There is a heightened level of political and rights discourse and dialogue among Singaporeans today in this ‘new normal’, yet not many seem to know what the Constitution actually contains and depend on secondary information sources which are, at times, unreliable.  This has prompted a group of undergraduates from the Singapore Management University (SMU) to write ‘The Singapore Constitution: A Brief Introduction’, a primer designed to introduce the Singapore Constitution and its underlying concepts to people from all walks of life.

The primer seeks to present the Constitution in an objective, easy-to-understand, and comprehensive manner.  It also debunks misconceptions and explains the roles of government institutions, some of which are commonly misunderstood, such as that of the Elected President.  With diagrams and clipart to accompany the text, the primer has been pitched at a level for secondary school students and above.

A project of the SMU Apolitical Club, this book is the combined effort of several SMU undergraduates.  They are Dierdre Grace Morgan, Mayumi Soh, Mohamed Irshad, Timothy Edmund Cheah, Gerald Soo, Alison Liew, and Patrick Tay.  The clipart illustrations were hand-drawn by Vicky Chen and Vanessa Leong.  The layout of the book was done pro bono by a recent SMU business graduate, Chloe Sng, who has established her own start-up specialising in design and advertising work.  Along the way, the team also sought advice from Associate Professor Eugene Tan and Assistant Professor Jack Lee from the SMU School of Law.

Foreword and launch by Speaker of Parliament

The students are honoured to have a foreword penned by Speaker of Parliament, Madam Halimah Yacob.  In her foreword, she encourages Singaporeans to work towards a better understanding of the Singapore Constitution.  Madam Halimah will also be launching the book officially at SMU on Wednesday, 15 January 2014.  Various individuals who have contributed to the book will also be present at the launch, as a celebration of the students’ efforts over the past 24 months. 

Fourth year law student, Dierdre Grace Morgan, who spearheaded the project, said, “In today’s ‘new normal’, there seems to be a greater interest in the electoral process and how the government works in general.  We also frequently come across misconceptions of the Singapore system, especially in the online sphere.  Having studied constitutional law in university, we decided to put our knowledge to good use by coming up with this primer, which will hopefully benefit many others in society.”

“The Constitution provides for the structure of the government and secures our fundamental liberties, hence affecting each and every one of us.  Some basic knowledge of the Constitution is useful to every citizen, and this primer aims to provide this,” she added.

Sharing the knowledge

With funding from the University, the team has published 1,000 copies of the book.  The students plan to distribute the primer to all secondary schools, junior colleges, tertiary institutions and public libraries, so all students and members of the public will have easy access to this knowledge. An electronic version of the book will also be available at www.smuapolitical.com for free. Interested parties may write to apolitical [at] sa.smu.edu.sg to request for complimentary hard copies of the book, while stocks last. Priority will be given to educational institutions and community organisations.