| Danial Norjidi |
THE 39th Asean Law Association (ALA) Governing Council Meeting was held at the Indera Samudra Grand Hall of The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday, hosted by the Judiciary Department in collaboration with the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Law Society.
The event which took place on March 24-25, saw the attendance of members of the ALA, comprising Chief Justices, Supreme Court Justices, Attorneys General, Deans of Law Faculties, legal practitioners and government legal officers from all Asean member countries.
The Brunei Darussalam delegation was headed by Dato Seri Paduka Haji Kifrawi bin Dato Paduka Haji Kifli, the Chief Justice of the Brunei Supreme Court. The meeting was chaired by the current President of the ALA, Avelino V Cruz from the Philippines.
The main objective of the meeting was to prepare for the next ALA General Assembly Meeting, which will be hosted by Singapore in 2018, with the proposed theme, “Asean Economic Community – Opportunities and Challenges for the Legal Community”.
The ALA president delivered a speech at yesterday’s meeting, in which he highlighted the increasing relevance of ALA in moving along Asean Community goals through sustained and energetic programmes for the harmonisation of laws and fast track effective channels of legal communications with the Asean Summit and its various ministerial agencies to seek approval of ALA’s proposals.
Dato Seri Paduka Haji Kifrawi bin Dato Paduka Haji Kifli, the Chief Justice of the Brunei Supreme Court and members of the Brunei delegation during the council meeting
President of the ALA, Avelino V Cruz delivering his speech. – PHOTOS: DANIAL NORJIDI
A section of the attendees
He urged all officials and members of ALA “to be mindful of a strong sense of urgency of the need to harness the resources of our organisation and its national committees for the goals we have set”.
“I am confident that with our strong and vibrant organisation for legal cooperation, we can with success buckle down to this exciting work in these exciting days for ALA,” he added.
Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Haji Kifrawi also delivered remarks, in which he welcomed the delegates.
“Our meeting comprises of a number of matters and decisions for us to take and I am optimistic that we will reach them through respectful discussions and thoughtful consideration of ALA’s objectives, as well as what is expected from ALA as laid out in the Asean Political Security Community Blueprint, which we are honoured to be included in.” Touching on the theme for the next ALA General Assembly Meeting, he said, “One vital component of an economy community is an effective dispute settlement mechanism, which includes alternative dispute resolution or ADR.”
“I am sure that all of us can agree that ADR, when properly administered, has the potential to save time and resources whilst also providing a variety of benefits as an alternative to traditional litigation, such as greater satisfaction by the disputing parties, producing innovative methods of resolving disputes and achieving greater efficiency in reaching settlements,” he said.
On this note, he spoke on the recent establishment of the Brunei Darussalam Arbitration Centre (BDAC) as of March 9, 2016, which has the objectives of promoting and providing facilities for domestic and international commercial arbitration and mediation for the settlement of commercial disputes, as an alternative to litigation.
“Being the only centre in Brunei Darussalam handling arbitration and mediation on commercial cases, I believe BDAC has great potential in administering and managing more arbitration cases in the future, taking into consideration the proliferation in the number of contracts and agreements that adopt the usage of arbitration as a dispute settlement mechanism.”
The issues discussed focused on closer legal cooperation amongst the Asean countries in the area of trade and investment, particularly how Asean can progress in its Economic Community goals.
The ALA National Committee of Brunei Darussalam also tabled a proposal paper calling for an update to the Asean Legal Systems E-Book.
The Chief Justice of the Brunei Supreme Court touched on this in his welcoming remarks, describing it as “an invaluable tool in disseminating much needed information on the diverse Asean Laws and Legal Systems”.
In addition to the meeting itself, Brunei Darussalam also hosted the ALA Golf Championship held on March 24 at The Empire Golf & Country Club where 74 golfers from the Asean member countries participated in the Championship..
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