Singapore Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong has become the first Asian jurist to be given the International Jurists Award by the International Council of Jurists (ICJ) for outstanding contribution in the area of administration of justice on Saturday, 21 November 2009.
The award was presented to the Chief Justice by Her Excellency the President of India, Mrs Pratibha D Patil, at the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Chief Justice Chan gave an address before he received the award.
The event was part of the ICJ’s conference on ‘Terrorism and the Rule of Law’ attended by some 3,000 delegates from several countries.
ICJ president Adish Aggarwala said the award was given to CJ Chan in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the administration of justice.
‘His achievement has enhanced the dignity of the Asian judiciary,’ said Dr Adish.
The other recipients of the award are the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom , Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers and Canada’s Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
After being admitted to the Bar on 31 January 1962, CJ Chan practiced for a number of years before being appointed the first Judicial Commissioner of Singapore on 1 July 1986. Two years later, he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore and in 1992, he was appointed Attorney-General of Singapore.
During the 1997 General Elections, then Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong and his two deputies Dr Tony Tan and Mr Lee Hsien Loong gained entry into a Cheng San GRC polling station, all of whom were not candidates for Cheng San GRC.
Section 82(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act reads:
“No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote. No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day.”
The Workers’ Party complained to the police that Mr Goh Chok Tong, Dr Tony Tan and Brigadier-General (NS) Lee Hsien Loong had been inside a Cheng San GRC polling station on Polling Day.
Attorney-General Chan Sek Keong ruled that there wasn’t any violation of the act on the part of the PAP MPs because they were within the 200 metre boundary of the polling station. The act explicitly stated that those outside the radius were in violation, but it wasn’t applicable to those within the radius.
In his letter to then Law Minister Jayakumar in 1997 on the case, Mr Chan concluded:
“There is a consistency in the rationales of the regulatory schemes governing activities inside and those outside polling stations on election day. Waiting outside a polling station is made an offence because it gives rise to opportunities to influence or intimidate voters: see paragraph 99 of the Elias Report. Hence, the Act has provided a safety zone which stretches outwards for 200 metres from the polling station. In contrast, the possibility of a person inside a polling station influencing or intimidating voters in the presence of the presiding officer and his officials, the polling agents etc was considered so remote that it was discounted by the Act.
I therefore confirm my opinion that the Parliamentary Elections Act does not provide for any offence of unauthorised entry into or presence within a polling station. Accordingly, those unauthorised persons who only wait or loiter inside a polling station on polling day do not commit any offence under the Act.”
The award was presented to the Chief Justice by Her Excellency the President of India, Mrs Pratibha D Patil, at the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Chief Justice Chan gave an address before he received the award.
The event was part of the ICJ’s conference on ‘Terrorism and the Rule of Law’ attended by some 3,000 delegates from several countries.
ICJ president Adish Aggarwala said the award was given to CJ Chan in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the administration of justice.
‘His achievement has enhanced the dignity of the Asian judiciary,’ said Dr Adish.
The other recipients of the award are the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom , Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers and Canada’s Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
After being admitted to the Bar on 31 January 1962, CJ Chan practiced for a number of years before being appointed the first Judicial Commissioner of Singapore on 1 July 1986. Two years later, he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore and in 1992, he was appointed Attorney-General of Singapore.
During the 1997 General Elections, then Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong and his two deputies Dr Tony Tan and Mr Lee Hsien Loong gained entry into a Cheng San GRC polling station, all of whom were not candidates for Cheng San GRC.
Section 82(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act reads:
“No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote. No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day.”
The Workers’ Party complained to the police that Mr Goh Chok Tong, Dr Tony Tan and Brigadier-General (NS) Lee Hsien Loong had been inside a Cheng San GRC polling station on Polling Day.
Attorney-General Chan Sek Keong ruled that there wasn’t any violation of the act on the part of the PAP MPs because they were within the 200 metre boundary of the polling station. The act explicitly stated that those outside the radius were in violation, but it wasn’t applicable to those within the radius.
In his letter to then Law Minister Jayakumar in 1997 on the case, Mr Chan concluded:
“There is a consistency in the rationales of the regulatory schemes governing activities inside and those outside polling stations on election day. Waiting outside a polling station is made an offence because it gives rise to opportunities to influence or intimidate voters: see paragraph 99 of the Elias Report. Hence, the Act has provided a safety zone which stretches outwards for 200 metres from the polling station. In contrast, the possibility of a person inside a polling station influencing or intimidating voters in the presence of the presiding officer and his officials, the polling agents etc was considered so remote that it was discounted by the Act.
I therefore confirm my opinion that the Parliamentary Elections Act does not provide for any offence of unauthorised entry into or presence within a polling station. Accordingly, those unauthorised persons who only wait or loiter inside a polling station on polling day do not commit any offence under the Act.”
