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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Charitable Organizations In Singapore: From Clan Based To State Facilitated Endeavors, Hang Wu Tang
Charitable Organizations In Singapore: From Clan Based To State Facilitated Endeavors, Hang Wu Tang
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Singapore, with a five million population, has a vibrant charitable sector with over 2000 registered charities attracting approximately USD$2.18 billion in annual donations. How did Singapore’s charitable sector achieve its current level when it has been, in the past, segregated along mainly religious, race and clan-based communities? This paper explores this question by piecing together the current ecosystem, regulatory and tax infrastructure which facilitates the charitable sector in Singapore. Central to the development of the charitable sector has been the Singapore government’s role of being a gatekeeper, regulator and enabler of charities. In analysing the government’s role in the charitable …
Fica: What Checks & Balances Are Needed Against Powers Being Used Inappropriately?, Tan K. B. Eugene, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Fica: What Checks & Balances Are Needed Against Powers Being Used Inappropriately?, Tan K. B. Eugene, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
COMMENTARY: "The key question is not whether the state should have powers to take countermeasures, but rather whether there are adequate checks against the risk of those powers being inappropriately used."
A Clarion Call For Businesses To Do Right, Tan K. B. Eugene
A Clarion Call For Businesses To Do Right, Tan K. B. Eugene
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally on Sunday signalled a putative shift in the government's policy towards tackling workplace discrimination and supporting lower-wage workers. While the tripartite approach remains the bedrock in industrial relations, the government is prepared to adopt a more muscular approach through regulation by legislation. Businesses must recognise the concerns of workers amid the unpredictable arc of the global pandemic. It cannot be business as usual.
Sporting Excellence And Ns: Abiding Principles For Rite Of Passage For Singaporean Sons, Tan K. B. Eugene
Sporting Excellence And Ns: Abiding Principles For Rite Of Passage For Singaporean Sons, Tan K. B. Eugene
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed how strict criteria for long-term national service (NS) deferment are necessary and fair to preserve universality and equity for all national servicemen, and must be applied without fear or favour. He explained the principles undergirding NS and gave examples of athletes achieving sporting excellence alongside fulfilling NS duties.
Why 9/11 Matters To Singapore, Tan K. B. Eugene
Why 9/11 Matters To Singapore, Tan K. B. Eugene
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed why 9/11 matters to Singapore. He opined that when it comes to countering the terrorist threat, civil society has an important role to play in strengthening inter-faith engagement and understanding.
Tackling The Critical Question Of Schooling’S Ns Deferment After His Poor Tokyo Olympics Performance, Tan K. B. Eugene
Tackling The Critical Question Of Schooling’S Ns Deferment After His Poor Tokyo Olympics Performance, Tan K. B. Eugene
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan, who was team manager of Singapore’s 2004 Athens Olympics national swim team, discussed the critical question of Singapore’s sporting icon Joseph Schooling’s National Service (NS) deferment after his subpar performance at the Tokyo Olympics. Joseph has been on long-term NS deferment since 2014. Assoc Prof Tan noted that what is at stake is the integrity of long-term deferment, and the precedent-setting decision calculus which would come under intense scrutiny.
Defeating The Scourge Of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments In Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust And Promote Cooperative Norms, Tan K. B. Eugene
Defeating The Scourge Of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments In Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust And Promote Cooperative Norms, Tan K. B. Eugene
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The maintenance of a ‘moderate, mainstream’ Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious ethnic relations has become a key governance concern in multiracial, multi-religious societies post9/11. In light of the global concern, and often paranoia, with diasporic Islam, Islamic religious institutions and civil society have been portrayed in the popular media as hotbeds of radicalism, promoters of hatred, and recruiters for a “conflict of civilisation” between the Muslim world and the modern world. Singapore has taken a broad-based community approach in advancing interreligious tolerance, including a subtle initiative to include the putative Muslim civil society in advancing …
Looking Beyond The Vague Terms In Singapore's Fake News Laws, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Looking Beyond The Vague Terms In Singapore's Fake News Laws, Benjamin Joshua Ong
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Protection from Online Falsehoods andManipulation Act (Pofma), some criticised it for being too vague. Pofma contains words and phrases whose meaning is not explicitlyclear, e.g. statements that are “falseor misleading”, but does not define “misleading”. But case law gives us aclearer understanding of what “misleading” means
How Strong Is Public Support For The Death Penalty In Singapore?, Wing-Cheong Chan, Ern Ser Tan, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, Braema Mathi
How Strong Is Public Support For The Death Penalty In Singapore?, Wing-Cheong Chan, Ern Ser Tan, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, Braema Mathi
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Singapore is well known internationally for its uncompromising stance towards law and order and its use of the death penalty in particular for murder and drug trafficking. Until 2012, it was one of the few countries in the world where the death penalty was mandatory for persons convicted of these two crimes. The law was amended in 2012 to give a judge the choice to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment (with caning) for non-intentional murder and drug trafficking in some situations. What do Singaporeans think of the use of the death penalty in their own country? This article …
Hedging The Aging Society: Challenges To The Insurance Market And Law In Singapore, Christopher C. H. Chen
Hedging The Aging Society: Challenges To The Insurance Market And Law In Singapore, Christopher C. H. Chen
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The greying of society has become a significant problem in Singapore and many parts of Asia, putting great financial pressure on various aspects of the economy, including the insurance and pension markets. In this article, we generally examine certain key aspect of legal infrastructure in Singapore to see if insurance law and financial regulations in Singapore is well equipped to cope with potential problems from an aging society in the near future. In addition to conventional insurance products, we also explore other ways to hedge the so-called ‘longevity risk’ by alternative risk management products in both the wholesale and retail …
The Limits Of Liberty: The Crime Of Male Same-Sex Conduct And The Rights To Life And Personal Liberty In Singapore: Lim Meng Suang V Attorney-General [2015] 1 Slr 26, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In Lim Meng Suang v Attorney-General (2014), the Singapore Court of Appeal held that s 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises acts of “gross indecency” between men whether occurring in public or private, does not infringe either the rights to equality and equal protection guaranteed by Art 12(1), or the rights to life and personal liberty guaranteed by Art 9(1) of the Constitution. This article examines the analyses of the latter provision by the Court of Appeal in Lim Meng Suang, and by the High Court in Tan Eng Hong v Attorney-General (2013) which was one of the two …
The Discretionary Death Penalty For Drug Couriers In Singapore: Four Challenges, Siyuan Chen
The Discretionary Death Penalty For Drug Couriers In Singapore: Four Challenges, Siyuan Chen
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
In 2012, Singapore amended its Misuse of Drugs to give courts hearing capital drug trafficking cases the discretion to replace the default death penalty with life imprisonment and caning, provided that the accused person can show that he was merely a drug courier and the prosecution certifies that he had substantively assisted the authorities in disrupting drug trafficking activities. The Singapore High Court and Court of Appeal have since made important pronouncements on the 2012 amendments, but several challenges remain: first, whether the privilege against self-incrimination has been further eroded; secondly, whether an accused person can invoke the statutory relief …
Of Links And Legal Merits: Good Faith In The Statutory Derivative Action In Singapore, Pearlie M. C. Koh
Of Links And Legal Merits: Good Faith In The Statutory Derivative Action In Singapore, Pearlie M. C. Koh
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
An applicant for leave to bring a statutory derivative action in Singapore is required to satisfy the court as to, inter alia, his good faith. Although the statutory language places the burden of doing so on the applicant, Singapore courts have tended to assume the presence of good faith if the claim is a legitimate one. This approach, which denigrates the requirement of good faith, was recently disapproved by the Singapore Court of Appeal. This notwithstanding, subsequent cases have reverted to the earlier position, casting doubt on the utility of the requirement. This paper considers good faith, and argues that …
The Protection From Harassment Act 2014: Legislative Comment, Yihan Goh, Man Yip
The Protection From Harassment Act 2014: Legislative Comment, Yihan Goh, Man Yip
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The Protection from Harassment Act 2014 (“Act”) was passed by Parliament on 13 March 2014 following its Second Reading. The Act is a culmination of a concerted ministerial effort to bring about legislative change to the laws governing harassment. Bringing together the background to the Act, its general structure and its specific provisions, this article aims to add to the undoubted long list of commentaries on the Act and, it is hoped, contribute to the understanding and enforcement of the Act.
Asean's Liberalization Of Legal Services: The Singapore Case, Pasha Li-Tian Hsieh
Asean's Liberalization Of Legal Services: The Singapore Case, Pasha Li-Tian Hsieh
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
This article examines the liberalization of legal services in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) within the framework of the ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN’s free trade agreements. Although trade in legal services is important to ASEAN’s goal as a “single market and production base,” the article challenges the weaknesses of ASEAN’s legal services liberalization. It then explores Singapore’s experiment on the regulations of foreign law firms and foreign lawyers, which have become substantially liberalized in the past decade. The article argues that while Singapore may serve as a positive example, ASEAN countries should be cautious of the gap …
Moulding The Nascent Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda In Singapore: Of Pragmatism, Soft Regulation, And The Economic Imperative, Eugene K. B. Tan
Moulding The Nascent Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda In Singapore: Of Pragmatism, Soft Regulation, And The Economic Imperative, Eugene K. B. Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
This paper seeks to examine the putative growth of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Singapore. A key impetus for the nascent CSR movement in twenty-first century Singapore is the economic imperative. As a trade-dependent industrializing economy, the economic development drive coupled with the need for international expansion has made it necessary for Singapore businesses to be cognizant of the growing CSR movement in the western, industrialized world. The government supports the CSR endeavour with an instrumental bent, where CSR ideas and concepts are adapted, incorporated, and promoted in various sectors of the economy. This paper assesses the state’s active encouragement …
Singapore: Transitioning To A "New Normal" In A Post-Lee Kuan Yew Era, Eugene K. B. Tan
Singapore: Transitioning To A "New Normal" In A Post-Lee Kuan Yew Era, Eugene K. B. Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Politics in Singapore is generally marked by incremental change. When Singapore eventually becomes a two-party or multi-party democracy, the 2011 general election is likely to be regarded as the starting point of the epochal political transition. It was a boisterous year politically where political excitement and consciousness went up several notches due to the 7 May general elections and the 27 August presidential elections, both of which produced keenly contested hustings and outcomes. The aftermath of the general elections also saw the retirement of former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong from the Cabinet.
Religion In The Abortion Discourse In Singapore: A Case Study Of The Relevance Of Religious Arguments In Law-Making In Multi-Religious Democracies, Seow Hon Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The article discusses the social issue on religion in the abortion discourse in Singapore. It mentions the relevance of religious arguments in law-making in multi-religious democracies. It notes that laws on abortion vary across different jurisdictions, like prohibiting abortion under all circumstances to freely allowing it without restriction as to reason.
Managing Female Foreign Domestic Workers In Singapore: Economic Pragmatism, Coercive Legal Regulation, Or Human Rights, Eugene K. B. Tan
Managing Female Foreign Domestic Workers In Singapore: Economic Pragmatism, Coercive Legal Regulation, Or Human Rights, Eugene K. B. Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
Singapore's immigration discourse is deeply influenced by its need to “right-size” its population. As a society that has and remains in need of immigration, contemporary immigration and globalization have rigorously challenged the conventional thinking and understanding of citizenship, as well as notions of who belongs and who does not. Nevertheless, international marriages and pervasive in-and out-migration for purposes of employment, study, and family, conspire to make more pronounced the decoupling of citizenship and residence in Singapore. This transnational dimension sits uncomfortably with the policy makers' desire for, and the imperatives of, state sovereignty, control, and jurisdiction.Although one quarter of people …
Giving Voice To The Religious, Seow Hon Tan
Giving Voice To The Religious, Seow Hon Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The relevance of moral values endorsed by religious persons in public decision-making has often been debated. The issue comes to the fore again in relation to the debate on Section 377A of the Penal Code dealing with acts of gross indecency between males. With the flourishing of diverse viewpoints that is a natural consequence of a liberal democratic society, and with greater participation by an increasingly sophisticated citizenry online and in the media, particularly in a nation in which those without religious affiliations make up only 15 per cent of the population, the ground rules of public discourse must be …
Giving Voice To The Religious, Seow Hon Tan
Giving Voice To The Religious, Seow Hon Tan
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
The relevance of moral values endorsed by religious persons in public decision-making has often been debated. The issue comes to the fore again in relation to the debate on Section 377A of the Penal Code dealing with acts of gross indecency between males. With the flourishing of diverse viewpoints that is a natural consequence of a liberal democratic society, and with greater participation by an increasingly sophisticated citizenry online and in the media, particularly in a nation in which those without religious affiliations make up only 15 per cent of the population, the ground rules of public discourse must be …
The Law And The Elderly In Singapore: The Law On Income And Maintenance For The Elderly, Locknie Hsu
The Law And The Elderly In Singapore: The Law On Income And Maintenance For The Elderly, Locknie Hsu
Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law
By 2030, Singapore's elderly will make up a staggering 19% of the population. With such a large proportion of people becoming old, it is timely to pay some attention to the broad spectrum of legal issues surrounding elder. Several sociological and statistical studies have been done on the elderly Singapore, yet relatively little has been written on the law relating to them. Much of the present legislation which directly or indirectly addresses problems of the elderly in Singapore relate to their financial arrangements. Examples of these are provisions relating to withdrawal of Central Provident Fund (CPF) monies and the age …