Accessibility of Law in Commonwealth Countries in Southeast

Asia: From Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Perspectives

By Shaikh Mohamed Noordin*

Introduction
Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are among the most economically advanced countries in
Southeast Asia. Incidentally, they are also the only three Commonwealth countries in this region.
Law includes legislative and judicial rulings produced by law-making bodies with a duty to produce
and promulgate law. It includes primary sources of law, such as legislation and case law1.

In the world over, more often than not, free public access to law has become an increasingly
significant indicator of national development. Investors seeking future investment possibilities are
likely to equate inaccessibility to information to incompetence or lack of development in the
potential investment country, or even worse, that a proper legal framework and transparency in
such countries are not in place, which may spell disaster for a developing country keen to attract
foreign investment. It is the main intention of this article to assist researchers to identify the
different types of law, legal information and where such information may be found in these three
countries, as well as to suggest relevant links to other free-access international legal portals.

Electronic-law resources in these jurisdictions began to be accessible in the 90s when the first
commercial legal information provider, LawNet of Singapore was introduced in 1990 followed by
the CLJ Legal Network of Malaysia in 1997. The advent of new information technology has indeed
facilitated accessibility to state–produced legislation, court judgments and other legal information
freely via the Internet. Such free dissemination of national laws on the Internet not only benefits
local users, but also allows worldwide accessibility to such national laws.

Legal System

Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei share similar characteristics in their legal system, which is based
on the English common law, and a legacy of British colonial rule. Due to close proximity and
various cultural similarities in legal and historical background, the laws in these countries are often
cross-referenced and expanded within these jurisdictions. The current laws in these countries are
largely founded on their respective constitutions, in their primary legislation, subsidiary legislation
and also judge-made law. The laws in these jurisdictions originated and were enacted in three
different eras, i.e. laws promulgated pre-war, post-war and post-independence, and some still
remain in force today. Although the legal systems of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are
predominantly based on English common law, there are also other secondary legal systems
concurrently affecting certain sections of the laws in these countries, such as Islamic law and
customary law.

As common law countries, the doctrine of precedent in judicial decisions is very much applied,
although reliance on common law in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei is declining since almost all
areas of law are now legislated by statute. Occasionally, such legislation may still need clarification
and interpretation by the court as to its application and constitutionality. Hence, judicial decisions

*
The author is an active professional member of the Librarians Association of Malaysia (PPM) and was the first
Chairman of the Committee for the Malaysian Law Librarian Group of the Association. He is the only Malaysian
professional member of American Association of Law Librarians (AALL). He has many years experience in
librarianship and, as Managing Librarian with Messrs Tay & Partners in Kuala Lumpur, is responsible for all library
functions including acquisitions, collection, development, monitoring firm’s website and publications and overall
library and information services. He has contributed several other articles for publication in other journals.
1
Declaration on Free Access to Law - URL: http://www.worldlii.org/worldlii/declaration/sydney_en.html
that are based on precedent will still continue to play a role as an important source of law in these
countries.

Sources of law in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are abundant and set out in a document-
intensive system. New materials (especially case law) are published daily and are constantly
growing. Traditionally, government gazettes are still regarded as authoritative texts. These are
printed in hard copies as official documents for dissemination to the public at minimal cost. Judicial
decisions on the other hand, are published in several series of law reports, which are not
commonly known and are not easily accessible to the public.

Location of law in Public Domains

Advances in information technology has revolutionised accessibility to electronic-based law
resources and reduced the dependency on paper-based publications in many countries. More and
more law-making institutions such as the Parliament, the court and the executive are hosting law
resources on their respective websites. However, the main obstacle faced is that there is still no
centralized body to consolidate all these law resources as a one-stop centre for effective public
access compared to legal information institutions established in Australia, USA, Canada, United
Kingdom and other countries.

The coverage of law in these official domains also varies between institution-to-institution and from
country-to-country. There are two common limitations which can be discerned. Firstly; most of the
laws available on such official websites are current law, promulgated post-independence.
Secondly, the statutes presented in these official domains are mostly of the principal statute, as it
was originally enacted and in a non-consolidated form, except where released in the reprinted
version. Subsequent amendments of the law may be available in a separate text. It may be quite
difficult at times to determine whether a legislative text is current, accurate and complete when
referring to these principal texts alone. The same goes for judicial decisions. Normally, only raw
judgments are provided on public websites without any editorial features such as headnotes and
other annotations. This certainly does not assist researchers in finding out more about the case,
for example, whether the case was further appealed.

Other than on the websites of the three law-making institutions in these countries where law is
officially made accessible to the public freely i.e. on (i) the Attorney General’s Chambers’ website,
(where legislation and some judicial decisions may be accessed); (ii) the Parliament’s website for
accessing Bills and Acts of Parliament; and (iii) the Court’s websites for accessing court rules and
judgments, there are some ministries, statutory agencies, Bar associations or Law societies and
local governments which may also include their relevant law and regulations on their respective
websites. To access these websites, one may either choose to access them through legal portals,
hosted locally or internationally, or one may access them directly from the websites of law-making
institutions in these jurisdictions. Although not designed for sophisticated or exhaustive research
compared to the service provided by commercial legal resource providers, these free-access sites
are still the best alternative for law resources. Let’s take a closer look at some of the important
domains with such resources in each of these countries. Only domains which contain free access
to law are mentioned here and some may link to other websites which may prove useful for other
legal research purposes.
Malaysia
Malaysia was the first country in the region to be colonized by the British when Penang was ceded
in 1786. She was the first to become a Commonwealth state after gaining independence in 1957.
Malaysia is the largest among the three Commonwealth countries in this region and is the only one
among them with a dual government system, i.e. with a main Federal government and state
governments for each of the thirteen states. The current Federal law of Malaysia is more readily
accessible compared to state law which is hosted only on a limited number of local government
and state agency domains.

Malaysian law has become increasingly influenced by Australian law. The obvious example is in
land law, which has moved away from the English conveyancing system towards the Australian
registration based system. Increasingly, Australian law is also influencing principles in company
law given that English company law is currently driven by developments in Europe due to the
European Union. Since 2000, the preamble in the Acts of Parliament of Malaysia is styled after the
Australian Acts. Public access to law resources in Malaysia is improving, although most of such
resources are yet to be organized to encourage ease of reference, especially within government
websites where some of these laws are available only in Malay. The best way to locate these law
resources is by reference to their promulgating body and tracking the law resource through the
websites of these promulgating bodies.

Judicial Sources

Malaysian Court Website – URL: http://www.kehakiman.gov.my/

Contains information about the Malaysian judiciary system, profiles of members of the judiciary,
court legislation, latest judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court and court circulars
and practice directions.

Sabah Law Courts – URL: http://www.kotakinabaluhighcourt.com/

Judgments specially produced by the High Court in Sabah whereupon judgments by the Kota
Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau courts can be obtained from this website.

Legislative Sources

The Parliament of Malaysia – Search Act – URL: http://www.parlimen.gov.my/eng-index.php

The Malaysian Parliament website offers the largest numbers of full text of Acts of Parliaments
enacted since 1990 in pdf format. The only obstacle to find the Acts of Parliament from this
website is that, you must know the name to enable you to extract it as the Acts are not arranged in
alphabetical order. The Acts are currently available only up to the year 2000. The Bills on the other
hand, are quite current.

Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia – Laws of Malaysia / Table of Laws

URL: http://www.agc.gov.my/agc/e-AGC/TLaw/TL.htm
This website is a good starting point to find the Acts of Parliament of Malaysia, particularly for new
and revision Acts that have been promulgated after 1-1-1969, also known as ‘Laws of Malaysia’
series of Acts through its index in numerical and alphabetical order.

Malaysian Civil Service Links (MCSL) – Laws and Acts of Parliament

URL: http://mcsl.mampu.gov.my/english/laws_acts.htm>
The link allows one to check list of legislation of each of the Ministries. Some of the Acts can also
be assessed in full text.
Tay & Partners – Laws of Malaysia (Full text of Malaysian Statutes)
URL: http://www.taypartners.com.my/v_linkList.asp?catid=15
Helpful links to a number of full-texts of Acts and regulations arranged in alphabetical order.
Courtesy of Tay & Partners.

Regulatory Sources

The Malaysian Bar – Governing Laws

URL: http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/governing_laws.html
This section contains the provisions of the Legal Profession Act 1976 and all the rules and
regulations made thereunder. It also includes rulings made by the Bar Council from time to time
with regard to the practice, conduct and etiquette of advocates and solicitors in Malaysia.

The Securities Commission of Malaysia

URL: http://www.sc.com.my/eng/html/resources/fr_guide.html
The Securities Commission web site is one of the best known for its comprehensive coverage,
particularly on securities law in Malaysia. The website includes all relevant legislation, subsidiary
legislation, guidelines and practice notes important for the industry to observe.

Central Bank of Malaysia – URL: http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=14

Contains full-text of the banking legislation in pdf format that has been administered by the Bank

Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority (LOFSA) - Legislation

URL: http://www.lofsa.gov.my/lofsa5/legislation/offact1t.htm
Contains full-text of LOFSA legislation in pdf format that has been administered by the Authority.

Ministry of Health, Pharmaceutical Services Division - Legislation

URL: http://www.pharmacy.gov.my/html/enforcement-new_government_gazette_f.htm
The best site to find health related legislation particularly on medical regulations in Malaysia.

Local Legal Portals

Lawyerment.com.my - URL: http://www.lawyerment.com.my

Lawyerment provides access to free legal resources for use by legal professionals, students,
consumers and businesses.

International Legal Portals

WorldLII – Malaysia – URL: http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/235.html

Links to various Malaysian legal sources.

Commercial Legal Providers

CLJ Legal Network (1997) - URL: http://cljlaw.com

The CLJ Legal Network started its operation in 1997 making them one of the first on-line
publishers in Malaysia. The database includes cases, articles, practice notes, legislative forms
and precedents, sample agreements and legislation.

LawNet – PNMB - URL: http://www.lawnet.com.my

LawNet of Malaysia is an online service provider of the Malaysian government printer. LawNet
contains the Federal Constitution, Acts of Parliament (Principal Acts and Amendments), Bills,
subsidiary legislation, Rules of Court, Court Forms, General and Treasurer’s Orders and the
Islamic Laws section. It also provides legal terms in the Malay language and selected Judgments
of the Privy Council of 1973 to 1983.

Singapore
Singapore was founded as a British trading colony in 1819. She joined the Malaysian Federation in
1963 but separated two years later to become the only Republic led by a non-monarch among the
three Commonwealth countries of Southeast Asia. Singapore joined the Commonwealth in
October 1965 soon after gaining independence. As the most prosperous country in Southeast
Asia, Singapore has a sophisticated information technology infrastructure which promotes a higher
level of public access to electronic-based law resources compared to other jurisdictions in the
region. LawNet of Singapore, a commercial legal provider, is the most comprehensive online
source for Singapore law and the first legal database commercially operated in the region.

Judicial Sources

Supreme Court Singapore – Bulletin Board – URL: http://www.supcourt.gov.sg/

The judgments of the Supreme Court of Singapore for the last three months can be assessed
under the Bulletin Board of the website. The Legislation page of the website provides the Supreme
Court of Judicature Act and its Rules of Court of Singapore.

Subordinate Court of Singapore – URL: http://www.subcourts.gov.sg/#

This website provides unreported subordinate court judgments for the last three months
comprising the Magistrate Court, District Court and Family Court judgments. These judgments are
linked under the Online Resources/Reference Materials of this website together with Practice
Directions and Registrar’s Circulars.

Legislative Sources

Singapore Statutes Online – URL: http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/

This website belongs to the Attorney General’s Chambers of Singapore. It is user-friendly, has a
very good search facility to allow researchers access to the Constitutional documents,
Interpretation Acts, Private Acts, Imperial Acts and English Acts freely.

Parliament of Singapore – Bills Introduced in Tenth Parliament

URL: http://www.parliament.gov.sg/Legislation/Htdocs/leg-main.html
The public has a chance to view any new Bills in the current Parliament session.

Ministry of Law – Singapore Laws & Legal Research Materials

URL:http://notesapp.internet.gov.sg/__48256DF20015A167.nsf/LookupContentDocsByKey/DEVT-
5UGBXT?OpenDocument
This website indicates which legal databases can be accessed for free.

Regulatory Sources

The Monetary Authority of Singapore / Legislation and Notices

URL: http://www.mas.gov.sg/masmcm/bin/pt1Home.htm
The best website for searching the financial law in Singapore.
Local Legal Portals

Singapore – NUS Legal Research Tools – URL: http://libpweb.nus.edu.sg/llb/spore_ref.html

This website links to major online resources for locating Singapore legal materials.

Law Online.Com – Singapore Legal Portal – URL: http://www.lawonline.com.sg/

This site was initially established by a law firm in Singapore but is now operated by
LawOnline.com. LawOnline.com contains useful Singapore legal resources.

International Legal Portals

WorldLII – Singapore – URL: http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/257.html

Links to various legal sources in Singapore.

Commercial Legal Providers

LawNet of Singapore – URL: http://www.lawnet.com.sg

LawNet is Singapore's complete one-stop service portal which was developed as an online
resource center that facilitated the work of lawyers and judges in preparing and executing legal
proceedings. The portal hosts over 20 legal databases including databases for litigation
maintained by the courts for suits filed in the Singapore judicial system, Singapore legislation
database provided by the Attorney-General's Chambers, Singapore parliament reports from the
Singapore Parliament, databases for case-law, military court cases, international treaties
databases as well as a host of historical and rare law reports to cater to even the most esoteric
research needs.

Brunei
Brunei was a protectorate state of British from 1888 to 1984. She gained her independence on 1
January 1984 after she declined the invitation to join the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Brunei is
the wealthiest country in the region and the last of the three to join the Commonwealth. Islamic law
plays an important role for its majority Muslim population as Islamic law supersedes civil law in a
number of areas, particularly in family law matters. Sources of law are legislation (imperial
statutes, common law, equity, etc.), Islamic law, ancient custom and Malay custom. The Legislative
Council met on 25 September 2004 for first time in 20 years with 21 members appointed by the
Sultan and passed constitutional amendments calling for a 45-seat council with 15 elected
members.

Judicial Sources

Brunei Courts Judgment – URL: http://www.agc.gov.bn/judgement/judgement_main.htm

Judgments of the Brunei courts in chronological order.

High Court of Brunei Decisions – URL: http://www.worldlii.org/bn/cases/BNHC/

Contains more than six hundred cases of the High Court of Brunei from 1987 to 1997.
Legislative

Laws of Brunei – URL: http://www.agc.gov.bn/LoB_list.htm

Free access to Laws of Brunei available in pdf format.

International Legal Portals

WorldLII – Brunei
URL: http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2933.html
Links to various legal sources of Brunei.

Conclusion

The accessibility of electronic-based law resources in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei is improving
despite the limitations as discussed above. The law in these jurusdictions is fairly easy to access,
although not extensively available. The public demand for legal information is not a factor driving
public institutions to practise an open or free-access policy more extensively. However, the
international trend towards promoting public legal information as part of the common heritage of
humanity is slowly gaining support globally. Maximising public access to this information on a free-
access or non-profit basis promotes justice, transparency and the rule of law. In order to facilitate
this, all independent non-profit organisations should have the right to publish public legal
information, and the copyright owners or government bodies which create or control such
information should provide the necessary access to such organisations for the publication of this
information. All jurisdictions, including Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei should be encouraged to
promote free access to regional or global law networks and cooperate in order to achieve these
goals.

Published by Australian Law Librarians, Volume 13, No 3, Spring 2005