Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon: Welcome Remarks at the 12th Council of ASEAN Chief Justices (CACJ) Meeting

Ladies and gentlemen 

1. A very good evening, and to all our friends who have travelled here from around the region, a very warm welcome to Singapore. It is wonderful to be reunited with old friends, and also to see our community grow as we welcome new friends into our fold each year. Let me extend my heartfelt appreciation especially to the Singapore Academy of Law for co-organising this afternoon’s seminar with the Singapore International Commercial Court, and to the many members of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association and our wider legal fraternity who have taken the time to join us for today’s events. Your support and participation have greatly enriched both the breadth and the depth of our discussions.

2. On behalf of the Singapore Judiciary and the ASEAN Law Association (Singapore), we are deeply honoured to be hosting both the 46th ALA General Council Meeting and the 12th Meeting of the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices this year. While these meetings will form the backbone of this year’s programme, they will be complemented for the first time by an expanded line-up of events, such as a series of carefully curated seminars as well as specialised meetings. We hope that this omnibus programme will provide the perfect setting for our communities of judges and lawyers to cultivate closer ties.

3. Earlier this afternoon, we had the pleasure of hearing distinguished judges, practitioners and policymakers share their perspectives on the future of dispute resolution and on cross-border insolvency issues in ASEAN. The discussions and the questions that followed were most engaging, so much so that we ran out of time. If I may say so, this has set an impressive benchmark for our discussions over the next two days. We will have another seminar tomorrow on the transnational practice of law in ASEAN. That will include a keynote speech by Professor Simon Tay, who is the Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, followed by a panel discussion featuring esteemed practitioners from across the region. And, later that afternoon, there will be separate dialogues between practitioners and members of the judiciary who specialise in insolvency and in intellectual property law, respectively.

4. Our events this week will feature a range of perspectives from the Academy, the Bench and the Bar. Indeed, we hope that the programme we have put together will offer a meaningful preview of what can be achieved when we intentionally draw upon the distinct strengths of ALA and the CACJ while also harnessing the natural synergies that exist between them.

5. In the same vein, we will also witness the signing of a number of MOUs this week. This includes an MOU to be signed tomorrow afternoon between the judiciaries of Singapore and the Philippines to strengthen cooperation in the area of cross-border insolvency, which is what we talked about a few minutes ago. This is a key step towards realising a regional framework for facilitating cooperation on an even wider range of cross-border matters. In just a few moments, an MOU will also be signed between the Singapore Academy of Law and the Thai Office of the Council of State. This MOU facilitates collaboration in the development of legal technology, capacity building, legal research and knowledge exchange, including the exploration of the possibility of developing a joint legal database. As a first step, both entities will explore the development of a Thai-English legal dictionary and database. The tool will provide a ready and reliable means of bridging our linguistic differences, promote mutual understanding of our respective laws, and ultimately strengthen the confidence and certainty with which we can navigate each other’s legal systems.

6. This initiative is significant in its own right, but let me propose that it also lays the groundwork for a far more ambitious goal that I would encourage us all to imagine, to think about and to aspire towards. That goal is the formation of a centralised repository that would present to the world at large and in particular to the global community of investors, the legislation and the case law found across our jurisdictions, at least in the fields relevant to commercial practice. Many of our jurisdictions have made great strides in making our laws publicly available and accessible. But ask anyone researching the laws of a new jurisdiction for the first time, and they will likely tell you that the process of locating, verifying and comprehending foreign legal materials can be inherently time-consuming and unfamiliar, especially if the materials are predominantly found in a language that they do not themselves speak. Now, picture a repository that conveniently consolidates the laws of our ASEAN jurisdictions in a single location, in both their official and English versions, and that features regular updates and seamless access. I dare say that this will be a real gamechanger for how our legal and business communities operate across the region, and such a project would represent a development that is both practically significant and deeply symbolic of our commitment to ASEAN integration.

7. So, today, we take the first step towards the development of a Thai-English legal dictionary, and we hope that that will lead us on a march towards a central repository of legal materials. 

8. Having outlined what we have planned, let me return to the immediate business of tonight’s event. In addition to the MOU signing, we will of course be announcing this year’s winners of the coveted Tun Dzaiddin Challenge Trophy from the ALA Championship Golf Tournament that was held earlier this morning, which is a tradition that never fails to add a dose of friendly competition and excitement to our gatherings. You will also, as you heard Raeza say, be treated to a music item specially put together by some surprise guests from the legal fraternity – and I can tell you I am not one of them. We have two packed days of deliberations ahead of us, but for tonight, please enjoy the food, the music and most of all, the wonderful company. 

9. Welcome to Singapore. Thank you very much.