BAC Law Expo and Graduation Ceremony

Very happy to see my seniors graduating today. Going back to law school was the best decision I ever made. It’s great having something to aim for again. Life should never become monotonous or predictable. If you have something to aim for, well, the joy is not in achieving your aim but in working towards it.

The Alexandrian poet, Cavafy, commented in a poem that Homer’s Odyssey was never about reaching Ithaca so much as it was the story of a man having a goal to aim for. In other words, the goal was what blessed Odysseus with the thrilling and gruelling adventure that he undertook after sacking Troy. It is a great blessing to have an Ithaca to aim for…

“Setting out on the voyage to Ithaca
You must pray that the way be long…
Many be the summer mornings
When with what pleasure, with what delight
You enter harbours never seen before.

Do not hurry the journey at all.
Better that it should last many years;
Be quite old when you anchor at the island,
Rich with all you have gained on the way,
Not expecting Ithaca to give you riches.
Ithaca has given you your lovely journey -
Without Ithaca you would not have set out.

Ithaca has no more to give you now.
Poor though you find it, Ithaca has not cheated you.
Wise as you have become, with all your experience,
You will have understood the meaning of an Ithaca.”

Congratulations to all graduating students of  Brickfields Asia College and to my fellow friends who received Book Prizes for their academic achievements.

 

It was also a privilege to finally meet up with Dr Martin Dixon (who wrote a very reader-friendly “Land Law” textbook that I used in the previous semester) and the other law professors earlier. The lecture on International Law was helpful in clarifyng Dixon’s otherwise “annoyingly” optimistic view about the role and achievements of International Law (clearly seen in his “International Law” textbook). Studying PIL without college notes/lectures is a challenge. Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with great study partners. Also Dixon’s textbook is very helpful (although at times he sounded more like he’s talking about Land Law than about settling international disputes). It’s just that when we read how critical someone like Antonio Cassese is about the failures of the international legal regime (and to a certain extent, Wade Mansell’s very penetrating criticisms in the subject guide), it’s hard to understand how Dixon can maintain such a breezy attitude towards the international legal regime. In the lecture, he explained the “enabling role” of international law to facilitate the relations of Sovereign States to each other rather than to “control” or “compel” the States in their relations/conducts. He also concentrated on a fairer evaluation of the achievements of international law since the end of WW2 (e.g. the UN, environmental protection, global telecommunications and preservation of the Antartica).

 

 

The Law Expo was a prelude to a much larger event coming up in March 2012. If the quality of the lectures are anything like the ones earlier today, I would really encourage all law students (and even practicing lawyers) to attend. The primary focus in most of the lectures today was on the topic of “law without borders” – how legal developments should take stock of the inter-relatedness of this glo…bal world that we live in. For instance, ethical issues in Medical Law that affects how medicine is practised across the world; or the growing importance of Regional Organisations like ASEAN (that is so much more than just sporting events that everyone is cheering for right now) and how it is timely to reevaluate the successes/failures of the EU Model to plan for the future of multi-State organisations; as well as how Corporate Governance is a timely and critical issue in light of the global credit crisis. Legal studies should never be about memorisation of cases and working on past-year questions alone. Law should always engage our minds and allow us to recognise that while not a panacea for all ailments, the “law way” of thinking things through and trying to come up with a solution, a change, a betterment of societies, is one of the great achievements of civilisation.

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