16 March 2007
Dear Dr Chee Soon Juan,
Thank you for your letter of March 14, 2007. Thank you too for your support of the IBA's upcoming conference in Singapore.
On a personal note, I hope that you and I will have an opportunity to meet during my time in Singapore. Although it is a very hectic time for me, I'm sure we could find time to meet.
As to your specific questions:
There will be a panel discussion at the Rule of Law Day specifically focused on Singapore. As I have indicated in the past, the IBA conference is designed to provide a forum for debate and discussion on a wide variety of legal topics affecting Singapore, the region, and the international community.
The Rule of Law Day is open to the public, including lawyers, non-lawyers, and the media. We expect a particularly engaging audience on this day.
The Rule of Law Day will also have a series of breakout sessions, where concrete proposals undoubtedly will be discussed and, subsequently, presented to all attendees.
The IBA's Human Rights Institute is currently reviewing your earlier request for intervention regarding re-opening of the "Order 14" case. The notion of a "fact-finding mission" is obviously the IBA conference itself.
Finally, thank you for agreeing to add the IBA's letter to your website. Unfortunately, we do not maintain the same flexibility within the IBA. As I hope you will appreciate, if we "opened" our website for "position letters", we would be overwhelmed with submissions. Because you had initially placed your letter on the web, we had hoped to have ours included.
Thank you again for your letter.
Sincerely,
Mark Ellis
Executive Director
International Bar Association
Note: So keep a date with the IBA. The conference will be held from 14-19 Oct 07 at the Suntec City. This website will announce the date and time of the public session when the information becomes available.
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