Asian Studies Commons^™

Mareva Injunctions Under Singapore Law, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Whether the Singapore court has the jurisdiction or power to grant a Mareva injunction in aid of foreign court proceedings was recently considered by the Singapore High Court in PT Gunung Madu Plantations v Muhammad Jimmy Goh Mashun [2018] SGHC 64. Both plaintiff and defendant were Indonesian and the claim related to alleged breaches of duties which the defendant owed to the plaintiff. The plaintiff had obtained leave to serve the writ in Indonesia on the defendant. The defendant thereupon applied, inter alia, to set aside service of the writ and for a declaration that the court has no jurisdiction …

How May China Respond To The U.S. Trade Approach? Retaliatory, Inclusive And Regulatory Responses, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper endeavours to conceptualize and provide an analytical framework for China’s response to U.S. trade policy. It analyses the following questions: what is the new U.S. trade approach? How might China respond to the United States’ trade approach? What are the trend and implications of China’s response to the U.S. trade approach? It argues, first, that the U.S. trade approach has not changed regarding most of the U.S.-style regulatory disciplines. However, it has changed in terms of the shift toward managed trade, unilateralism and trade enforcement. Second, China will likely adopt a three-track approach: consisting of retaliatory, inclusive and …

Navigating The Singapore’S Private International Rules In The Age Of Innovative Cross-Border Commercial Litigation Framework, Man Yip

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In the last decade, Singapore has been consistently working on consolidating its position as a leading dispute resolution hub in Asia. China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative affords, in principle, an invaluable opportunity for Singapore to foster its role in dispute resolution services. Conversely, the success of the OBOR is in part dependent upon the availability of reliable and efficient dispute resolution mechanisms to handle commercial disputes that will invariably arise. Singapore looks poised to contribute to the success of the OBOR in that respect, in light of its mature and business-friendly legal system.

Coincidentally, China announced its OBOR …

On The Politics And Conceptualization Of Gender Non-Conformity : Exploring Thailand’S Kathoey Population., Macey E. Mayes

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the politics and conceptualization of gender in Thailand, drawing specifically on the Thai understanding of sex and gender with regard to the kathoey population. This work considers the solidification of a third-gender category and looks to the ways this solidification can inhibit the fluidity of gender and sexuality. It also analyzes the dangers of transnational advocacy and the superimposition of Western queer advocacy and theory on Thai gender identities. I approach this issue from an interdisciplinary framework that seeks to include historical, cultural, and theoretical perspectives. In examining anthropological research, critiques of …

Singapore Income Taxation, Vincent Ooi, Irving Aw, Joanna Yap

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

28.1.1 Section 10(1) of the Income Tax Act (Cap. 134, 2014 Rev. Ed.) (“ITA”) is the charging provision which provides for income tax to be payable for each year of assessment (“YA”) upon the income of any person. Income is taxable if it falls within one of the enumerated heads of charge under sections 10(1)(a) to (g).Income is taxable only if it is sourced in Singapore, i.e. accruing in or derived from Singapore, or received in Singapore from outside Singapore, subject to variations.Only revenue (and not capital) receipts are taxable, and only revenue (and not capital) expenses are deductible for …

Stamp Duty Issues In Singapore Corporate Practice, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A new dimension to the determination and computation of stamp duties payable in corporate transactions has been introduced due to the Additional Conveyance Duties (“ACD”) Regime. For companies with significant residential property holdings, liability to pay ACD potentially extends to all transactions involving the issuance, transfer or cancellation of equity interests. This paper considers the impact of ACD on several common corporate transactions in Singapore, addressing the risks practitioners may face in being blindsided by potential tax liabilities. Besides highlighting potential pitfalls, this paper explores the use of advance rulings and preferring debt financing over equity financing for tax optimisation.

Sets, Modular Systems And Interconnections: Comparing Singapore Law With Eu Legislation, Gordon Ionwy David Llewelyn, T. Prashant Reddy

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore registered design law is largely based on UK legislation and, notwithstanding subsequent amendments, the underlying principles remain broadly similar. This article aims to compare Singapore registered design law with EU legislation in relation to sets, modular systems and interconnections.'Sets of articles' are afforded protection under both Singapore law and EU registered design law. Under both regimes such protection can prove problematic, as under Singapore law it may require a court to make an artistic assessment as to whether the goods are of the same 'general character' and under EU law the Guidelines issued by the EUIPO appear to go …

Public And Private Enforcement Of Corporate And Securities Laws: An Empirical Comparison Of Hong Kong And Singapore, Wai Yee Wan, Christopher C. H. Chen, Say Hak Goo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

The New Additional Conveyance Duties Regime In The Stamp Duties Act, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The new additional conveyance duties regime has gone beyond attempting to achieve tax neutrality between direct transfers of residential property and indirect transfers through the use of property-holding entities. It taxes an entirely new tax base and raises issues such as: the extremely broad concept of an “associate” relationship; definition of “unit in a property trust”; anti-avoidance provisions; liability for providing false information; tax neutrality; and the considerable flexibility that the section 23 Order provides the Government. This article analyses the regime in detail and considers the implications of various changes to the prescribed values in the section 23 Order.

Sgca Grants Senior Indian Advocate Ad Hoc Admission To Argue Arbitration-Related Applications, Aaron Yoong, Kartik Singh, Aaron Yoong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a reversal of the High Court’s 2017 decision, Singapore’s Court of Appeal (“CA”) recently granted unprecedented ad hoc admission for Harish Salve (“Mr Salve”) – a Senior Advocate of the Indian Bar – to be admitted to argue foreign law issues in applications to set aside an ICC arbitral award. This is the first time the Singapore courts have granted foreign counsel other than Queen’s Counsel admission to argue a case before the local courts.

The Wto Transparency Obligations And China, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

When it acceded to the WTO in 2001, China accepted comprehensive transparency obligations as well as substantive commitments covering both market access and rules issues. Initially designed to deal with its opaque trade law regime, the transparency obligations were also expected to help democratize the legislative process and promote the development of the rule of law in China. Now that more than 15 years have passed, an important question is: have the transparency obligations delivered on their original promise? This article answers the question by reviewing how the transparency obligations have worked in practice. It notes that, while transparency has …

City Harvest Case And The Separation Of Powers, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Verdict provides important example of how the courts and Parliament play different roles in Singapore's legal system. The Court of Appeal last week upheld the reduced sentences passed in the City Harvest Church (CHC) case. Six former church leaders were charged with having conspired to commit the aggravated offence of criminal breach of trust (CBT) as an "agent" under Section 409 of the Penal Code. Departing from the earlier interpretation that had stood for the past 40 years, the court decided that Section 409 applied only to professional agents, which the former church leaders were not. The charges were reduced …

The Wto Transparency Obligations And China, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

When it acceded to the WTO in 2001, China accepted comprehensive transparency obligations as well as substantive commitments covering both market access and rules issues. Initially designed to deal with its opaque trade law regime, the transparency obligations were also expected to help democratize the legislative process and promote the development of the rule of law in China. Now that more than 15 years have passed, an important question is: have the transparency obligations delivered on their original promise? This article answers the question by reviewing how the transparency obligations have worked in practice. It notes that, while transparency has …

Reframing The Board Diversity Issue: Set 25 By 25 Target, Themin Suwardy, Surianarayanan Gopalakrishnan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Studies have shown there is clear association between aboard's gender diversity and company performance. Yet Singapore has been softerthan usual in pushing the agenda. In this commentary, the authors discussed theimportance of setting an explicit hard target with a fixed deadline to reframeboard diversity in Singapore.

Review Of John Whalen-Bridge, Tibet On Fire: Buddhism, Protest, And The Rhetoric Of Self-Immolation, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Review of John Whalen-Bridge, Tibet on Fire: Buddhism, Protest, and the Rhetoric of Self-Immolation, in Journal of Contemporary Religion

The Effect Of Localized Density On Housing Prices In Singapore, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kiat Ying Sky Seah, Jonathan Ci Yi Kwok

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper measures how localized residential density impacts housing prices in Singapore. Using exogenous variation in residential density, we find that an increase in density causes non-trivial decreases in property values: a 10% increase in density decreases price per square foot by between 1.3% and 2%. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first paper to measure this effect.Further, we find that the negative effect of density is biggest in magnitude for low density apartment projects and the magnitude is decreasing in the density of the project, and that the negative effect of density is increasing in magnitude …

Transnational Business Governance Interactions And Financial Regulation Change: A Case Of Asian Financial Markets, Simin Gao, Christopher Chen

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This chapter examines the interactions of transnational business governance schemes regulating the global derivatives markets with multiple levels of interactions. The chapter describes the process of interactions via the theory of isomorphism. First, after examining the interactions of futures exchanges, we identify that governance techniques among futures exchanges are rather similar, illustrating the forces of mimetic and normative isomorphism. Second, the monopoly of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) scheme in the over-the-counter (OTC) market provides signs of mimetic isomorphism. Third, through imparity of market power and major market dealers, the ISDA scheme became the only governance scheme for …

Proposed Law Must Balance Effectiveness And Liberties, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan opined that it is important to have dedicated laws to deal with the evolving threat of fake news in Singapore. As the issue of fake news and online misinformation is rather broad, it would be practical for the Select Committee to focus on one aspect of it: that is, the spread of false or misleading information resulting from a coordinated effort whether as a matter of statecraft or for the purpose of making profits. This sends a clear signal that any law to be considered is targeted and will be …

The Relevance Of Caste In Contemporary India: Reexamining The Affirmative Action Debate, Shambhavi Sahai, Shambhavi Sahai

CMC Senior Theses

With the changing significance of caste and caste identity, this thesis explores the role of affirmative action or "reservations" in Indian higher education. Specifically, it aims to reopen the debate on the dominance of a "creamy layer" among the OBCs in an increasingly nationalist India. Viewing caste through the lens of ethnic identity, this thesis draws comparisons between the identity of OBCs and Scheduled Castes and Tribes, OBCs of the "Hindi Belt" and OBCs of the South, followed by an analysis of the politicization of caste identity today. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of affirmative action today and possible …

The Effect Of Localized Density On Housing Prices In Singapore, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kiat Ying Sky Seah, Jonathan Ci Yi Kwok

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper measures how localized residential density impacts housing prices in Singapore. Using exogenous variation in residential density, we find that an increase in density causes non-trivial decreases in property values: a 10% increase in density decreases price per square foot by between 1.3% and 2%. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first paper to measure this effect.Further, we find that the negative effect of density is biggest in magnitude for low density apartment projects and the magnitude is decreasing in the density of the project, and that the negative effect of density is increasing in magnitude …

An Introduction To The Singapore Convention On Mediation: Perspectives From Singapore, Nadja Alexander, Shou Yu Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

At the 51st Session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on 25th June 2018, the final draft of the Convention on the Enforcement of International Settlement Agreements (the ‘Convention’) was recommended for submission to the UN General Assembly for its consideration, and the corresponding Model Law was adopted. A resolution to name the Convention the ‘Singapore Convention on Mediation’ was also approved. This concluded three years of vigorous debate in UNCITRAL Working Group II (Dispute Settlement) with participation by 85 member States and 35 international governmental and non-governmental organisations. The UN General Assembly has adopted …

Regulating Squeeze-Out Techniques By Controlling Shareholders: The Divergence Between Hong Kong And Singapore, Christopher C. H. Chen, Wei Zhang, Wai Yee Wan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Squeeze-out transactions are controversial as the controlling shareholders may expropriate the minorities’ shareholdings at unattractive prices. Existing scholarship has focused on the optimal approach towards regulating such transactions in the US and the UK, which have widely dispersed public shareholdings, but little attention is placed on jurisdictions with concentrated shareholdings, which may necessitate a different approach given that the prospects of expropriation are very high. This article fills the gap by examining Hong Kong and Singapore, which have concentrated shareholdings. Notwithstanding the fact that they have adapted their corporate and securities laws from the UK, Hong Kong ultimately provides greater …

An Overlooked Overriding Interest In Singapore's Torrens System?, Seng Wei, Edward Ti

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

"A landowner free to develop his land as he wishes before the imposition of public controls, finds himself prohibited fromdoing so as a consequence of the controls. The title to his ownership of an estate or interest in the land is not disturbed orcalled into question in any fundamental way—he owns what he had previously … Nevertheless, the powers of ownershipare not what they were in all their fullness. He cannot legally do now what before he was at law and at liberty to do. Hisrights have been curtailed. He has lost something. What is it?"

The Impact Of Human Trafficking In Asean: Singapore As A Case-Study, Jaya Anil Kumar

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Southeast Asia remains a notorious hotbed for human trafficking. The seriousness of the problem has led to the emergence of various initiatives to combat human trafficking. This paper seeks to address why human trafficking in Southeast Asia remains a contentious issue despite the various initiatives put in place for its eradication. ASEAN Member States, including Singapore, can only resolve the current inertia when it comes to combatting trafficking-in-persons (TIP) by adopting a multidimensional, and multistakeholder approach to the problem. Within Singapore, it is recommended that the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act should be amended such that it provides greater protection …

The Emergence Of Global Regulatory Coherence: A Thorny Embrace For China?, Han-Wei Liu, Ching-Fu Lin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The last two decades have witnessed various governance initiatives across institutions, domestic and international, in response to mushrooming regulatory trade barriers. Among the efforts to balance regulatory autonomy and international cooperation, “regulatory coherence” or “good regulatory practices” seems a promising solution that centers upon bottom-up domestic regulatory rationalization. While existing literature has documented how recent mega-regional trade blocs seek to harness regulatory barriers through mechanisms of international cooperation, it has arguably overlooked certain crucial issues. In particular, how has regulatory coherence emerged as a new global norm vis-à-vis the default international economic and legal order? What are the limits to …

An Assessment Of The Chafta And Its Implications: A Work-In-Progress Type Fta With Selective Innovations, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter explores two questions of the recent China-Australia FTA (ChAFTA): what is the approach of the ChAFTA? What are the challenges to the ChAFTA? It argues first that the ChAFTA adopts a problem-solving approach to harvest “low-hanging fruit” (e.g. tariff cuts). Containing WTO-based and WTO-friendly rules, it focuses on trade and investment facilitation through market liberalization and carefully written good governance norms. In spite of its short form investment chapter, the agreement is not as shallow as one may first think. It stimulates development concerning, among other things, regulatory issues (e.g. regulatory transparency and cooperation in financial services, regulatory …

Singapore, Country Study Prepared For Global Philanthropy Environment Index, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

The Doctrine Of Severability In Constitutional Review: A Perspective From Singapore, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision in Prabagaran a/l Srivijayan v Public Prosecutor represents a substantial development in Singapore’s law on the doctrine of severability in constitutional review. An examination of Prabagaran reveals rich theoretical underpinnings relating to the nature of legislative intent. The case rightly locates the crux of the severability inquiry in secondary legislative intention, i.e. the legislature’s intention, at the time a statute was enacted, as to what should happen in the event that part of the statute is later held to be unconstitutional. This approach is preferable to the approach of asking whether excision of unconstitutional …

China’S Rise: How It Took On The U.S. At The Wto, Greg Shaffer, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This Article builds from original fieldwork to show what lies behind China’s remarkably successful use of international trade law to take on the United States and Europe. The World Trade Organization (“WTO”) is unique in China’s international relations as it is the only forum where China, with its anti-legalist traditions, has resolved its disputes through law and the use of third-party dispute settlement. After China acceded to the WTO in 2001, it invested massively in building trade law capacity to transform itself and defend itself externally. Through these investments and its increased market power, China became a serious rival to …

Small And Safe, Rathna N. Koman

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper seeks to address issues relating to the management of child protection in Singapore context. Currently the system provides an institutionalized multi-disciplinary approach to protecting children. The current integrated system of handling child abuse is comprehensive and thorough and seeks to serve the bests interests of the child. However given socio-economic and legal ramifications of child abuse, this paper proposes the following enhancements in the management of child protection. Fist reporting of child abuse should be made mandatory similar to the American Model. Failure to do so, should constitute an offence under the Children and Young Persons Act and …