Events & Speeches

Speech delivered by Justice Chao Hick Tin at the "Hello And Goodbye" Get-Together

Friday, 30 May 2003 at the East India Room, Raffles Hotel

1. The Honourable The Chief Justice, the Honourable Senior Minister of State, the Honourable Attorney-General, Distinguished Guests, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Joon Seng, for the very kind introduction. I also wish to thank everyone here for the very warm welcome you have extended to me. It is a pleasure to meet the people behind the success of the Singapore Mediation Centre ("SMC").

2. I am sure you are with me when I say that the very remarkable track record of the SMC is directly attributable to the work of my very able predecessor. It would be difficult for me to fill his shoes, but I shall try. Fortunately, he has kindly agreed to give me his full support and make himself available when called upon. I look forward to working together with Joon Seng and all of you, and am counting on your support to maintain the success that the SMC enjoys.

3. Joon Seng and the executives of the SMC have lost no time in briefing me on the plans of the SMC. Since we are all gathered here, I would like to take this opportunity to share them with you.

4. With the economy the way it is, the times ahead will be challenging. But these are also times that offer exciting opportunities to contribute to Singapore and its economy. For the SMC, the focus of the next phase is to establish itself as the ADR centre of choice in Asia and promote Singapore as a premier dispute resolution capital. Towards that end, the SMC will be intensifying its efforts to export ADR services. It will be tapping into its network to enhance business opportunities for its mediators, neutral evaluators and other neutrals. We hope to serve as a spring board and provide them with new opportunities to practise in the region. The SMC will also be increasing its training and consulting activities overseas. At the same time, it will promote its local workshops and seminars abroad to attract even more foreign participants to come to Singapore for training.

5. The SMC is well placed. Our multi-lingual and multi-cultural background is further boosted by our multi-disciplinary panel of distinguished mediators and neutral evaluators. We will capitalise on our unique position as we work towards making Singapore a think tank for dispute resolution. In this regard, the SMC will be investing in the development of its intellectual capital and taking a lead to promote research and advancement in the field of dispute resolution. It will also be providing a full suite of ADR services that will complement the judicial services provided by our courts. International disputants can be confident that should they choose Singapore as the venue for resolving their disputes, they will have at their disposal a comprehensive range of dispute resolution choices, well integrated ADR and court systems, and excellent support by trained and knowledgeable service staff. Local disputants and organisations will have available to them the expertise and assistance they need to increase their productivity by reducing the costs of resolving conflicts.

6. It is clear that the SMC cannot achieve these goals all on its own. I would therefore like to invite you to be ambassadors of the SMC and its work. With all of you as its ambassadors, we should be able to achieve even greater heights. I suggest that we add another dimension to our professional identity and think of ourselves as dispute managers too. After all, an important part of our work is to handle differences and we do that every day. In this capacity, we can inform people about mediation and other forms of ADR, including the SMC. In particular, we can encourage those who are grappling with disputes to come to the SMC, and those who are negotiating contracts to incorporate ADR clauses to refer future disputes to the SMC as a way of managing potential differences. We can also advise people and organisations to equip themselves with conflict management skills through proper ADR education and training. These are some examples. There are many other ways that you can help. Whichever way you choose to advance your ambassadorship, the team at the SMC will be there to support your efforts.

7. In the coming months, I hope to get better acquainted with as many of you as possible. I will share more with you as I get onto the job and as we work together. For now, let me thank the Honourable Chief Justice, the Honourable Senior Minister of State, the Honourable Attorney-General and all of you for attending this gathering in support of the SMC. I wish everyone an enjoyable evening.