Events & Speeches

Speech by Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee, Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs at the Accreditation Ceremony for Mediators from the Construction Industry & Seminar on Mediation: The Better Approach to Managing Construction Disputes
Saturday, 25 April 1998

The Honourable Justice Goh Joon Seng,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

1. In Singapore, institutionalised non-court based mediation is still in its infancy. Whilst the UK's Centre for Dispute Resolution ("CEDR") is already 8 years old, our present mediation institutions such as the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC) which handles commercial disputes, and the Community Mediation Centre or CMC in Marine Parade, which deals with family, neighbour and community disputes, are both less than a year old. MinLaw as the national co-ordinator for ADR, intends to work with the relevant agencies to take a total approach in non-court based dispute resolution. We will systematically apply it to every sector of business, commercial as well as community life.

2. As regards business and commercial mediation, MinLaw will continue to support SMC as it spearheads commercial mediation. Very wisely, SMC's approach is a collaborative one. Hence, awareness of the benefits of mediation has reached the point where specific industries are coming together to organise seminars. I applaud the construction industry for being one of the first industries to organise such an industry-specific seminar. It is very encouraging to see the impetus to promote mediation coming from the "end-users" themselves. This seminar shows that the construction industry is cohesive and progressive. I urge other industries to also encourage and promote mediation. I am sure that the SMC is all too willing to help them do this. I understand that another industry which has come together to promote mediation with the assistance of the SMC is that of the IT or Information Technology industry. A committee, SITDRAC or Singapore Information Technology Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee has been formed to achieve this.

3. The Singapore Mediation Centre is making impressive progress. As at end March this year, it had mediated more than 135 cases, a much better start than UK's CEDR and other overseas centres. The numbers are increasing. I understand that the SMC has more than 185 cases referred to it as of today and the settlement rate for those cases mediated is between 75% to 85% in the last few months. My warmest congratulations to all behind SMC for this flying start.

4. As for social and community mediation, MinLaw set up an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Division last year to drive its development and implementation in Singapore. Community mediation can play a critical role in promoting good neighbourliness, community bonding and social cohesion, all vital components as we work towards rekindling the kampong spirit of old in our local communities. This is the aim of the ADR Division. In today's highly urbanised and increasingly impersonal environment, mediation can be leveraged on as a catalyst to improve human interaction and bonding.

5. The first Community Mediation Centre, or CMC, was established in Marine Parade in January this year. The Centre has drawn considerable interest. The public's response has been positive, as residents become increasingly aware of this new avenue to resolve their problems involving relational conflicts. Recently, the Sunday Times published an article about quarrelling and violence between neighbours. The current events programme, Talking Point, on television also produced an episode on the same topic. The public's willingness to discuss this subject, instead of sweeping it under the carpet, is a healthy trend. When the community realises that the problem exists, steps taken to resolve it will have a greater chance of success.

6. The CMC's role in resolving such conflicts cannot be over-emphasised. It was set up for this purpose. But the disputing parties must be willing to tap the Centre's expertise. To date, the Centre has successfully mediated 15 out of the 17 disputes it has handled, involving mainly neighbours and family members. I urge more people with inter-personal conflicts to come forward and give mediation a try. Not only is it inexpensive and convenient, parties will be able to work out their problems and come to a mutual agreement. Their problems can be resolved amicably. There is also a good chance that their relationship with one another will improve. Conversely, resorting to violence to solve inter-personal problems only worsens the situation, and if the law is broken, consequences are serious and far-reaching. Mediation is the means to an ideal win-win situation.

7. Other than the parties' willingness to seek mutually acceptable solutions, the success of any mediation session depends, to a large extent, on the skills and experience of the mediator. I am glad to see that the SMC has trained mediators especially for the construction industry. Today, we are accrediting them. My congratulations to each of them. MinLaw also emphasises sound training for all its mediators. The CMC currently has a pool of 30 trained and serving mediators. They comprise a mix of lawyers and other professionals, grassroots and community leaders and accredited mediators. An additional 18 volunteers recently received basic training.

8. The successful implementation of ADR requires the co-operation and collaboration of many agencies. Feedback from a variety of sources is important. To facilitate this, MinLaw's ADR Division has appointed an ADR Resource Panel, with representatives from different agencies in both the public and private sector, including MCD, MHA, NUS, the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Law Society of Singapore.

9. In the longer term, the Division will work with other agencies such as the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and SMC to promote greater use of ADR such as mediation, arbitration and conciliation in a wider variety of settings, such as between buyers and sellers, suppliers and consumers, and between professionals and clients.

10. This seminar on mediation in the construction industry is timely. I am sure that the lessons learnt will remain useful, practical and relevant. It only leaves me to congratulate the SMC and the Advisory Committee on Construction Mediation on their work in this field, and to wish them both every success in their drive to make Singapore a better place to live and to conduct business in.