Welcome Remarks by Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Mr Edwin Tong SC at the Launch of "25 Years of Legal Reform in Singapore" Book Series

28 July 2026 Posted in Speeches

Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Senior Minister Shanmugam
The Honourable Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon
Judges
Colleagues and friends
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome

1.                 I want to wish you a really warm welcome to the launch of the book series, “25 Years of Legal Reform in Singapore”.

2.                 I am just so delighted to be up here looking down on the audience, seeing so many friends and colleagues from across the Bench, the Bar, academia, public service, and the wider legal fraternity gathered here today to commemorate a very important occasion on the SGLaw200 calendar.

3.                 I would like to start by especially thanking SM Lee for joining us, and also for contributing the Foreword to this series.

4.                 As SM writes, our legal system is an inheritance from our colonial past. But it is an inheritance that Singapore has made distinctly our own – one that reflects our values, our own society, and upholds our brand of the rule of law.

5.                 At the same time, a legal system is never finished. It must continually be renewed, refined, and sometimes, we must have the courage to reshape it to meet new realities.

6.                 This book tells the story of how Singapore has done exactly that over the past 25 years.

Significance of the Book Series

7.                 These have been years of profound change. Singapore has navigated technological disruption, changing societal expectations, economic uncertainty, and more recently, a global pandemic.

8.                 Throughout these changes, our legal system has evolved alongside our society, growing alongside our society, matching our society’s aspirations to remain trusted, relevant, effective, and fit for purpose.

9.                 The reforms documented in these volumes are not abstract legal exercises. These are reforms which have strengthened institutions, supported our businesses, improved lives, and shaped the social compact that we enjoy and we see in Singapore.

10.             We modernised our insolvency and restructuring framework to help viable businesses recover and grow.

11.             We developed Singapore into a leading international dispute resolution hub, giving businesses around the world the confidence to resolve complex disputes here, and by extension, the confidence to locate their investments in Singapore.

12.             During COVID-19, the Parliament acted swiftly to introduce temporary relief measures, that helped businesses and individuals weather an unprecedented crisis.

13.             More recently, our laws continued to evolve to address newer challenges, such as scams, online harms, and also, emerging technologies.

14.             Together, these reforms and others reflect a very important underlying philosophy: law reform in Singapore is never pursued for its own sake. It is undertaken to strengthen trust, to support progress, and to ensure that our legal system continues to serve the needs of both Singapore and Singaporeans.

15.             But very often we will only see the final outcome of law reform. It is either found in a new Act of Parliament, or an amended statute that we apply and we sometimes take for granted, or a new institution that we set up.

16.             But it really bears noting that behind every reform lies years of careful work: research, consultation, debate, drafting, redrafting and importantly, thinking about the implementation of a new piece of legislation.

17.             Good law reform is therefore not simply about writing better laws. It is really about understanding deeply how our society is changing, and what are its shifting needs, changing paradigms and newer aspirations. Tapping into its pulse, anticipating further challenges ahead, making difficult judgments, deciding on trade-offs, and also balancing competing interests with care.

18.             This series, I believe, preserves and tells those stories. It records not only what changed, but why those choices were made – the trade-offs that were carefully considered, and also documents the dedication of those who made the reforms possible. It is also an important record of our institutional memory – one which not only chronicles and explains the past efforts, but in doing so, also shines a light to guide the path forward.  

19.             Let me also pause to acknowledge SM Shanmugam. During his 17 years as Minister for Law, he led one of the most significant periods of legal reform in Singapore’s history. Many of the innovative and landmark reforms documented in these volumes bear his imprint and deep personal attention. More fundamentally, he championed the philosophy that law reform must also serve the public interest well – strengthening justice, compassionate justice as he calls it, supporting economic growth, and reinforcing confidence in our legal institutions. In many ways, this series is also a tribute to his leadership, and to the dedication of generations of officers, past and present, in the Ministry of Law.

Words of Appreciation

17.             Finally, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who made this book series possible.

18.             To the authors, the editors, the researchers, all of you gave generously your time and your expertise, and your attention to detail is remarkable – thank you very much. I know this project has taken a little longer than what we would have liked. Many of you had to revisit and update some chapters as the law continued to evolve, and we wanted to keep the publication current on the day it is published. So as of today, thanks to the efforts of all our editors, our publishers, our writers, it is very current. Thank you so much for your patience, your commitment, and really for staying the course with us.

19.             My deep thanks also go to my colleagues in the Ministry of Law. They worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring both the series as well as today’s launch together. This publication is a testament to your dedication. Thank you, and I hope you will all be able to enjoy a well-deserved rest after today.

20.             Before the formal programme concludes, I encourage everyone to spend some time at the exhibition around us.

21.             In many ways, the exhibition brings many of these reforms to life.

22.             More importantly, it reminds us that behind every statute are real people, real challenges that we have had to confront, and there have been real consequences.

Conclusion

24.             This year, we commemorate 200 years of Singapore’s modern legal system. It is therefore an especially fitting moment both to reflect on how far we have come, as well as to take the opportunity to look ahead.

25.             The challenges of the next 25 years will not be the same as those of the last. Artificial intelligence, digital technologies, demographic change, and an increasingly complex world that is mired in uncertainty will continue to test our legal system in new ways.

26.             But if the story told in these volumes teaches us anything, it is this: Singapore’s strength has never been simply having good laws. It has been our willingness to review them constantly, to have the courage to improve on them, and adapt them when circumstances demand.

27.             That spirit of principled and practical law reform has served Singapore well. It has strengthened our institutions, it supported our economic development over the decades, it has protected our cherished social compact, and reinforced confidence in the rule of law.

28.             I hope, therefore, this series will inspire future generations of lawyers, policymakers and public servants to continue that tradition.

29.             Thank you very much once again, and welcome once again to the launch of the “25 Years of Legal Reform in Singapore” book series. Thank you.

Last updated on 28 July 2026