The 72-page report, decrying Singapore's perceived limits on freedoms and alleging executive interference in the judiciary, was issued yesterday, just eight months after the IBA held its annual conference here last October.

Responding to media queries, the Ministry of Law said the aspersions cast on the Singapore judiciary are unsubstantiated and contradict what IBA president Fernando Pombo said here then.

In his opening speech at the conference, Mr Pombo noted that 'this country has an outstanding legal profession, an outstanding judiciary, and outstanding academical world in relation to the law'.

In its report, the IBA Human Rights Institute, a sub-section of the association, acknowledged Singapore's good international reputation for the integrity of its court judgments in commercial cases.

But it said that for cases involving politicians, there were 'concerns about an actual lack or apparent lack of impartiality and/or independence'.

The ministry pounced on this in the report, noting that it had failed to provide evidence.

It slammed as 'feeble justification' the report's argument that 'regardless of any actual interference, the reasonable suspicion of interference is sufficient'.

The ministry noted that the defamation suits brought by People's Action Party members usually related to scurrilous and untrue allegations against them.

The decisions of the courts in these cases were matters of public record, it noted, adding that it is 'also absurd to suggest that honourable and upright judges in commercial cases become compliant and dishonourable when dealing with defamation cases involving government ministers'.

'Every society must find and decide the appropriate balance between rights and responsibilities for themselves,' it added.

The Law Ministry's full response to the IBA Human Rights Institute's draft report, sent on April 9, is available at its website.

In a separate though related development yesterday, Mr Davinder Singh, lawyer for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, replied to a request by Singapore Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan for a court hearing to be reconvened.

Dr Chee sent a letter to the Supreme Court on Tuesday saying that MM Lee had given evidence 'that may not be accurate' when cross-examined by him during a hearing in late May to assess damages in a defamation case.

That evidence related to MM Lee's claim that the IBA had written to the Law Society of Singapore praising the judiciary.

'The IBA has denied that they had sent such a letter and has also confirmed that the Law Society has not received any such letter,' said Dr Chee.

Responding, Mr Singh said the only inaccuracy in Mr Lee's testimony was his statement that the IBA had conveyed this view in a letter to the Law Society, when it was actually a public speech by the IBA president.

'If anything, Mr Lee's testimony did not do enough justice to the fact that an international organisation like the IBA was prepared to and did publicly endorse the excellence of our judiciary,' said Mr Singh.

lydia@sph.com.sg