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+% Copyright (C) 1994, Andrew J Harding. All rights reserved.
+\documentstyle[lexitex,11pt]{article}
+\begin{document}
+\bibliographystyle{lexibib}
+\bibliography{spore}
+\title{Law as Social Engineering in Singapore: `Smart' Laws in the
+Intelligent Island}
+\author{Andrew Harding\thanks{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.}}
+\maketitle
+
+\begin{abstract}
+ The development of Singapore law has been an outcome of its
+ peculiar history, geography and politics. The ideology of
+ social discipline has profoundly affected this development: law
+ has been seen primarily as an instrument of social engineering
+ rather than as the expression of a particular balance of
+ principles defined politically or culturally and regarded as
+ the embodiment of justice. The development of the region's
+ legal systems along the lines of Singapore's is unlikely
+ because of the growth of democracy movements.
+\end{abstract}
+
+\section{Introduction}
+Ever since Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 alighted at the point on
+the Singapore River where his statue now gazes benevolently down
+on the backs of public buildings on the waterfront, Singapore has
+been a byword for firm government. In his brief sojourns in
+Singapore Raffles laid down many of the principles by which
+Singapore is now governed: an economically ambitious policy of
+free trade, in particular a free port;\footnote{ It is
+ interesting to note that the BBC's excellent documentary
+ \lexicite{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.} the recruitment of Singapore's many ethnic
+communities behind Government policies; law and order;
+cleanliness; purposeful administration; centralization of
+political power. Raffles was motivated not only by
+utilitarianism, but also by humanitarianism. This latter aspect
+of his policy has also been fulfilled, though only partially.
+Raffles would no doubt be pleased with Singapore's prosperity and
+environment, the expansion and efficacy of its education, health
+care, public services and social institutions, and its prominence
+in international counsels. He would, I think, be disappointed
+that Singapore has not become the cultural focal point of
+maritime South East Asia,\footnote{ Or the Malay world, as he
+ would have called it.} and that it has moved away from those
+principles of the enlightenment which inspired its creator.
+
+I mention Raffles rather than Lee Kuan Yew in this introduction
+because it is easy to lose sight of the fact that Singapore's
+history, policy and legal system have been determined to a a
+large extent by geopolitics. It was chosen by Raffles because of
+its natural harbour, situated so as to serve India and Europe in
+the West, China in the East, and South East Asia all around it.
+It was from the beginning a commercial colony rather than a
+strategic necessity.
+
+The Singapore of what we might call ``the Lee Kuan Yew era''
+(1959 to the present)\footnote{ 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.} has been to a large extent preordained by
+an accident of history which resulted in the failure of its
+federation within Malaysia (1963-5). Much of what follows in this
+paper would have been true even if federation had succeeded, but
+the casting out of Singapore into the unpredictable political
+environment of 1960s South East Asia has resulted in the
+recognition of its leaders that Singapore is a potentially
+vulnerable city-state with a racial make-up which differs greatly
+from all the surrounding countries. Indeed it was this racial
+difference, as well as economic and political factors, which
+hastened Singapore's departure from Malaysia in 1965. The
+ideology put forward by Lee and other leaders since then has been
+that Singapore has only the intelligence and discipline of its
+workforce, and no hinterland of rice-padi and rich natural
+resources to fall back on, as Malaysia, China and Indonesia have.
+Its only route to survival, let alone economic propserity, has
+therefore been to take advantage of its position and
+infrastructure to provide goods and services to others, and to be
+a prime location for multi-national corporations. It is too small
+and vulnerable to withstand the shock-waves of a genuinely open
+society, and must maintain a rigid policy of social discipline
+and clearly defined, forcefully implemented, social objectives.
+This siege mentality is reinforced by, for example, the
+continuation of national service and reservist training, even
+though there is no military threat to Singapore. Attempts have
+also been made to enlist confucianism as a guiding philosophy,
+but this has had limited success.
+
+The ideology of social discipline has profoundly affected the
+development of law in Singapore. Law has been seen primarily as
+an instrument of social engineering rather than as the expression
+of a particular balance of principles defined politically or
+culturally and regarded as the embodiment of justice. This is a
+proposition which would probably find few dissenters, but what I
+think is interesting is to speculate on the nature and extent of
+this analysis, and to see to what extent it represents a model
+for other societies to follow. Is law as social engineering in
+Singapore purely an outcome of its situation, or is it indeed a
+glimpse of the legal future of the 21st century, not just perhaps
+in Asia, but over the rest of the planet? To this question I will
+return.
+
+
+\section{Legal Development in Singapore: Common Law and Statute Law}
+
+After the establishment of Raffles' colony, commerce brought with
+it Chinese, Indian and other immigrants from SE Asia and beyond.
+Commerce brings not only new ideas and values, carried by people
+freed from the traditional constraints of their own
+cultures,\footnote{ 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.} but also a
+motive for legal development: a degree of social stability and
+law and order is required; guarantees of private property and the
+honouring of promises; the legitimation and bolstering of
+institutions. The increase in population too, which in
+Singapore's case was an essential ingredient of prosperity,
+requires all these things.
+
+Imperial policy required the introduction of the common law,
+achieved formally by Charter in
+1826,\footnote{\lexicite{bartholomew-englaw}.} and then by the
+progressive development of legal institutions---courts, judges,
+lawyers, local legislation, police, and eventually a bureaucracy,
+taxation, elections to a representative legislature,
+constitutional government, and political
+independence.\footnote{\lexicite{tan-short}.}
+
+
+The most notable feature of Singapore's legal development during
+the Lee Kuan Yew era has been the growth of statute law. Of
+course this is probably true of every country in the world, but
+in Singapore it has taken a particular form. Statutes have on the
+whole conferred administrative powers going far beyond what is
+regarded in most common-law countries as appropriate or
+necessary, and to the extent that Singapore has developed an
+indigenous legal system with its own peculiar features, these
+features are almost exclusively uncommon in the extent to which
+they regulate social behaviour. The legal system has become, in
+short, a regulatory system. In this one can contrast the emerging
+legal systems of other developing countries,\footnote{Singapore
+ is of course no longer properly described as a developing
+ country, and I am speaking historically here.} which, although
+occasionally embodying laws comparable with Singapore's, have
+been essentially pluralistic in nature, and attempt to establish
+a balance of interests, assuming a diverse rather than a
+monolithic society. It is this divergence of statute law from the
+standard model one generally finds in common-law countries which
+marks the autochthony of Singapore's legal system.
+
+The common law, as is forcefully argued by Andrew Phang in a
+recent and very impressive monograph,\footnote{
+ \lexicite{phang-development}.} has been characterized by its
+lack of development in Singapore. Taking the example of contract
+law, Phang shows how the judges failed to take a Singaporean view
+of the subject, simply applying English precedents mechanically,
+even where the needs of society demanded a different
+result.\footnote{\lexicite{phang-development}, chapter 3.} He
+refers to the ``emaciation of custom'' and the lack of
+development of alternative forms of dispute resolution. Much the
+same can be said of tort law and many other areas of Singapore
+law. The common law is characterized by its failure to achieve
+autochthony,\footnote{ 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, \lexicite{phang-development}+{55, n.~8}.} and, I
+would argue because of this, there is, in parallel, an atrophy of
+judicial power.\footnote{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.}
+
+
+On this basis I want to take a brief look, by way of example, at
+some particular areas of public law in Singapore by way of
+amplification of the thesis of this paper.
+
+
+\section{Constitutional Development}
+
+Singapore inherited a Westminster-style Constitution from its
+colonial past. After independence in 1965 a new Constitution was
+promised, but in fact Singapore's constitutional development has
+proceeded by a series of amendments over the span of the Lee Kuan
+Yew era. Far from failing, like the common law, to achieve
+autochthony, Singapore's constitutional development has seen a
+series of experiments, and has probably now finally worn into its
+shoes with the election in 1993 of Singapore's first elected
+President, Ong Teng Cheong, under constitutional amendments
+passed in 1991.\footnote{See \lexicite{m-const-amend-1991}, and a
+ note on this by Kevin Tan at \lexicite{tan-constamend-note}.}
+
+Developments have centred around three issues, which are linked:
+race, opposition, and PAP succession. The objectives have been to
+recruit the support of the non-Chinese communities while
+suppressing communalism; to provide avenues for the expression of
+views opposed to those of the Government without undermining the
+dominant-party system; and to ensure that the main tenets of Lee
+Kuan Yew's policy will be continued by his successors, and not be
+replaced by ``welfarism'', which is regarded as the antithesis of
+PAP ideology, now that communism is no longer seen as a threat to
+Singapore.
+
+\subsection{Race}
+The racial tensions and riots of the 1950s and early 1960s made
+race an important issue after independence. A Constitutional
+Commission under the Chief Justice, reporting in 1966,\footnote{
+ \lexicite{m-const-commn-rept}.} was asked to explore ways of
+securing the confidence of the non-Chinese communities in their
+future as Singaporeans. The result was the Presidential Council
+for Minority Rights, set up in 1970,\footnote{ See
+ \lexicite{constamend-n19}.} whose function was to scrutinize
+legislation to see if it discriminated against any racial or
+religious community. The experiment, promising in its original
+conception, foundered because the Government insisted that
+members of political parties be allowed to sit on the Council;
+the result was that the Council was packed with senior members
+and former senior members of the Government, including Lee
+himself as Chairman. Naturally the Council has never submitted an
+adverse report on any legislation; it quickly became an
+irrelevance.\footnote{ See \lexicite{harding-const-proc}.}
+
+
+The eventual resolution of the problem of ethnic minorities was
+the creation of the Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) in
+1988.\footnote{ \lexicite{s-constamend-n9}.} The Constitution now
+requires that certain constituencies, which supply one half of
+the total number of MPs, be represented by a team of three MPs
+elected as a ``slate'' by the voters in three former
+constituencies now grouped together; one member of each slate
+must be a member of an ethnic minority, ie usually a Singaporean
+of Malay/ Muslim or Indian (South Asian) descent. Thus the voters
+may choose between a PAP slate and an opposition slate, but are
+bound to elect at least one non-Chinese MP, whichever way they
+vote.
+
+The ostensible objective of the reform was to ensure that ethnic
+minorities were represented in Parliament. In fact the objectives
+were probably (i) to ensure that the PAP vote remained stable
+without resorting to the laying off of non-Chinese MPs, which
+would give the lie to the concept of a multi-racial
+Singapore;\footnote{ 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).} and (ii) to make it more
+difficult for the opposition to secure an electoral victory in
+particular areas.\footnote{ 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.}
+
+
+This would suggest that voters had not returned non-Chinese MPs
+in the past. In fact both the PAP and the opposition had included
+non-Chinese MPs, and some disquiet was occasioned by this reform,
+as it implied that non-Chinese candidates were unelectable. It
+is not insignificant that the visit of Israel's President to
+Singapore in 1986, which provoked an outraged response from
+Indonesia and Malaysia, was perceived to have provided evidence
+of disloyalty among Singapore Malay servicemen.\footnote{
+ \lexicite{harding-const-proc}.}
+
+
+\subsection{Opposition}
+The Singapore Government has always taken the question of
+opposition seriously, even though it ruled in a one-party
+Parliament from 1965 to 1980, and since then has been troubled by
+only one, then two, then four opposition members in a 81-member
+chamber. The reason for this is that, unlike most other
+countries, Singapore, as a city-state, has more or less identical
+constituencies;\footnote{ Indeed it is part of PAP policy that
+ this should be so.} it is thus possible for almost total PAP
+domination of Parliament to be suddenly reversed (following
+perhaps some serious economic setback), into almost total defeat.
+Proportional representaiton was expressly rejected in
+1966.\footnote{ See, further, \lexicite{tan-parliament}.}
+
+
+One solution, the creation of a one-party state, is closed off.
+Although the PAP has defined itself as a national movement
+(1983), it was forced by adverse reaction to concede that this
+was not a step towards elevation of the PAP to the ``leading
+role'' given to communist parties in pre-1989 Europe. A severe
+reduction in the PAP vote at the ensuing election (1984)
+emphasized that Singapore, with a fairly solid 30--40\%
+opposition vote,\footnote{ 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,
+ \lexicite{phang-development}+{357ff}.} could not go down that
+road. As a result, the PAP has had to countenance the legitimacy
+of parliamentary opposition, and has sought instead to control
+it.
+
+The second option, the creation of Non-constituency MPs, designed
+to give a seat in Parliament to the most successful of the
+unelected opposition candidates, an apparently generous gesture,
+did not solve the problem, as it proved unpopular among the
+opposition parties, who prefer to win their seats rather than
+rely on government charity; and the provisions, applying only
+where there are less than two opposition MPs, have been overtaken
+by events.
+
+ More recently, the creation of Nominated MPs (the third
+option), currently four in number, has met with greater success.
+These ``NMPs'' can participate in debates and vote.\footnote{ Except on money bills, supply bills, constitutional
+amendments, and confidence motions.}
+
+
+In case of PAP members deciding to cross the floor, an amendment
+introduced to deal with the politics of the tubulent 1960s
+ensures that they will not be able to do so without forfeiting
+their seats in Parliament.\footnote{ \lexicite{s-const}+{46(2)}.}
+Indeed PAP MPs who vote against the Government, or even abstain,
+are threatened with expulsion from the party.
+
+Any notion that legal development has embraced political
+opposition, is however, quickly contradicted by the constant
+legal harrassment of opposition MPs and the tough action taken
+against those who express opinions outside the arena of party
+politics. Not only the Singapore Law Society, but also NGOs and
+individual critics, have been targeted, especially in ``Operation
+Spectrum'' in 1987, in which 29 people, mainly Church workers and
+social activists, were detained without trial under the Internal
+Security Act, accused of having mounted a Marxist conspiracy to
+overthrow the Government.\footnote{ See \lexicite{ricjs-1987}.}
+This action outraged international opinion. At present, however,
+there are no ostensibly political detainees in Singapore.
+
+(c) Succession.
+ The notion of an elected presidency to replace the nomination
+of the President by Parliament was conceived as a means of
+buttressing PAP rule, or at least the main tenets of PAP rule, and
+in particular as a means of preventing the dissipation of
+Singapore's substantial reserves. Although it was thought by most
+that this post was one into which Lee Kuan Yew would ease himself
+as he talked more and more of giving up executive power, in fact he
+remains as Senior Minister, and a former Deputy Prime Minister, Ong
+Teng Cheong, has been elected. His single opponent in the 1993
+election was a little-known former civil servant.
+
+The main problem with such an elected President is of course how
+his powers relate to those of the Government itself. The
+structure created in Singapore is unique. The President is
+endowed not only with an electoral mandate, but with a formidable
+array of powers. He can withhold assent to certain Bills, veto
+Government loans, senior appointments and budgets of statutory
+boards and Government companies, and exercise various other
+powers. In short, by use of his purely negative powers, he can
+bring government grinding to a standstill at any time.
+
+Another problem with this reform, from the PAP point of view, was
+always that the presidential election might become a hustings for
+opposition candidates. This possibility has been preempted by
+imposing onerous requirements on presidential candidates, so that
+opposition politicans of the present echelon at least, are unable
+to stand. The rules are designed so that only members of the
+PAP-led political, administrative and business elite, can stand
+for election.
+
+Concluding this part of the paper, I would observe that law as
+social engineering in the field of constitutional law in
+Singapore has been largely a success, judged in terms of the
+objectives of reforms.\footnote{ 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
+ \lexicite{woodman-allotrev}, and Allott's reply, which follows,
+ \lexicite{woodman-allottrev-reply}.} However, there is a kind
+of ``smartness'' about these laws which could lead to their
+removal at some time in the future. By ``smartness'', I mean that
+they appear to be programmed to produce not just in general, but
+rather too precisely, the result desired by their creators. This
+is a characteristic of many of Singapore's social engineering
+laws. They are the kind of laws which in the short term seek out
+their targets with relentless accuracy, negotiating every
+obstacle placed to thwart their efficacy; but in the long term
+they may be shorn of legitimacy by their very smartness---they
+are too smart for their own good. Perhaps they will disappear to
+the same part of the legal underworld which is reserved for Henry
+VIII's Star Chamber and the laws of the communist dictatorships
+of Eastern Europe. They do not provide a framework within which
+any future Government, even perhaps a PAP Government, would feel
+happy.
+
+
+\section{Administrative Law and the Administrative State}\footnote{See \lexicite{tynne-admin-state}.}
+
+Administrative law has seen burgeoning growth in developing
+countries over the last decade or so, and we are now getting used
+to examples of judicial independence and administrative-law
+reform cropping up in unlikely places, such as Indonesia and
+China.
+
+As a generalization about administrative law in Singapore, I
+would say that it has displayed great activity but quite
+remarkable lack of development. The courts have proved very
+unwilling to question administrative decisions in most areas:
+compulsory purchase, taxation, citizenship, immigration, control
+of the press, to name but a few.\footnote{ See, eg,
+ \lexicite{re-dow-jones-asia}.} By way of contrast, they have
+been willing to intervene with the decisions of tribunals and
+disciplinary bodies where natural justice has not been observed.
+But the cases have been few and rather insignificant.
+
+As against the atrophy of judicial review and rule-of-law
+principles, administrative law in the narrower sense of
+regulatory statute law and meticulous enforcement has been
+developing rapidly. Hardly anything regarded by the Government
+as a mischief has been left without drastic regulation: adverse
+comment by NGOs, lawyers, church leaders or foreign
+journalists;\footnote{ Dealt with by the
+ \lexicite{maint-of-relig-harmony-act}++{{8}\dash{19}};
+ \lexicite{internal-security-act}++{{8}\dash{19}};
+ \lexicite{newsp-printing-presses-amd-act}. For the last see
+ \lexicite{batterman-sing-news}. } blocking of refuse chutes
+in apartment blocks; failure by the elite to perpetuate their
+genes; smoking in public; drug-trafficking; firearms; strikes;
+silent defendants; traffic jams in the city centre; crooked
+lawyers; traditional Malay villages (kampongs); official
+corruption; litter; chewing gum; and even unflushed public
+toilets.\footnote{ The tropical mosquito did not stand a chance,
+ and has been dismissed by the irresistible advance of concrete
+ modernity.}
+
+
+In many of these things the Singapore Government's actions have
+been amply and loudly justified. However, the smartness of the
+legal mechanisms used does not extend to preserving from
+collateral damage a large number of fundamental liberties. The
+statutes are not sufficiently smart to be programmed to
+distinguish between activities which are simply anti-social, and
+activities which may have a combination of desirable and
+undesirable aspects, or which may be wholly desirable. For
+example, restricting traffic in the centre at peak hours and the
+size of the car population in general seems sensible (to this
+observer at least), the infringement of personal liberty being
+marginal. The restrictions on criticism by the press, the
+churches, and NGOs, however, the sign of a healthy, democratic
+society, may (for all I know) marginally increase foreign
+investment, in the sense that Singapore will be perceived as a
+stable business environment, but the cost in terms of freedom of
+thought and expression, which any entrepreneurial society, let
+alone an open society, needs, is very great,\footnote{ 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.} unless one sees the
+population simply as an unintelligent resource, obedient
+automata, or ``digits'', to use the word often used by Lee
+himself and other PAP leaders.
+
+\subsection{Habeas corpus}
+The development of habeas corpus is a good example of the
+smartness of Singapore laws. In \footnote{% to use -t- here
+ % later
+ \lexicite{chngsuantzevminister}; for comment see Sin Boon
+ Ann, `Judges and Executive Discretion---a Look at
+ \lexicite{sin-boon-ann-chingvminister};
+ \lexicite{harding-singapore-prevent}. See also
+ \lexicite{teo-soh-lung-v-min}; \lexicite{vincent-cheng-v-min}.}
+the Court of Appeal had to address what is probably the single
+most important question of administrative law: to what extent can
+the courts review the exercise of a subjectively-framed
+discretion (in this case to detain persons under the Internal
+Security Act as a threat to security or public order)?
+
+The Court commented adversely on a previous decision\footnote{
+ \lexicite{lee-mau-seng-v-min}.} denying the possibility of such
+review in security cases, and opined that the appropriate test
+was an objective one: the satisfaction of the President (acting
+on ministerial advice) had to be objectively reasonable, and it
+was not sufficient that the minister genuinely believed himself
+satisfied. However, the actual ratio of the case was that there
+was no actual evidence of presidential satisfaction. As a result,
+habeas corpus was granted and the detainees released. However,
+quite cynically, the Government arranged for their rearrest
+outside the detention centre on freshly prepared documentation
+which complied with the Court's ruling. If the court had framed
+the ratio of the case more generally, this would not have been
+possible.
+
+Legislation was then passed restoring the previous law, excluding
+the relevance of the case-law of any other
+jurisdiction,\footnote{ Cases from other Commonwealth countries,
+ including Namibia and Zimbabwe were cited in Chng's case.} and
+denying an appeal to the Privy Council in security
+cases.\footnote{ \lexicite{intl-sec-amend-1989}. Consequential
+ constitutional amendments were effected by the
+ \lexicite{constamend-1989}.}
+
+
+The smartness of these laws goes even further. The appeal to the
+Privy Council could of course be abolished at any time, but has
+been retained because it encourages inward investment. However,
+the appeal requires agreement between the parties at any time
+before the case goes to the Singapore Court of Appeal, and is not
+allowed in security cases and cases involving professional
+discipline. Thus important commercial cases can still go the
+Privy Council and be decided by English judges in London, but
+cases involving the Government can be filtered out simply by the
+expedient of the Government refusing to agree to the appeal, thus
+allowing the case to be determined finally by the Singaporean
+judiciary. The competence and independence of the judges need not
+be in issue: if their decisions are not sufficiently smart, they
+can be reversed by exercise of legislative power, and if this
+requires a constitutional amendment, the Constitution also
+ensures that the two-thirds requisite majority is always
+forthcoming.
+
+\subsection{Eugenics}
+Another example which has become famous is the so-called
+`Graduate Mothers Scheme', under which university-educated
+mothers were allowed certain privileges with regard to choice of
+primary school for their children. The object of this scheme was
+to encourage the reproduction of the elite, which was reckoned to
+have fallen behind that of less qualified parents. This
+represented the reversal of a family-planning policy which had
+been rigorously enforced by a series of carrot-and-stick methods
+over a period of several years, the object of which was to
+prevent a population explosion in a small island with little land
+to spare. The scheme failed, as very few mothers took up their
+rights under the scheme.\footnote{ Tax incentives still remain,
+ however.} After a vigorous defence of its purpose, the
+Government quietly dropped it the year following its
+introduction. What is interesting is that, although there was no
+constitutional challenge to the scheme, it was clearly perceived
+by a significant number of people as an illegitimate use of
+administrative power. Smartness, even in Singapore, has to extend
+to smartness about public opinion, even though the Singapore
+Government has proved adept at opinion-formation, and has
+sometimes succeeded in altering what Governments elsewhere might
+regard as an intractable environment of public opinion. The
+extremes to which Government goes to alter the environmental of
+opinion makes the nature of Singaporean laws highly instrumental
+and regulatory, when taken in conjunction with administrative
+measures and campaigns.\footnote{ Here I part company with Phang
+ (eg, \lexicite{phang-development}++{{274}\dash{75}}), 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.}
+
+
+Laws on voluntary sterilization and abortion have also played a
+large part in the eugenics policy; these have had the effect of
+encouraging and liberalizing access to sterilization and
+abortion, thereby restricting population growth.
+
+To conclude this section, administrative law in Singapore has
+become law for administrators, not in my view a balance between
+the rights of citizens and the practical attainment of collective
+goals. There have been some very desirable consequences apart
+from the erosion of basic liberties: the virtual abolition of
+corruption, the provision of public housing and health care, and
+the reduction in environmental pollution, for example. None of
+these achievements can really be attributable to the denial of
+fundamental rights as such. Labour laws, on the other hand, have
+severely restricted rights of freedom of expression, assembly and
+association.
+
+\section{Conclusions}
+
+Let me now return to the question posed near the beginning of
+this paper: is law as social engineering in Singapore purely an
+outcome of its situation, or is it indeed a glimpse of the legal
+future of the 21st century in the Asia-Pacific region?
+
+To answer this question one must look more widely at events in
+East and South East Asia, and look carefully at the crystal ball
+(or at the yam sticks!).
+
+I hope to have shown how the development of Singapore law has
+been an outcome of its peculiar history, geography and politics.
+It would be an easily achieved answer to say that the case of
+Singapore affords us no general propositions about the future of
+state and law in the region or the world: it is a one-off case,
+albeit a remarkable one.
+
+This would be superficial reductionism. There is much in the
+Singapore experience which matches that of the premier-league
+players, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, and now also
+to some extent, in the first division, Malaysia, Thailand, China,
+and possibly also, looking to those aspirants for promotion,
+Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
+
+ There is also no doubt that Lee Kuan Yew and other Singapore
+leaders see Singapore as a model for others to follow. This
+attitude is clearly shared by the leaders of some other countries.
+China has asked Singapore to create a Singapore clone at the city
+of Suzhou, near Shanghai. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are
+cooperating with Singapore in the creation of special economic
+zones. Singaporean enterprises are investing in Vietnam and China;
+the latter has now become the largest recipient of Singaporean
+outward investment.
+
+There are of course important differences. These countries all
+have autochthonous legal systems dating from pre-industrial
+times. Some are still communist states. Although they display
+different degrees of openness in their political systems, all
+have large and growing democracy movements, spawned by
+educational advances, the rise of a prosperous and ambitious
+middle class, and the influence of NGO movements and other
+international movements. In December 1991 President Ramos of the
+Philippines politely rebuked Lee Kuan Yew for suggesting a
+Singapore-model approach in that country, reminding him that his
+country had already tried an authoritarian approach without much
+success.\footnote{ \lexicite{disc-democracy}.} It is a grave
+error, in my view, to think that state structures, political
+cultures and legal systems in Asia are similar or are converging.
+
+The question therefore arises whether these emerging NICs, as
+they are often called, or newly democratizing countries (NDCs, as
+I would prefer) can pursue a Singapore-style legal system. I
+think the answer to this is that although, to an extent, they
+have already done so, further development of the region's legal
+systems along the lines of Singapore's is unlikely. Although it
+has been affected by the tail-end of the region's democratic
+reform-oriented movement, snuffed out in the 1987 detentions,
+Singapore has only marginally conceded a point or two to this
+movement, putting forward an alternative ``style'' of PAP
+government under Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong since
+1990.\footnote{ 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.}
+
+
+The Singaporean educated middle-classes are a much more malleable
+entity than their equivalents elsewhere in the region, where
+important concessions have been made to ``multi-party
+democracy''. Even in Japan, the model which others in the region
+try to emulate, a coalition of non-LDP parties has taken power
+after two generations of LDP rule, an event unthinkable until
+recently. The effect of such events on Singapore has, so far,
+been slight. Even the present ``consensual style'' of Government
+has been able to embrace the dismissal of an opposition
+politician from his university post on the flimsiest of charges,
+and the hounding of Workers' Party leader JB Jeyaratnam resulted
+in some very adverse comments from the Privy Council.\footnote{
+ \lexicite{jeyaretnam-v-law-soc-sing}.} There is little sign
+that the new style is anything more than the old policy in new
+clothing. The necessities of Singapore's situation and the
+economic success achieved over the past two decades have enabled
+the PAP to immunize itself effectively against the democracy
+movement, albeit with some international disapproval. The size
+of Singapore has enabled a growth and effectiveness of the organs
+of state to an extent which even Japan, with all its social
+cohesion, has not been able to achieve. The severe
+anti-corruption laws protect the Government from the most telling
+charge which is brought against its peers elsewhere in the
+region, and which fuels the demand for legal reform.
+
+My conclusion is therefore that the monsoon-winds of change now
+sweeping the region cannot be broken by the wide espousal of a
+Singapore-type legal system. On the contrary, I think the
+question is whether Singapore itself will be swept along by these
+winds. My guess is that the legal system is now firmly
+entrenched, and that it will ride the storm. I envisage that much
+of the region will become, superficially, more like Singapore,
+but Singapore itself will have to make some concessions to the
+growing desire for rule-of-law institutions, or a rechtstaat,
+and the paraphernalia of constitutional democracy.
+
+\end{document}
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