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SINGAPORE: Just three days after Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew spoke at length about the rule of law in Singapore, it was Attorney-General Chao Hick Tin's turn to weigh in on its importance.
Addressing an audience of about 200 people on Wednesday, Mr Chao noted that while having a sound set of laws in place is crucial; ensuring they are consistently relevant in attracting businesses and investors is just as important.
Singapore's policy, even before independence in 1965, has always been to cultivate the right environment that allows businesses to be regulated but yet "does not stifle innovation and entrepreneurship", Mr Chao said.
He cited the recent example of how the Monetary Authority of Singapore amended the banking regulations in May to allow a widely-used instrument of Islamic finance called Murabaha.
In removing the restriction that limits institutions from carrying out non-financial activities, Islamic banking has been able to thrive here and is now "very much a part of the financial landscape" in Singapore, said Mr Chao.
The Government has also adopted a "light touch" on other regulatory frameworks, such as telecommunications and the Internet, to spur the rapid growth in that area.
But having a strong rule of law alone is not enough for a nation to achieve economic prosperity, said Mr Chao. "The existence of the rule of law is only one of the prerequisites, although an essential one, to create an environment that supports economic growth and draws foreign investments," he said.
Education, too, has to be an ongoing process. In the past 10 years, the Attorney-General's Chambers has educated public administrators with the necessary skills needed to understand the rule of law.
At the conference's opening on Sunday, Mr Lee said the key to Singapore's stable environment is its ability to provide a clean society with an independent judiciary, an honest police force and efficient law enforcement agencies. - TODAY/ym
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