Law Awareness Project 2005

Addressing the Issue of Youth Crime through Law Awareness

The Law Awareness Committee of the Law Society has, for the past 11 years, been organising public programmes and activities geared towards raising awareness amongst the public of the laws of Singapore.

This year, between July to October, the Law Awareness Committee focused on the subject of Youth Crime and worked with secondary schools to raise awareness of the laws relating to crimes committed by young persons. This programme took a multi-pronged approach, with school assembly talks, exhibitions, a website on the Society’s Homepage (www.lawsociety.org.sg/youthcrime), a newsletter and a teachers’ training programme to ensure both students and teachers were aware of the law.

The ‘tabloid’ style newsletter entitled ‘Youth Times’ was distributed to all secondary school students in August and contains information on Singapore’s legal system and reader friendly stories written in the form of news articles on theft, robbery, rioting, software piracy and drug offences — issues pertinent to the youth of today.

The website on Youth Crime supplements the newsletter and is a resource with legal information and links to Singapore’s legal system and laws.

Assembly talks have been held at a number of secondary schools where members of the Society (volunteer lawyers) gave their time to talk to the students.

To arm teachers with the necessary knowledge to help their students, a Teachers’ Seminar was held on 13 August 2005 at the Woodlands Civic Centre with Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, the Senior Minister for State for Law and Home Affairs, as the guest-of-honour. A keynote speaker at the seminar was Reverend Sam Kuna, Executive Director of Teen Challenge (Singapore), who spoke about the problems of teenagers and the work done by bodies like Teen Challenge to help young people with these concerns and issues and reform from a possible life of crime and gang activity. Mr Muhammad Ibrahim of the Singapore Prisons Service, Mr Mohamed Redhza A Rahim, Deputy Superintendent of Police, and Dr Lionel Lim Chee Chong, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice, also spoke and gave teachers their views on the topic. The panel discussion that followed was moderated by the Master of Ceremonies, Mr Edmond Pereira. The seminar went beyond the allotted time and was very well-received by the 86 teachers who attended the event.

Below is an excerpt of the President of the Law Society’s address at the event:

In a society ruled by law, it is essential that people know their rights and obligations. The legal profession and the Law Society have a social responsibility to foster awareness of the law. Our law awareness work began 12 years ago with focused weekends of public talks, exhibitions and legal clinics. Today, it has evolved into a broader programme of partnership with community organisations and educational institutions. We seek not just to inform the public about the law but also to provide a platform for discussions between those involved in various aspects of the justice system to share different perspectives and move forward on issues of common concern.

This year’s law awareness project was supported by the Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime, the National Library Board, the Singapore Police Force, the Prisons Service and the Ministry of Education. The Law Society is also grateful to the following members who contributed their time to help verify the content of the newsletter and website, or give assembly talks at the schools, or both:

Name                                  Law Practice

1   Mr Chia Boon Teck           Chia Yeo Partnership

2   Mr David Rasif                  David Rasif & Partners

3   Mr Steven Lam Kuet Keng C S Lee

4   Mr Laurence Goh Eng Yau Laurence Goh Eng Yau & Co

5   Mr Michael Chia Soo        Sankar Ow & Partners

6   Mr N Sreenivasan             Straits Law Practice LLC

7   Mr Loo Ngan Chor            Lee & Lee

8   Mr Gogulakannan             Tan Leroy & Kannan

    s/o Suppaya                         

9   Mr Eugene Thuraisingam   Allen & Gledhill

10 Mr Pratap Kishan             Kishan & V Suria

                                           Partnership

11 Mr Lee Teck Leng             Lee Associates

12 Mr Anand Nalachandran    Harry Elias Partnership

13 Mr Shashi Nathan             Harry Elias Partnership

14 Mr Vinit Chhabra              Vinit Chhabra Partnership

15 Mr Sant Singh                  Sant Singh Partnership

16 Mr Randhawa                   Kalpanath & Co

    Ravinderpal Singh

    s/o Savinder Singh Randhawa