Law. Faith. Justice. Community. Culture.
Lee Siew Boon Winston v PP [2015] SGCA 67
Significance: conditions for leave to grant criminal reference to Court of Appeal.
In Singapore’s system of criminal justice, there is only one tier of appeal. Apart from the single tier of appeal, there is the criminal reference procedure, where one or more questions of law of public interest can be brought to the Court of Appeal, but only with leave: [4].
Continue reading “Case Update: Lee Siew Boon Winston v PP [2015] – criminal reference”
In Peter Singer’s 2009 book The Life You Can Save [1] and 2015 book, The Most Good You Can Do, [2] he makes moral arguments on why people in richer nations should donate money to charities to end poverty in developing nations. He is a proponent of Effective Altruism, the idea that people in rich nations should give their disposable income to charities through evidence-based processes to ensure maximum positive impact.
Continue reading “Peter Singer and Effective Altruism: What’s Wrong?”
For the writing of The Justice Demand, I conducted an empirical survey of 117 respondents on their attitudes and views about various issues including social justice and their local churches. I set out here the responses on views about social justice in the form of pie charts.
Continue reading “Survey on social justice and local churches”
Airtrust (Hong Kong) Ltd v PH Hydraulics & Engineering Pte Ltd [2015] SGHC 307
Significance: punitive or exemplary damages awarded for breach of contract by way of delivery of a defective manufactured good.
Per Ah Seng Robin v Housing and Development Board [2015] SGCA 62
Significance: HDB’s right to compulsorily acquire a flat when the flat was illegally sublet.
Daniel John Brader and others v Commerzbank AG [2013] SGHC 284
Significance: Court held that an announcement made to employees at a Townhall meeting regarding bonus payments was held to be a sufficiently certain binding unilateral contract collateral to their employment contracts.
Bombay Talkies (S) Pte Ltd v United Overseas Bank Limited [2015] SGCA 66
Significance: meaning of compounding debt in respect of statutory demands under the companies winding-up regime.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
– Daniel 3:16-18
At times we may be tempted to, and other times forced to, fall on our knees to worship things which do not deserve our worship. Money, career, bosses, social pressures and expectations, state, and so on. And there’s a fear that if we say no to worshipping these, we will be thrown into the fiery furnace. Indeed, the world lives on fear. Fear of superiors, fear of harm, fear of losing out to others, fear of insufficiency, fear of missing out, fear of being left out. And fear makes us do things which we shouldn’t. But we justify it and say, it’s the way of life. We have no choice.
There is a choice. The choice is to say no in faith. Faith does not say, I’ll do this and certainly succeed, or I’ll certainly prosper. No, faith says, I’ll do this and trust that my God will do what’s best. And even if I should suffer for it, I will stick to my guns, because I am certain of my convictions; I am certain of my God who ultimately works for my good for I do this out of faith and love, and I am called according to His good purposes.
Thus, faith assures us shalom. Even in the middle of the fiery furnace, we can have peace and joy. Because we know, whether we see him or not, there is someone who’s beside us in the furnace, one who is awesome and powerful, who is the Son of God.
May we always choose to face the fiery furnace in faith than cower in fear.
Significance: principles on Rule 31 of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules prohibiting solicitors from acting against former clients and persons “involved in or associated with” former clients in related matters; meaning of persons “involved in or associated with” former clients; “related matters”.
PT Selecta Bestama v Sin Huat Huat Marine Transportation Pte Ltd [2015] SGHC 295
Significance: stay of proceedings, multi-tiered dispute resolution clause, obligation to negotiate prior to legal proceedings and exclusive jurisdiction clause; reliance on exclusive jurisdiction clause despite challenging validity of contract.