Committee of Supply 2024 debate, Day 3: K Shanmugam on maintaining a robust, fair and effective legal system

A tingkat delivery driver, married with two young children with special needs, needed money urgently for daily expenses and his children’s therapy sessions. After borrowing S$1,000 from an unlicensed moneylender, he was harassed and had no choice but to help the unlicensed moneylender in its illegal operations. He was charged in Court, expecting to get jail of eight to 12 months. His Public Defender explained his situation to the Prosecution, pleaded with the Court for a lighter sentence and referred him to a social service agency on the care plan for his children. Eventually, he was sentenced to six weeks’ jail, along with a fine. The Court also agreed to defer his sentence to allow him to see to his child’s transition into Primary 1 at a special needs school. This is one of many examples where the Public Defender’s Office (PDO) has positively impacted the lives of accused persons, said Law Minister K Shanmugam in Parliament on Friday (Mar 1). “It is a good start. We will continue to strengthen the PDO, its capability and capacity to help more vulnerable persons,” he told the House. Stressing the need to maintain a legal system that is robust, fair and effective and enhance access to justice, Mr Shanmugam said the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) has made good progress and intends to do more in ensuring access to justice, especially for the most vulnerable in the community. As of December 2023, the PDO received about 1,700 applications - almost 850 were eligible for criminal defence aid. As of December last year, PDO has a team of 16 public defenders and represented more than 440 accused. Similarly, the Legal Aid Bureau has been providing assistance and advice to the less privileged. It has around 50 in-house lawyers and support staff, as well as 140 Assigned Solicitors. Turning to the resolution of family disputes, Mr Shanmugam said the Courts focus on therapeutic justice - to get the parties to establish common ground and move on with their lives quickly. In the past year, 4,150 or 66 per cent of divorce cases were filed on the simplified track, and almost half of these cases involved children. Ninety-four per cent of divorce cases filed under the simplified track were resolved within six months - a quicker and less costly process for divorce. Around 930, or 88 per cent, of cases that went through mediation were fully or partially settled last year. Turning to the Maintenance Enforcement Process (MEP), Mr Shanmugam said a new unit of Maintenance Enforcement Officers (MEOs) will be established under MinLaw. MEOs can obtain information about the parties’ financial circumstances directly from them or from third parties. This will relieve applicants from having to get the facts on their own, which can take significant time, effort and cost, particularly where the respondent is not cooperative. With more accurate and complete information, the MEO and Courts will be better able to distinguish between respondents who cannot pay and those who refuse to pay. For those who cannot pay, the MEOs can refer them to financial assistance. For those who refuse to pay, the Court will monitor payments, typically for around six months, and failure to pay can lead to imprisonment. This system should reduce repeated defaults, at least in a number of cases, said Mr Shanmugam. MinLaw aims to operationalise the MEP in phases, starting sometime in the second half of this year. “We have been building steadily on our progress over the last few years. We have taken significant steps and will continue to work on helping the vulnerable through the criminal and civil law systems; and enhancing dispute resolution in family disputes,” said Mr Shanmugam.