Dear SCL(S) members,

The recent report by the Committee for the Future Economy confirmed what many of us in the construction law community have already experienced and hopefully embraced – change. The SCL(S) is not immune to change and our updated newsletter is a symbol to our own embrace of the inevitable. Starting with this inaugural edition of the new newsletter, we plan to provide members with more frequent but shorter updates on developments in construction law that impact our community and on SCL(S) events. Editorials such as this are also not exclusive to the SCL(S) Chair and other Council members will be encouraged to share their thoughts on the latest issues that affect our society.

In following through with the report by the Committee for the Future Economy, the 2017 Singapore Budget outlined by the Finance Minister in February provided some relief to the construction sector recognising immediate and lingering impacts of a challenging present in our industry. By bringing forward infrastructure spending and further deferring the foreign worker levy increases in certain sectors, our community will be afforded a pause in the change narrative. That pause will be brief. We should not waste the opportunity in that pause by standing still. The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew (a fellow lawyer although not necessarily a construction enthusiast) with his usual ability to chronicle the future, challenged us to adapt, adjust and respond to new situations and to accept change as the very essence of life. Whether we are a part of this Society as a lawyer, an engineer or otherwise, I believe we need to grapple convincingly with those changes, to understand and then to realise the changes that we have to make to keep ourselves ahead of the curve. I look forward to debating this with you in the coming months at Society events.

Thank you.

 Alex Wong
Chairman, SCL (Singapore)