Evolution of a Revolution Between 1965 and 2005, changes to Singapore’s Constitution were so tremendous as to amount to a revolution. These developments are comprehensively discussed and critically examined for the first time in this edited volume. With its momentous secession from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965, Singapore had the perfect opportunity to craft a popularly-endorsed constitution. Instead, it retained the 1958 State Constitution and augmented it with provisions from the Malaysian Federal Constitution. The decision in favour of stability and gradual change belied the revolutionary changes to Singapore’s Constitution over the next 40 years, transforming its erstwhile Westminster-style constitution into something quite unique. The Government’s overriding concern with ensuring stability, public order, Asian values and communitarian politics, are not without their setbacks or critics. This collection strives to enrich our understanding of the historical antecedents of the current Constitution and offers a timely retrospective assessment of how history, politics and economics have shaped the Constitution. It is the first collaborative effort by a group of Singapore constitutional law scholars and will be of interest to students and academics from a range of disciplines, including comparative constitutional law, political science, government and Asian studies. Dr Li-ann Thio is Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore where she teaches public international law, constitutional law and human rights law. She is a Nominated Member of Parliament (11th Session). Dr Kevin YL Tan is Director of Equilibrium Consulting Pte Ltd and Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore where he teaches public law and media law. Evolution of a Revolution Forty years of the Singapore Constitution Edited by Li-ann Thio and Kevin YL Tan First published 2009 by Routledge-Cavendish 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge-Cavendish 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge-Cavendish is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2009 selection and editorial matter, Li-ann Thio and Kevin YL Tan; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Evolution of a revolution: forty years of the Singapore constitution/ edited by Li-ann Thio and Kevin YL Tan. p. cm. 1. Constitutional law – Singapore. 2. Constitutional history – Singapore. I. Tan, Kevin. II. Thio, Li-ann. KPP171.E85 2009 342.595702Ј9 – dc22 2008025213 ISBN 0-203-88578-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–43862–4 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–203–88578–3 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–43862–9 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–88578–9 (ebk) Contents Acknowledgements vii List of contributors viii Foreword xii Table of cases xv Table of statutes and legislation xxii List of abbreviations xxix Introduction: Time for a revolution 1 KEVIN YL TAN 1 The passage of a generation: Revisiting the report of the 1966 Constitutional Commission 7 LI-ANN THIO 2 State and institution building through the Singapore Constitution 1965–2005 50 KEVIN YL TAN 3 Constitutional jurisprudence: Beyond supreme law – a law higher still? 79 TAN SEOW HON 4 Comparative law and constitutional interpretation in Singapore: Insights from constitutional theory 114 ARUN K THIRUVENGADAM 5 Constitutional supremacy: Still a little dicey 153 JACLYN LING-CHIEN NEO AND YVONNE CL LEE 6 Protecting rights 193 LI-ANN THIO vi Contents 7 The protection of minorities and the Constitution: A judicious balance 234 JACLYN LING-CHIEN NEO 8 Constitutionalism and subversion – an exploration 260 MICHAEL HOR 9 Writing the Constitution: Forty years of Singapore constitutional scholarship 288 KEVIN YL TAN 10 In search of the Singapore Constitution: Retrospect and prospect 323 LI-ANN THIO Index 361 Acknowledgements This book was made possible through a research grant from the National University of Singapore Academic Research Fund. As with many collaborative volumes, a great many people were involved and we would like to thank them for their time and help. We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Mr Geoffrey Abisheganaden for his generosity and hospitality in granting us an interview and sharing his reminiscences of the early days of Singapore’s constitutional history. His invaluable insight into the workings of the 1966 Constitutional Commission, of which he is one of two surviving members has immeasurably enriched Chapter one of this volume. We would also like to thank Ms Yvonne Chan, Assistant Archivist at the National Archives of Singapore for her kind assistance. Thanks also to our wonderful research assistants, Darren Goh, Cheryl Kam Li Anne, Dennis Tan Chuin Wei and Emily Choo Wan Ning (all former or current students of the NUS Faculty of Law) for their excellent and dedicated research work in the preparation of the book manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank Ms Eloise Cook of Routledge-Cavendish for her efficient coordination of the book production. Li-ann Thio Kevin YL Tan Singapore, May 2008 Contributors Editors Li-ann Thio BA (Hons)(Oxford); LLM (Harvard); PhD (Cambridge); Barrister (Gray’s Inn, UK) Dr Li-ann Thio is Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) where she teaches Public International Law, Constitutional Law and Human Rights Law. She has taught at the law schools of the University of Melbourne and University of Hong Kong. She is currently a Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament (11th Session). She is a General Editor of the Asian Yearbook of International Law and Editor of the Journal of East Asia and International Law. Formerly Chief Editor of the Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law, she sits on the Advisory Board of the New Zealand Yearbook of International Law, Australian Journal of Asian Law and Human Rights and International Legal Discourse. She is the Singapore Developments correspondent for Blaustein and Flanz, Constitutions of the Countries of the World and the International Journal of Constitutional Law and Contributor (public law) to the Singapore Academy of Law Annual Review. She has given public law briefings to visiting delegations from the Japan House of Representatives, Vietnam legislators and the Parliamentary Group of the Republic of Angola. She was Consultant to the University of Warwick (UK) on matters relating to academic and political freedom in Singapore and served as an expert legal witness in the Federal Court of Australia. She is a Resource Person for the Law Society’s Committee on Public and International Law. In 2004, she received the NUS Young Researcher Award, given in recognition of her scholarship and has been recognised twice as an NUS Excellent Teacher. Her publications include Managing Babel: The International Protection of Minorities in the Twentieth Century (Brill, 2005) and Constitutional Law in Malaysia and Singapore (Asia: Butterworths, 1997, with Kevin YL Contributors ix Tan). She has contributed chapters to Marcelo Kohen ed., Secession: International Law Perspectives and Henrard and Dunbar eds, Synergies in Minority Protection, both from Cambridge University Press. She has published widely in her fields of research in journals such as the International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Harvard International Law Journal, Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal, Hong Kong Law Journal, Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal and Law Quarterly Review. Kevin YL Tan LLB (Hons) (National University of Singapore); LLM, JSD (Yale) Dr Kevin Tan was formerly Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore where he taught from 1986 to 2000, specialising in Public Law, Law and Government, Law and Society, Legal History and International Human Rights. In 2000, he left to start his own consultancy, Equilibrium Consulting Pte Ltd, where he consults on a wide range of subjects, including law, politics, history, education, publication and business processes. Beyond his university duties, he has been active in many voluntary organisations, including the Singapore Scout Association, the National Youth Achievement Award Council, the Singapore Red Cross Society, CSCAP, the Preservation of Monuments Board, and the Singapore Academy of Law Legal Heritage Committee. He has also served as Executive Director of the Society of International Law, Singapore; President of The Roundtable, President of the Singapore Heritage Society, and Chairman of the Foundation for the Development of International Law in Asia (DILA). He has published widely and is the author or editor of no less than 15 books. Among these are: Constitutional Law in Malaysia and Singapore (Singapore: Butterworths Asia, 1997) (with Thio Li-ann); Political Change in Singapore: The Elected Presidency (London: Routledge,