exercises great influence, and his position in no way corresponds to that of Margaret Thatcher over a similar period. A common joke in Singapore is that Goh is now ``the Prime Minister in the Senior Minister's Department''. Lee himself has described his position as that of a goalkeeper rather than a centre forward. Recently Lee has finally relinquished the important post of Secretary-General of the People's Action Party [PAP] to Goh.
... cultures,55
This was written as referring to the Chinese, but applies in some ways to the British colonialists too, who were constantly at odds with their overlords.
... 1826,66
bartholomew-englaw.
... independence.77
tan-short.
... countries,88
Singapore is of course no longer properly described as a developing country, and I am speaking historically here.
... monograph,99
phang-development.
... result.1010
phang-development, chapter 3.
... autochthony,1111
This is not of course true of most other states which have received the common law, even those in the developing areas of Africa and Asia. These states have made the common law their own, and local precedents are argued alongside English and other cases. An interesting example of the lack of development of common law was the insistance on the rule against perpetuities, which directly contradicted Chinese customary law in preventing the tying up of property for ancestor worship. This approach was typical of the colonial judges, but has been continued by the Singaporean judiciary. See, further, phang-development+55, n. 8.
... power.1212
Phang goes on to discuss criminal law, family law, labour law, and public housing law, finding that the innovative legislation in these areas has been successfully based on Singapore's particular social and economic circumstances.
... 1991.1313
See m-const-amend-1991, and a note on this by Kevin Tan at tan-constamend-note.
... 1966,1414
m-const-commn-rept.
... 1970,1515
See constamend-n19.
... irrelevance.1616
See harding-const-proc.
... 1988.1717
s-constamend-n9.
... Singapore;1818
Non-Chinese PAP MPs generally garnered a smaller proportion of the vote than their Chinese counterparts; this phenomenon was likely to be accentuated by (i) the increasingly mathematical distribution of races into new housing estates (itself an important aspect of social engineering); and (ii) the adoption of an increasingly ``Chinese'' policy by the PAP (Lee has been frank about the perceived lack of ``loyalty'' among the Malays, and has said that Singapore would do better if its population was racially monolithic like that of Japan).
... areas.1919
It is far more difficult for the opposition parties to win in the equivalent of three adjoining constituencies than to pick off the odd constituency here and there.
... servicemen.2020
harding-const-proc.
... constituencies;2121
Indeed it is part of PAP policy that this should be so.
... 1966.2222
See, further, tan-parliament.
... vote,2323
The PAP share of the vote has dwindled from around 80% in the late 1960s to 63% in 1991 (voting is compulsory in Singapore). This perhaps shows that even Singapore's apparently total success in implementing its social engineering policy must be qualified by the need to defer to some extent to public opinion: see, further, phang-development+357ff.
... vote.2424
Except on money bills, supply bills, constitutional amendments, and confidence motions.
... Parliament.2525
s-const+46(2).
... Government.2626
See ricjs-1987.
... reforms.2727
It must be conceded that the theme of this paper raises some interesting theoretical issues about the nature of law which there has been no space to go into. I have deliberately adopted a positivist, Austinian approach, because that seems to me appropriate to the subject-matter. However, the ``social engineering'' approach to the analysis of legal systems does, in general, have to be handled with care. For some of the difficulties involved, see woodman-allotrev, and Allott's reply, which follows, woodman-allottrev-reply.
... 2828
See tynne-admin-state.
... few.2929
See, eg, re-dow-jones-asia.
... journalists;3030
Dealt with by the maint-of-relig-harmony-act++819; internal-security-act++819; newsp-printing-presses-amd-act. For the last see batterman-sing-news.
... toilets.3131
The tropical mosquito did not stand a chance, and has been dismissed by the irresistible advance of concrete modernity.
... great,3232
Having taught at the National University for several years, I can vouch for the effect of discouragement of criticism on the mentality of a generation of Singaporeans.
... In3333
chngsuantzevminister; for comment see Sin Boon Ann, `Judges and Executive Discretion—a Look at sin-boon-ann-chingvminister; harding-singapore-prevent. See also teo-soh-lung-v-min; vincent-cheng-v-min.
... decision3434
lee-mau-seng-v-min.
... jurisdiction,3535
Cases from other Commonwealth countries, including Namibia and Zimbabwe were cited in Chng's case.
... cases.3636
intl-sec-amend-1989. Consequential constitutional amendments were effected by the constamend-1989.
... scheme.3737
Tax incentives still remain, however.
... campaigns.3838
Here I part company with Phang (eg, phang-development++27475), who regards these laws as proceeding from a favourable environment of public opinion. It is of course true that there are countervailing values such as ``westernization'', which have made the Singapore Government's task much more difficult; this development has resulted in a more materialistic society, but not in a greater emphasis on individual rights.
... success.3939
disc-democracy.
... 1990.4040
By representing the two most popular approaches to Government in Singapore, the PAP has cleverly, to some extent, succeeded in garnering the radical (``consensual Government'') vote as well as the conservative (``authoritarian Government'') vote.
... Council.4141
jeyaretnam-v-law-soc-sing.