Appellant’s Contact Dr Thum Ping Tjin Email:
[email protected] 9 May 2018 Mr Heng Swee Keat Minister for Finance #10-01 and #06-03 The Treasury 100 High Street Singapore 179434 By Email, Fax (6337 4134) & Hand Dear Sirs, APPEAL AGAINST REJECTION OF NAME APPLICATION BY “OSEA PTE LTD” 1. We refer to the rejection of the abovementioned name application (transaction no. ) (the “Application”) by the Registrar of Companies, under the purview of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”) on 11 April 2018. 2. The Application was made by the director designate of OSEA Pte Ltd, Dr Thum Ping Tjin, on 8 February 2018. OSEA Pte Ltd was to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Observatory Southeast Asia Limited (“OSEA UK”), a company incorporated in the United Kingdom. At present, OSEA UK owns and manages the New Naratif website (www.newnaratif.com). 3. OSEA Pte Ltd’s planned activities would have included organising discussion fora, workshops, and other events in Singapore, such as “Democracy Classroom” sessions. OSEA Pte Ltd would also have provided editorial services to New Naratif. 4. We make our appeal against the rejection of the Application pursuant to Section 27(12C) of the Companies Act. 5. In its rejection email dated 11 April 2018 to the registered filing agent for the Application, ACRA cited Section 27(12A) of the Companies Act as its basis for doing so, in the following terms: “Your application for OSEA PTE. LTD. has been rejected due to s27(12A) of the Companies Act. Thank you.” 6. We note that the Section 27(12A) of the Companies Act states: “The Registrar must refuse to approve an application to reserve a name […] as the name of an intended company if the Registrar is satisfied that — 1 (a) the name is for a company that is likely to be used for an unlawful purpose or for purposes prejudicial to public peace, welfare or Good order in SinGapore; or (b) it would be contrary to the national security or interest for the company to be registered.” 7.