November Edition: content

Welcome! In this issue, we will be covering recent legal developments in the ASEAN region: the 2022 ASEAN summit in Cambodia, Malaysia's electoral rules & regulations, Singapore's harmful media content legislation, and more!

ASEAN Summit in Cambodia

The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit, the highest policy-making body in Southeast Asia, convened on 11 November 2022 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Among the items on the agenda discussed were tourism, food security, conduct of the parties in the South China Sea and a trade agreement with Australia & New Zealand. Notably, Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was not invited as a head of state to the Summit, after the February 2021 coup which saw its military take over and prevent elected representatives from being sworn in. In terms of its powers, ASEAN is an entity with its own legal personality; this means it can do virtually anything a private individual can do, like enter into contracts and be sued. The ASEAN charter is legally binding but its scope is limited to principle-based commitments. The documents issued by ASEAN are primarily treaties and their supplementary protocols & agreements; the United Nations provides an explanation here of what these terms mean. Commentators at The Diplomat hence echo the general view that as an organization ASEAN is comparatively powerless to implement its Five Point Consensus for Myanmar, which would include a ceasefire, mediation & a visit to Myanmar by an ASEAN special envoy. This reflects a general issue with international law, stemming from the absence of an enforcement mechanism. The Myanmar issue was relegated to the tail end of the Chairman’s Statement from the Summit. However, notably, it was mentioned that the Cambodian leadership has made special efforts to connect with the Myanmarese regime. Indeed, Cambodian representatives are one of the few that have been allowed to visit the tightly controlled country. Cambodia, however, made a U-turn after the ASEAN Summit when it uninvited Myanmar from a defence conference; Foreign Policy sees this as an attempt to undercut recognition of the junta’s legitimacy in a bolder way recognized by Western stakeholders (the "principled stand"). Ultimately, while it remains to be seen which strategy will work for Myanmar, the main lesson here is that any power that inter-governmental organizations have to change policy is derived solely from its individual member states.

Electoral Laws in Malaysia

With Anwar Ibrahim being appointed by the Malaysian king as Prime Minister five days after the general election yielded a hung parliament, many people are wondering how exactly the electoral system works.

Key election-related laws in Malaysia are the Elections Act 1958, Elections Offences Act 1954, Election Commission Act 1957, Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulation 2002, and Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981. Malaysia operates by a first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, which is designed to produce one winner — the highest-polling candidate. Combined with the regionalism and religion & race-based voting delineations which characterize Malaysian politics, this means that no single party can generally win without being part of a coalition. This election, the reformist Pakatan Harapan coalition (headed by Anwar) emerged with the most seats, closely followed by the right-wing Perikatan Nasional and then the conservative, multiethnic Barisan Nasional.

The Edge provides an in-depth overview of what critics perceive as the weaknesses of Malaysia’s current electoral rules, including the abandoned Article 116(4) of the Federal Constitution (which made provisions for gerrymandering) and loopholes in the anti-hopping laws which were taken advantage of by some Barisan Nasional MPs to shift their allegiances to PAS, just minutes before Anwar was sworn in. Amidst all these issues, the unique role of the king in Malaysian democracy has been spotlighted; New Straits Times explains.

Harmful Media Content Legislation in Singapore

Singapore’s Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill was recently passed after being tabled in October this year. The law is significant in how wide its scope is; namely, because unlike its predecessor Broadcasting Act, it covers content that is created and hosted outside of Singapore. This means that as long as a social media platform pushes content deemed “egregious” to Singaporeans, they will be in violation of this law regardless of their actual location.

This law is interesting because of the debates that were raised in the course of crafting it. One major point to think about is the delineation between the public and private spheres online; as pointed out by Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo, content shared in a private group chat should be treated the same as if it were shared publicly if membership of the group chat was large and indiscriminate enough. This is known as the purposive approach, which places an emphasis on the spirit of the law over its precise wording.

Another major point of discussion is Section 45I, which mandates internet service providers to stop Singaporean end-users’ access to online communication services in certain scenarios; this would mean that entire social media platforms could be down in Singapore if they promote “egregious” content, the definition of which ranges from promotion of self-harm to “content dealing with matters of race or religion in a way that is likely to cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill will or hostility.”

(Not So) Ludicrous Litigation

Welcome to (not so) Ludicrous Litigation, in which we cover infamous legal cases and explain the rationale behind them! This month we bring you Donoghue v Stevenson, the case of the snail in the root beer bottle.

Next issue... Real Lawyer Explains will be featured for the first time in LawPulse's December edition, rather than this one. Stay tuned for an overview, written by a real-life legal professional, of sale & purchase agreements!

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