Goplan Nair has an interesting take on what arbitration work Singapore is really interested in..
He writes
Singapore’s state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Aug 29, 2010 has the story “Arbitration to grow further. Field set to expand as more international parties seek to resolve disputes in Singapore”.
K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew’s hand picked Law Minister says according to this report, “More parties to international disputes have sought arbitration here and the field has been lucrative for Singapore”.
Once again, Shanmugam has not been telling the whole truth. It is true that international arbitration is growing in Singapore, but the word “international” refers only to one particular country, Communist China.
With almost every Western company using China for cheap manufacturing, the Chinese always without exception demand in their contracts disputes be settled through arbitration in Singapore. For the unwary Western company, not knowing what dirty business goes on in Singapore, a one party dictatorship absent the rule of law, Singapore is still better than having the dispute heard in China.
So when the article talks of international clients, there is only one, Communist China. No other country worth it’s salt would ever want to have anything to do with Singapore especially after the 72 page scathing attack on it’s legal system by the International Bar Association, which said bluntly that Singapore has no rule of law and no independent judges.
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Read the full story here? http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2010/08/singapore-arbitration-center-for.html