Reading Time: 7 minutesDense, convoluted and utterly impenetrable to the layperson. One need only cast one’s eyes upon the Penal Code’s six-line, 102-word definition of ‘cheating’ to understand why this is the common perception of most legal documents. It seems intuitive that having laws isn’t very helpful if the only way you can understand them is by taking […]
Know Your Lawyer: Why Sarah-Mae Thomas, Managing Director of Sarah-Mae Thomas LLC, Is Singapore’s Elle Woods
Reading Time: 10 minutesJust three weeks before Part A of the Singapore Bar exams, Sarah-Mae received a note from the Ministry of Law. Her application to be exempted from taking the exams had been rejected. To move back to Singapore to be with her family, Sarah-Mae had written essays, submitted letters of recommendation and sent in her CV […]
From Jan 2023, GST To Be Imposed On All Imported Goods Purchased Online
Reading Time: 2 minutesOn 16 February 2021, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat announced that from 1 Jan 2023, GST will be levied on “imported low-value goods and business-to-consumer (B2C) imported non-digital services”. The announcement means that from Jan 2023, all goods imported via air or post will be subject to GST. This would […]
Know Your Lawyer: Thangavelu, Consultant At Trident Law Corporation, Turns Confusion Into Clarity
Reading Time: 6 minutesWhen one of his former clients was about to be executed, Thangavelu did not hesitate to open his home to the man’s parents. The former client was a foreigner who had been charged with drug trafficking in Singapore. His parents, who had flown in to visit their son for the last time, did not know […]
What Kind Of Businesses Can I Legally Run From My Home Address?
Reading Time: 3 minutesAccording to Lianhe Wanbao and Mothership, a 75-year-old woman was arrested on February 4 for operating a mahjong parlour in her HDB flat. 10 other women aged between 22 and 88 were also arrested. The accused has allegedly operated the mahjong parlour out of her Teban Gardens flat in Jurong for the past eight years. […]
6 Things You Should Know About The Internal Security Act
Reading Time: 4 minutesRecently, a 16-year-old Singaporean made headlines for being the youngest person to be dealt with under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for terrorism-related activities. The boy, a Protestant Christian of Indian ethnicity, became self-radicalised after watching live-streamed videos of the Christchurch mosque attacks and reading the manifesto of the Christchurch attacker. The ISA is undoubtedly […]
Dubai Creates ‘Space Court’ For Off-Planet Disputes
Reading Time: 2 minutesOn Feb 1, Dubai announced that it was creating a ‘space court’ to settle commercial disputes in outer space. The tribunal will be based at the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts. Dubai’s creation of a ‘space court’ comes at a time when space is increasingly becoming a commercial issue involving more and more private companies. […]
From Bill to Law: Singapore’s Legislative Process
Reading Time: 2 minutesOn Monday (1 February 2021), the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill was tabled for a second reading in Parliament. The Bill aims to amend the Electronic Transactions Act to be more aligned to the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on 13 July 2017. […]
ICYMI: Singaporean Woman Used Ex-Boss’ Credit Card Details to Order S$2,285 Worth of Food Via Foodpanda.
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhat happened? The 41-year-old Singaporean woman named Lin Qian Dai Lin had been working at stationery manufacturer Nippecraft. As part of her job scope, she would often make travel bookings and order food on the Foodpanda app for her boss. Because of this, Lin stored her boss’ credit card details on the Foodpanda app on […]
ICYMI: 12 Cupcakes Fined $119,500 For Underpaying Its Foreign Employees
Reading Time: 1 minutesWhat happened? Between December 2016 and November 2018, India-based tea company Dhunseri Group—which had acquired Twelve Cupcakes—underpaid seven foreign employees. The employees had been promised fixed monthly salaries of between $2,200 and $2,600. However, the employees were given between $200 and $1,200 less than the agreed salaries. The company tried to hide its shady employment […]
ICYMI: Former school bus driver gets 10 months’ jail for leaving 3-year-old victim unattended in van
Reading Time: 2 minutesOn 6 Jan 2021, a 47-year-old former school bus driver named Zulkahnai Haron was given 10 months’ jail, fined $3,000 and banned from driving for a year after he locked a three-year-old girl in his minivan without ventilation for over an hour. What happened? Zulkahnai was a driver at a transport services company and was […]
ICYMI: This Divorced Couple Went To Court Over Whom Their Son Should Have CNY Eve Reunion Dinner With
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt might sound like something out of The Onion, but according to Lianhe Wanbao, a divorced Singaporean couple actually spent one and a half years in a dispute over which parent their 13-year-old son should have reunion dinner with on the eve of Chinese New Year. What happened? The parents were initially granted joint custody […]