Asian Studies Commons^™

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 …

Affordable Fares, Sustainable Public Transport: The Fare Review Mechanism Committee Report, Sock Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

The public transport system in Singapore is the main mode of transport for the majority of the population. It is important that public transport remains generally affordable and accessible, with measures to help various commuter groups through fare assistance schemes. Household surveys show that public transport has become more affordable as a proportion of monthly household income over the years. Public transport fares have increased, but at a much lower rate than increases in income. At the same time, increasing fuel costs and other changes in the public transport landscape since 2005 mean that the public transport industry faces declining …

Geographic Decomposition Of Inequality In Health And Wealth: Evidence From Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

Applying the small-area estimation methods to Cambodia data, we decompose the total inequality in wealth (consumption) and health (child undernutrition) indicators into within-location and between-location components. Because the knowledge of the pattern of spatial disparity in poverty and undernutrition is important for the geographic targeting of resources, we conduct a geographic decomposition of the variance of the Foster-Greere-Thorbecke index in addition to the standard decomposition exercise based on the generalized entropy measures. We find that a sizable proportion of wealth inequality is due to between-location inequality, whereas health inequality is mainly due to within-location inequality.

Discovering The Right To Criminal Disclosure: Lessons From Civil Procedure, Denise Huiwen Wong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68, 1985 Rev Ed) and subsequent case law developments have created a patchwork of rules governing the disclosure obligations of parties in criminal cases. This article argues that parties have thereby been endowed with a right that is exercisable in the courts to access the material to which the law says they are entitled. However, there are currently no proper procedural mechanisms in place for parties to make interlocutory applications to obtain such material. This article examines the competing values and ideals of a criminal discovery regime, and suggests that concepts such …

Contractual Interpretation In Indian Evidence Act Jurisdictions: Compatibility With Modern Contextual Approach, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper examines the approaches towards contractual interpretation taken by Commonwealth jurisdictions governed by the Indian Evidence Act. While some of these jurisdictions import the modern contextual approach into their domestic approaches, it will be argued that it is largely compatible with the Indian Evidence Act. In particular, it will be shown that a limited adoption of the modern contextual approach is permissible, namely one involving the limited admissibility of extrinsic evidence to interpret contracts, subject to the requirement of ambiguity. An integrated approach may represent the best way of following the modern contextual approach, while remaining faithful to the …

The Right To Appeal Against A Decision Made On An Interlocutory Application: The Immediate Aftermath Of The 2010 Amendments, Eunice Chua, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

One of the main reasons for amending the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Cap 322, 2007 Rev Ed) in 2010 was to introduce a calibrated approach towards interlocutory appeals to the Court of Appeal. The amended s 34 and the newly introduced Fourth and Fifth Scheds were interpreted for the first time in two recent Court of Appeal decisions, providing much needed guidance on the general approach towards statutory interpretation, as well as specific direction in terms of interpreting the term “order” in para (i) of the Fourth Sched and para (e) of the Fifth Sched, and the term “interlocutory …

The Future Of The Similar Fact Rule In An Indian Evidence Act Jurisdiction: Singapore, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In yet another attempt to bridge the gap between the rules of an antiquated statute and the modern realities of practice, Singapore’s Evidence Act was amended in 2012. Certain relevancy provisions were amended to allow greater admissibility of evidence. While new provisions were introduced to act as a check against abuse, oddly some similar fact provisions were left intact. This paper explains why the 2012 amendments have rendered the future of these enactments very uncertain. This paper also suggests a number of tentative recommendations as regards future legislative change or judicial interpretation. To the extent that Singapore’s Evidence Act was …

The Use Of Experts In Legal Proceedings In Singapore Involving Intellectual Property Rights, David Llewelyn

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In intellectual property (IP) cases decided in recent years in Singapore, the use of expert evidence is commonplace. Weaknesses in that expert evidence are commonplace too; sometimes the weaknesses are such that the evidence should be excluded, on other occasions they render the evidence of little value. However, in all cases the reliance on expert evidence will have increased the cost of the litigation for both sides (and rarely does the costs award make that increase good for the successful party). Aside from the more general policy concerns regarding expert evidence, this is an important reason why the courts must …

Go Beyond ‘Nudges’ In Tackling Discrimination, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan shared his thoughts on the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), which was describe by Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin as a “nudge” to employers to give Singaporean professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) – who constitute about a third of the workforce – a “fair chance” at job and development opportunities.

Sleepwalking To Disharmony, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary on racial relations in Singapore, SMU Associate Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan pointed out that the findings of the Indicators of Racial and Religious Harmony survey jointly conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies and OnePeople.sg demonstrated that we did well where it involved a strong public sphere/space element. However, we did not do as well in indicators that had a closer nexus to the private sphere and how we viewed Singaporeans of other races. Associate Prof Tan opined that the four indicators where we did not fare as well (but were still positive overall) …

Patterns Of Anti-Muslim Violence In Burma: A Call For Accountability And Prevention, Andrea Gittleman, Marissa Brodney, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

In this report, the authors documents how persecution of and violence against the Rohingya in Burma has spread to other Muslim communities throughout the country. Physicians for Human Rights conducted eight separate investigations in Burma and the surrounding region between 2004 and 2013. PHR’s most recent field research in early 2013 indicates a need for renewed attention to violence against minorities and impunity for such crimes. The findings presented in this report are based on investigations conducted in Burma over two separate visits for a combined 21-day period between March and May 2013.

Fearless: Bruce Larson And Alice Carter, Bruce A. Larson, Alice Carter

SURGE

This Monday, Professor of political science and public policy, Bruce Larson, Assistant Director of Development, Alumni, and Parent Relations, and Technology, Alice Carter, and daughter Lily Larson will be leaving for a semester in Beijing, China. Professor Larson will be joining the ranks of Gettysburg College’s Fulbright recipients, teaching two courses at the China Foreign Affairs University while conducting his research.

Hougang By-Election Case: What Court Decision On By-Election Reveals, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore Court of Appeal’s judgment in Vellama d/o Marie Muthu v Attorney-General [2013] SGCA 39 – popularly known as the Hougang by-election case – shows that the Court sees its role as policing the margins rather than involving itself in the heart of politics. The Court held that the Government was incorrect in asserting the Constitution confers on it the discretion not to hold a by-election at all after a parliamentary seat falls vacant. The judgment came as a surprise to those used to a judicial stance fairly deferential towards the Government, but on balance the Court did accord …

Floating Hope, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

It was 1994 when aristocrat Runa Khan and her soon-to-be husband Yves Marre sailed a decommissioned oil barge from the waters off France to her home country of Bangladesh. They had intended to propose to charitable organisations of a revolutionary plan they had: to turn the shipping vessel into a mobile medical station.

The ship would bring medical help to the unreachable islands, or chars, that make up much of Bangladesh. It was a brilliant plan, and would have solved the problem of reaching isolated char communities, most of whom had been neglected by the government and NGOs (non-governmental …

India Starts To Open Up, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Investors have often shied away from India, citing the difficulties inherent in its notoriously difficult businesss landscape. Yet there is a lot of money to be made in India, Dr S Narayan, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, told Perspectives@SMU. Many companies seem reluctant to carry out sufficient market entry analysis, he says, despite the policy changes now taking place in the world's tenth largest economy.

A Subcontinent's Sunni Schism: The Deobandi-Barelvi Rivalry And The Creation Of Modern South Asia, William Kesler Jackson

History - Dissertations

This work presents the first-ever history of the 150-year religio-political rivalry between the Deobandis and the Barelvis--arguably the most important schism in the "Muslim world," and certainly the most significant within Sunni Islam. More recently, that rivalry has often been expressed by means of bullets and bombs, especially in Pakistan. But beyond the headline-grabbing violence of the Deobandi-Barelvi schism lies the story of a century-and-a-half-long religious antagonism: at first over converts, later for competing visions of the political future, then for a place within a new "Islamic" polity--for dominance within its political structure. For Deobandis, the rivalry was defined by …

Derailed: Communicating Singapore’S Mass Transit Crises [Case Study], Pang, A.

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The case: In December 2011, one of Singapore’s main mass transit rail lines came to a standstill for several hours on two separate days. While occasional public transport breakdowns are unavoidable, the rail operator came under intense criticism for its poor handling of the incidents, including its failure in crisis communication. Its value: This case can be used to illustrate a number of perspectives and concepts from the literature on crisis and organisational communication. Of particular contemporary interest is what the case shows about how communication technologies, including social media, should and should not be used by organisations.

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Cooling Measures On Property Prices: An Exploration Of Alternative Econometric Techniques, Kuo Chuen Lee, Sock Yong Phang, Kok Fai Phoon, Karol Wee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Reit To Deal With Hdb Demand-Supply Challenges, Chor Hao Ong, David Kuo Chuen Lee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A group of academics from the Singapore Management University (SMU) and a noted property consultant are making the case for a REIT comprising Housing and Development Board (HDB) residential and commercial units.

Academic Paper Supports Housing Curbs For Prs, Foreigners, Mindy Tan, David Kuo Chuen Lee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.