Don who backed setting up of environmental law centre among 33 lauded

Law dean saw its importance when the sector’s focus then was on banking, commerce

- Natalie Tan

Multilateral environmental treaties and lawsuits against fossil fuel firms have recently propelled environmental law into the spotlight, but appetite for this branch of law was more subdued some 30 years ago.

In 1996, the legal sector's preference was to focus on banking or commercial law, recalled Professor Chin Tet Yung, who was then the dean of the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore.

But he gave his stamp of approval for the formation of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) that year.

For his foresight, Prof Chin was one of 33 environmentalists lauded by the Good Stories movement during a celebratory event hosted by APCEL at Hotel Jen on July 29. It was the first time that these awards were given out in Singapore.

Prof Chin specialised in criminal, contract and information technology law, but said he recognised the importance of environmental law.

"We wanted an area of law that we could develop, and one which would become immensely beneficial and important in the foreseeable future, not just in Singapore but in Asean and globally," he said.