Speech by Minister of State for Law Murali Pillai SC at the Alternative Dispute Resolution Conference 2025

Mr Shyam Divan, President of LAWASIA

Mr Yap Teong Liang, President-Elect of LAWASIA

Ms Lisa Sam, President of The Law Society of Singapore

Colleagues and friends

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

1. A very good morning to you, and for the friends from overseas, I do say a warm welcome to you, but I mean warm figuratively.

2. I am delighted to join all of you at today’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Conference, jointly organised by LAWASIA and The Law Society of Singapore.

3. This conference examines the evolving landscape of ADR and its role in a dynamic legal environment. This is a vital and important question. Our world is being remade, and we must know that geopolitical rules are not just written by law and good faith and a commitment towards common prosperity, but also by power, ambition and caprice.

4. Since the start of this decade, the world has been through a series of chaotic events. We had the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Gaza conflict in 2023 and the imposition of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in April this year, just to name a few. These developments have contributed to supply chain disruption, global inflation, and economic instability.

5. In this new world, there are still rules of the market. Businesses still need to respond to technological advancements and market demands. They need to stay competitive, uncover new opportunities, and build resilience.

6. To do this, they need to rely on the certainty and the rule of law. Only then can the market forces in our world continue to deliver peace and prosperity to our people. In this volatile and uncertain world, the basic premise of the law – that it bends the moral arc towards justice and the common good – still retains its power.

7. Nowhere is this power more evident than in Singapore – a small city state with nothing beneath our feet but granite – no oil, no rare earth, no natural resources. Our land area is just 735.7 square kilometres, a third the size of London. Our population stands at about 6.04 million, and is very diverse, multiethnic, multiracial, multicultural and multireligious. In such a context, how do we maintain cohesiveness and unity at home, and credibility and trust abroad?

8. How do we work through the day-to-day disputes of business, or peoples, or corporations and of countries? How does Singapore get others to take us seriously? To work with us and to trust us?

9. We rely, as Joseph Raz said, on the “specific excellence of the law”. In the same way that the “specific excellence” of a knife is being sharp, we believe that the specific excellence of the law, is what gives it power and essence, is the rule of law.

(a) Singapore is widely recognised for our strong respect for the rule of law. In the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, it is 4th amongst the countries in East Asia and the Pacific, and 16th across the world. It is the cornerstone on which Singapore is built. It underpins everything that we do – both domestically and internationally.

(b) Domestically, the rule of law maintains social stability and drives economic growth. By ensuring that no one is above the law, we create a predictable and transparent environment, where rights are protected and businesses can operate with confidence. This not only strengthens public trust and upholds social order, but also creates a stable society that attracts investments. Many businesses and individuals choose to base themselves here, because of this safety and security.

(c) Internationally, we rely on international law to safeguard our sovereignty and independence. As a small state in a world where power imbalances exist, we rely on international law to ensure that countries, all countries, regardless of size or strength, are treated equally under established rules and norms. It fosters an environment where nations can coexist, cooperate and thrive within a stable, predictable global order. This is why Singapore took a strong stance against Russia when it invaded Ukraine in 2022, despite the significant power disparity between our two nations. Because we participate and uphold this “specific excellence” of the law, countries see us as a trusted partner who can be relied on to behave according to our well-established principles.

(d) In sum, our commitment to the rule of law is not mere practical convenience but a moral commitment. It supports the very existence of our country as a small state in a large world, it regulates the diverse and complex relationships within the many communities in our own nation.

10. Specific to today’s conference, there are those who see justice as being delivered when one wins and another admits to a wrong. I am used to it because I had a 30-year practice in law. But justice is equally served when we achieve other public goods – agreement, mutual gains, closure of specific conflicts, and redress.

11. This imagination of forms, processes and outcomes is a key role for alternative dispute resolution. So, for my keynote address today, I have three key themes:

(a) How Singapore is navigating this complex and dynamic global environment.

(b) How this broader national approach is being applied to the field of ADR.

(c) How we can move forward together, to build a future-ready ADR ecosystem.

Singapore’s approach and application to ADR

12. Singapore is navigating this complex and dynamic global environment. We do so in three ways – upholding the rule of law, innovation and creating partnerships.

13. I have spoken about the central role of the rule of law in our country in general. Let me speak about that, as well as innovation and partnerships, in relation to ADR.

14. Our aim is to ensure that our ADR ecosystem remains relevant, trusted and useful to businesses. Let me elaborate on each in turn.

15. First, rule of law.

(a) Our ADR system is built on a foundation of a strong, trusted legal system – one that has a strong reputation for good governance, low corruption, and rule of law. Singapore’s legal system is recognised internationally as among the best in the world.

(b) This trust extends across the entire ecosystem – from our law firms and lawyers, to our dispute resolution institutions, such as the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), and the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA), to our judiciary who enforces the ADR decisions and hears ADR-related appeals. They hold themselves to the highest professional standards, and give parties confidence that their disputes will be resolved fairly and independently.

(c) Parties from around the world have chosen Singapore as the dispute resolution forum, even when the dispute has no direct connection with Singapore. According to the latest Queen Mary University of London and White & Case’s International Arbitration Survey, Singapore continues to rank amongst the top 4 most preferred seats of arbitration across all regions, including Africa as well as Latin America. At last count, SIAC has received cases from parties from 110 jurisdictions. This shows that Singapore and SIAC are widely accepted, and when one party proposes us, there is a high chance that the other party will agree.

(d) We aim to be a trusted, neutral, independent, and credible option for disputes resolution.

(e) Singapore is also committed to upholding the international rule of law. We are a strong proponent of multilateralism and have signed and ratified a number of key international conventions, including the New York Convention, the Hague Choice of Court Convention, and the Singapore Convention on Mediation. These instruments enhance the enforceability of arbitral awards, court judgments, and mediated settlement agreements across borders.

(f) The most recent addition is the Singapore Convention on Mediation, which opened for signature in Singapore in August 2019. It currently has 18 parties and 57 signatories, including many countries from ASEAN and Asia, such as Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos, China, India, Japan and South Korea. We hope that more countries will sign and ratify the Convention, allowing mediation to become a truly effective and trusted means for resolving cross-border disputes – complementing arbitration as a key pillar of international dispute resolution.

16. Now I move to innovation.

(a) At the core, our goal is to stay relevant to the world – whether by offering a product, service or solution. To do that, we must continually demonstrate our value, and that means consistently innovating, improving, and creating better ways to meet global needs.

(b) One example is the development of our arbitration sector. Just 3-4 decades ago, we did not have an arbitration sector to speak of. In 1985, the Economic Committee, chaired by the then-Minister for Trade and Industry (now Senior Minister) Mr Lee Hsien Loong, was formed “to examine the longer-term problems and prospects of the Singapore economy, identify new growth areas, and define new strategies for promoting growth”. Among its key recommendations was to position Singapore as a legal and arbitration centre – not only to support businesses operating in, from and through Singapore, but also to develop a new engine of growth.

(c) Our innovation also extends beyond arbitration. We set up the SIMC in 2014, and the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) in 2015 – before international mediation centres and international commercial courts became more widespread. Our goal was to offer parties choice and flexibility. To us, the development of SIMC and SICC complements, rather than competes with SIAC. Each serves a distinct function, offering different tools to meet different needs. Together, they strengthen Singapore’s comprehensive dispute resolution ecosystem. Whatever the preferred mechanism – arbitration, mediation, or litigation – parties can find it in Singapore.

(d) When we set up the SIMC, mediation was still not seen as a viable option due to challenges in enforcing mediated settlement agreements across borders. The Singapore Convention on Mediation had not yet been adopted by the UN General Assembly. To address this gap, we came up with the arb-med-arb protocol, so that mediated settlement agreements could be converted to arbitral awards, and enforced under the New York Convention.

(e) I must not forget to mention Maxwell Chambers. When it was launched in 2010, it was the world’s first integrated international dispute resolution complex, housing state-of-the-art hearing facilities and leading international dispute resolution institutions under one roof. Since then, many similar centres have emerged globally. Maxwell Chambers continues to evolve and seek new ways to add value for its users. It now offers the use of drones – yes, I did a double take when I saw this in the draft – to assist in evidence presentation, particularly when the evidence is located off-site or in hard-to-access locations. It has also introduced virtual reality technologies that allow parties to visualise evidence in an immersive, 360-degree environment. To my knowledge, few, if any, other hearing centres offer such services today.

(f) One of the key developments was to enhance our dispute resolution funding landscape, to better support the needs of businesses and lawyers.

(i) In 2017, we introduced third party funding for international arbitration proceedings, and related court and mediation proceedings. While third party funding was not a new concept, Singapore had previously refrained from adopting it due to longstanding concerns around maintenance and champerty. However, after careful consultation, we decided that the time was right to move forward, and provide businesses with an additional and risk management tool, to manage legal costs.

(ii) In 2022, we introduced a framework to allow conditional fee agreements, to align our landscape with developments and practices on the international front.

(g) Similarly, SIAC and SIMC have embraced technology, to enhance their processes, with the aim of improving their productivity and delivering higher value-added services to their users. For example, SIMC offers the use of the Mediation AI Assistant, to quickly make sense of large volumes of information, including generating a chronology of events, outlining the roles of individuals, providing a table of common positions and differences between parties, and summarising the documents and data provided by parties, with footnotes too.

(h) I share these examples to illustrate our commitment to delivering meaningful innovations in ADR that meet the needs of disputing parties – key of which is time and cost savings. This is a never-ending journey – we will continuously look out for ways to add value to disputing parties, and the larger business and legal communities. If you have any feedback, ideas or suggestions, we would be most happy to hear them.

17. Third and finally, partnerships.

(a) In today's interconnected world, events in one region can have far-reaching effects elsewhere. Singapore firmly believes in fostering friendships with all nations. We cooperate on a broad range of areas, including economic, defence, security, finance, education, digital, amongst others.

(b) At the Ministry of Law, we have established Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with several countries to enhance legal cooperation. This includes China, India, Japan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Later this week, we will sign an MOU with Saudi Arabia's National Competitiveness Center to promote capacity building in enhancing the competitiveness of various sectors.

(c) These partnerships reflect our commitment to building strong, collaborative relationships that contribute to mutual growth and stability in the global community.

(d) That’s why we are committed to continually reviewing and updating our legislation and framework. The International Arbitration Act, first enacted in 1994, has been amended around 14 times, to ensure it remains relevant and robust. SIAC is now in its 7th edition of its Rules, and throughout its history, it has either led or quickly adopted cutting-edge developments in arbitration. It was among the first arbitral institutions, to introduce Emergency Arbitrator provisions, Expedited Procedure, and more recently, Streamlined Procedure, Early Dismissal Procedure, consolidation and joinder provisions.

(e) Because of the international nature of the disputes, we recognise that we cannot operate in isolation. Just as Singapore is integrated into the global trading system, our ADR ecosystem must also be globally connected. To this end, we have liberalised our dispute resolution regime. Parties can appoint counsel, arbitrators and mediators of any nationality. Our ADR institutions boast an international Board, Court and panel from both common law and civil law jurisdictions. We have welcomed leading international ADR institutions, such as the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration, American Arbitration Association International Centre for Dispute Resolution, WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre, to Singapore. These institutions work alongside our Singapore ADR institutions to offer businesses a broad range of options.

(f) We also cooperate with international partners at multiple levels, to jointly raise awareness of ADR, and share experience and expertise.

(i) At the government-to-government level, I mentioned that the Ministry of Law has signed MOUs with our counterparts across the world, and one area of cooperation is often international commercial dispute resolution.

(ii) At the institutional-to-institutional level, our ADR institutions also collaborate with foreign ADR institutions, trade bodies, bar associations, hearing centres and law schools, to exchange knowledge and best practices.

(iii) At the people-to-people level, there are regular exchanges between Singapore lawyers and their counterparts.

(g) Every jurisdiction has its strengths, and we will all be stronger if we learn from one another. Whenever I engage friends from overseas, and I am glad to see friends from overseas here, I always learn something new, even if the objective of the engagement may be for us to share our policies and best practices with them. This allows both sides to benefit and grow together.

(h) Besides international partnerships, I think partnerships within our own legal community is also key. One advantage of our size is that our legal and dispute resolution community is close-knit and collaborative – the Bar, the Bench, the ADR institutions, in-house counsel, and law schools. This close network fosters trust, which allows for open and candid exchange of ideas and feedback. Over the past 10 months or so since I joined the Government, I have had the opportunity to engage many lawyers and academics – whether 1-on-1, in small groups, or in large forums such as this. These conversations have allowed me to share the Government’s initiatives and perspectives, while also hearing directly from them about their own experiences, concerns and suggestions. We learn from one another, and we support each other. It is this spirit of mutual trust and cooperation that strengthens our system and enables us to grow together.

(i) Being closely connected to one another also makes us nimble. When SIAC introduced the Emergency Arbitrator provisions, we responded quickly – amending our legislation to include “emergency arbitrator” within the definition of the “arbitral tribunal”. This gave such arbitrators the legal status needed to issue enforceable orders, allowing parties to obtain urgent interim relief even before the full tribunal is established. Likewise, when the Honourable Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon mooted the idea of establishing the SICC, we acted decisively. Within just 2 years, we had passed the necessary legislation, and put in place the systems, processes, and people needed to bring the SICC to life.

18. So, as you can see, the same fundamental principles that have guided Singapore’s journey over the past 60 years have also shaped the development of our ADR sector.

Path forward

19. Finally, I come to my last point on how we – and when I say we, I mean all of us in this room – can move forward together, to build a future-ready ADR ecosystem.

20. I am, by nature, an optimist. I believe that globalisation – by which I mean our recognition of the rights, interests and specific capabilities of all countries - is here to stay, though perhaps not in the same form as we once knew.

21. When existing ties are strained or severed, new ones will be forged with like-minded jurisdictions. We have seen this time and time again. For example, when US adopted a more adversarial stance towards China, China expanded its engagement with new markets such as Southeast Asia and Africa. The same applies in reverse.

22. I am especially confident about the future of Asia. Three of the top five largest economies in the world are in Asia – China, Japan and India. ASEAN, as a collective bloc, is around the same size as India. This region is dynamic and full of promise. The Asia-Pacific is home to over 60% of the world’s youth aged 15 to 24, representing not only a significant source of talent, but also a growing base of consumers. With an expanding middle class and increasing urbanisation, we are witnessing a surge in infrastructure development and economic activity. And where businesses thrive, so do demand for legal and dispute resolution services. There is room for all of us to benefit from this growth.

23. That’s why organisations, such as LAWASIA, are so important. LAWASIA serves as a platform to bring together lawyers, judges, jurists and legal organisations from across Asia together. It plays a key role in fostering regional legal cooperation, which in turn helps build a more connected, collaborative and resilient legal community – one that is better equipped to tackle global challenges together.

24. In the same spirit, events like today’s conference are incredibly valuable. They bring people together, promote exchange of ideas and deepen mutual understanding. So, I hope that beyond hearing from our distinguished speakers, you will also find time to reconnect with old friends, as I did, and make new ones. Singapore may be small, but we have no shortage of great places for both. If you can, please visit one of our hawker centres, just as how Bill Gates or Lady Gaga recently did. I must say they got good taste.

25. But if your schedule is packed this time, I warmly invite you to return for the Singapore Convention Week, happening from 25 to 29 August this year. We are again lining up for a week of dispute resolution-related activities.

Conclusion

26. Before I conclude, I would like to thank the organisers – LAWASIA and Law Society – for the kind invitation to speak today.

27. I leave you with this message: When the world becomes more fragmented and polarised, it is even more critical that we – the people – stand united. While we may be competitors, it can, and should, be a friendly competition, grounded in mutual respect. If the specific excellence of the law is the rule of law, the specific excellence of a globalised world is our work here – the building of a community across borders, grounded in our common humanity, working towards our common good.

28. I wish you a most productive and insightful conference. Thank you.

Last updated on 22 May 2025