@article{oai:nagoya.repo.nii.ac.jp:02001557,
 author = {THIO, Li-ann},
 journal = {Nagoya University Asian Law Bulletin},
 month = {Mar},
 note = {A contextual approach is key to understanding the nature and purpose of constitutions beyond the generic function of regulating public power. The Singapore constitution, which establishes a parliamentary system of government, is a hybrid of US-British influences, which has been developed along an autochthonous track in terms of both experimental institutional design (like the elected presidency with limited executive powers, unelected parliamentarians and multi-member constituencies with guaranteed ethnic representation) and rights jurisprudence, with an overt normative commitment to communitarianism. This operates within a neo-Confucianist political culture where ideas of the honourable gentleman (“君子”) influences the law of political defamation and the rationale for laws regulating online falsehoods, given the emphasis on honesty and integrity in public discourse. Relational constitutionalism is an aspect of the Singapore approach towards manages inter-religious disputes, where the goal is to use a mix of formal and informal regulation to keep civil peace, relational welfare and social resilience, rather than to insist only on rights and legal sanction. In understanding the Singapore constitutional experience, one must appreciate that Law is not just a tool to constrain power but to serve efficient governance. Given the premium placed on political stability as essential to economic development, the rule of law is qualified by considerations of necessity through strict anti-subversion legislation. In terms of constitutional identity, aversive constitutionalism is displayed in the divergent approach towards race and religion Singapore adopts, compared to Malaysia, which it seceded from in 1965.},
 pages = {3--26},
 title = {Theoretical Foundations for Asian Constitutionalism : The Case of Singapore},
 volume = {6},
 year = {2021}
}