SINGAPORE — Upholding the rule of law is not only an important reason for the Republic’s rapid progress in the past, but continues to be of “vital national interest” to small states like Singapore, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday (March 31).

Speaking at an event celebrating the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) 150th anniversary, Mr Lee said individuals trust that all is equal before the law here, while businesses know they will get a transparent, rational environment to operate in.

Nations dealing with Singapore, he added, have also come to expect that the Republic would honour agreements it enters into and expects the same of others.

“We say what we mean, and we mean what we say. Sometimes we are faulted for being rigid and inflexible, but it is absolutely critical for our words to count and for us to hold others to what they have undertaken to us,” Mr Lee said. “So having a reputation for insisting on these key points is perhaps no bad thing.”

In his 20-minute speech, Mr Lee said the rule of law was what made Singapore stand out from other developing countries in its early days of independence, which paved the way for its progress from Third World to First in 50 years.

In Singapore, the rule of law stood for the upholding of individual rights and freedoms while balancing them against society’s need to maintain law and order, he said.

A central plank was to foster harmony and social cohesion among the diverse races and religions, he added.

Having built up a fair and efficient legal system, people trust the courts to hear their cases impartially, with justice accessible to all. Businesses expect a stable environment here, where commerce is governed by transparent rules, contracts are enforced and investments are protected, Mr Lee said.

“Because we emphasised all these aspects of the rule of law, Singapore distinguished itself from other developing countries and made it from Third World to First,” he added.

Mr Lee stressed that the AGC, along with the judiciary, are “critical” in the upholding of the rule of law.

As public prosecutor, the AGC enforces all laws on any wrongdoer “without fear or favour”, whether it is a case against a high-profile person for criminal breach of trust, or a senior public officer accused of graft, or any offence involving race or religion.

“Because our laws are enforced, Singaporeans and foreigners know that here in Singapore, they are safe and secure,” Mr Lee said.

Being the Government’s legal adviser, it is not a “straightforward matter” of just informing the Government what the law is, he added.

Instead, the AGC has to see issues through the lens of the government department, understand what it seeks to achieve, then come up with solutions, where necessary, by amending the law, said Mr Lee.

But this task, he noted, is “very hard to do”, since the government department hopes to receive “cast-iron advice” to justify actions to be taken, while the AGC hedges its advice “just in case the outcome is different from that desired and it gets blamed”.

While Mr Lee said this scenario does not always happen, it is a risk to be guarded against because it is important for government departments and the AGC to “work closely together as partners”. This would allow the government department to act decisively, with clear understanding of the legal position and consequences.

In the AGC’s third role as the Government’s legislative drafter, a key principle in Singapore’s approach is to not reinvent the wheel as far as possible and base it on existing models elsewhere, said Mr Lee.

He raised the example of how, whenever a new legislation was proposed in the Cabinet, founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s first question would be to ask which country it was copied from. He knew that from a good precedent, Singapore would benefit from the experience and mistakes of others, said Mr Lee.

“But when we have to make laws on our own that have no precedent elsewhere, we have to be very deliberate, think creatively and feel our way forward, and recognise that we will have to amend the laws later as we gain experience working it, to deal with unexpected issues or react to changing circumstances,” he said, raising the institution of the Elected President as an example.

The Constitution was amended to introduce an Elected President with custodial powers, he noted, and these arrangements were “complex and novel”, with no precedent elsewhere. Therefore, the problem was mulled over for several years, with two White Papers published before it was finally legislated in 1991.

Even then, the provisions in the Constitution have been amended multiple times in the last 30 years, to “make the system work properly as intended”, he noted.

Lastly, the AGC, as Singapore’s international lawyer, protects the country’s interests abroad, said Mr Lee. He cited the legal work that went into fighting Singapore’s case on Pedra Branca against Malaysia before the International Court of Justice as the “best example” in this area.

Friday’s event was held at Gardens by the Bay and attended by 450 guests from the legal fraternity, including former Attorneys-General. A book, In Chambers: 150 Years of Upholding the Rule of Law, to commemorate the anniversary, was also launched.