Singapore laws must keep pace with technologies yet to be invented: Edwin Tong

Held in Singapore for the first time, more than 200 delegates from over 40 jurisdictions attended the three-day event. The delegates include legislative drafters from national and regional drafting offices, judges and government legal advisers.

This year’s theme is “Legislating in a Changing World”, with topics ranging from the use of artificial intelligence tools by drafting offices, effective management of government legislative pipelines, and drafting legislation to support digital decision-making.

In his opening remarks at the conference, Singapore’s Attorney-General Lucien Wong said the participants were meeting at a time of “profound change in the world”, including demographic changes, changes in technology and changes to the international order.

“Our laws must keep up with these changes while remaining clear, accessible and faithful to foundational principles of responsible government and of the rule of law.

“As guardians of the statute book, law drafters have an indispensable role to play in how each of you, each of our legal systems, adapt to a changing world,” Mr Wong said. 

In his speech, Mr Tong set out Singapore’s history as a multiracial country with scarce land, requiring legislation such as the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act and the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act to preserve harmony and strengthen its social compact.

He then pointed to the Land Acquisition Act as an example of how legislation has adapted to the needs of society.

The Land Acquisition Act enabled land to be assembled for major public purposes, including public housing, key transport nodes and critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, Mr Tong said.

“Our physical transformation was never simply the product of good planning or just good engineering alone. It was also made possible by good legislation,” he added.

He noted that legislation of this nature required balancing different needs, such as the rights of individuals to own private property and the broader public interest in ensuring that scarce land can be used to meet national needs across different generations.

To this end, drafters had to anticipate “how the legislation would operate not just on the day of enactment, but decades into the future”.