ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the government’s response to Chng Suan Tze v. Minister of Home Affairs, the seminal Court of Appeal case on preventative detention. The government overruled the court’s decision with immediate and hard-hitting constitutional and legislative amendments, clearly demonstrated its determination to ensure that Singapore’s judiciary accepts its limited role, and that the judiciary accepts a conception of the rule of law that is not substantially different from that understood and accepted by the political leadership. This chapter then examines in detail how the Singapore judiciary’s acceptance of the government’s “thin” conception of rule of law has a direct bearing on its approach towards constitutional interpretation, which in turn stunts the development of public interest litigation in Singapore. As the law currently stands, there is no public interest litigation in Singapore,2 although there have been cases of judicial review brought by citizens adversely affected by administrative actions. This chapter examines the various obstacles hindering the growth of public interest litigation in Singapore.
