Students and members of the public can now turn to a book written by SMU students to help them betterunderstand and ‘de-mystify’ the Singapore Constitution.  A project by a group of students from SMU’s Apolitical Club, the book titled ‘The Singapore Constitution: A Brief Introduction’ was launched by Speaker of Parliament, Madam Halimab Yacob on 15 January at SMU.

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.  With diagrams and clipart to accompany the text, the primer has been pitched at a level for secondary school students and above.

[Photo: Mdm Halimah with three of the six co-authors of the book – (from right) Dierdre Grace Morgan, Mayumi Soh and Gerald Soo. All three of them are final-year undergraduates at the SMU School of Law.]

The book is the combined effort of several SMU undergraduates and alumni, including co-authors Dierdre Grace Morgan, Mayumi Soh, Gerald Soo, Mohamed Irshad, Timothy Edmund Cheah and Alison Liew.  Along the way, the team also sought advice from Associate Professor Eugene Tan and Assistant Professor Jack Lee from the SMU School of Law.

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 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.”

[Photo: Mdm Halimah speaking to students, faculty and guests at the launch of ‘The Singapore Constitution: A Brief Introduction’ held at SMU.]

In her Foreword, Madam Halimah wrote: “The Constitution provides for the structure of the government and the roles of the judiciary and the parliament.  It also secures our fundamental liberties.  Hence, some basic knowledge of the Constitution is useful for every citizen.”

She commended the students on their 24-month effort in putting together the book.  “Ground-up initiatives such as these, which aim to inform the public, are praiseworthy,” she said.

With funding from the University, the team has published 1,000 copies of the book, which will be distributed 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.  A free electronic version of the book has also been made available for download at www.smuapolitical.com. 

[Photo: One of the co-authors, Dierdre Grace Morgan presenting Mdm Halimah with a gift from the SMU team.]