Is it possible to be guilty of causing religious disharmony in Singapore by blogging about extreme proselytisation from abroad?  Can such a foreigner be prosecuted and sent to jail?  This was the hypothetical question presented to local law students at the final round of the Attorney-General’s Cup moot competitions held last week.  After a series of one-on-one face-offs from July this year, Singapore Management University (SMU) second year law student Liu Xuanyi was one of the last two standing in the competition.

First held in 2011, the Attorney-General’s Cup was the brain-child of law professor and former Attorney-General Walter Woon, and aims to give participants an intimate understanding of criminal litigation in practice.  The 2013 edition was organised by the AGC in collaboration with Professor Woon and the two local law schools from SMU and National University of Singapore (NUS).

Xuanyi called for jail during his oral presentation, and eventually emerged the individual champion after putting up a convincing case.  He impressed the panel of judges, comprising Attorney-General Steven Chong, Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Justice Quentin Loh, with his argument that the Internet postings were aimed at Singapore and therefore came under this country’s jurisdiction.  He also added that preventing the publication of the remarks would be consistent with lawmakers’ intentions to maintain racial and religious harmony in Singapore.  On the other hand, runner-up Sim Bing Wen from NUS argued that the foreigner was only airing his religious beliefs and therefore the High Court had no jurisdiction over him.

Besides receiving $1,000 in prize, Xuanyi also won an opportunity to do an internship with the Attorney-General’s Chambers.  However, this was not before both finalists were praised for displaying a ‘good command’ of the law, and for being ‘confident and composed’ in the face of questions which came ‘fast and furious’ from the judging panel.

Even though NUS won on overall points (11 to 8), the SMU team comprising Chan Wenqiang, Darren Chye, Liu Xuanyi, Mohammad Muzhaffar bin Omar, Tan Kehua, Jerald Soon and Jillian Yeo had put up a good performance at the moot competition with Xuanyi and Muzhaffar sweeping both the individual titles when they won the Individual Champion and Best Memorial Awards respectively.  Well done, team!