NUS law professor, 70, killed in Upper Thomson Road accident
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NUS law professor Hans Tjio (right) called the late Professor Tan Yock Lin (left) a "legal giant".
PHOTO: NUS
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SINGAPORE – Tributes have flowed in for Emeritus Professor Tan Yock Lin, a senior law professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), who died after he was involved in an accident in Upper Thomson Road on Friday morning.
A spokesman for the NUS law faculty told The Straits Times on Sunday morning that Prof Tan had been a member of the faculty since 1982.
“He was not just a dedicated colleague but also a mentor, especially to those starting out on their careers. He gave of his time to others cheerfully and without reservation,” she said in a statement. “Yock Lin will be sorely missed.”
Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and a former lawyer, lamented Prof Tan’s “tragic” passing in a Facebook post.
She said that he was her tutor and remembered him “for his kindness and unfailing patience as he taught us how to come to grips with legal concepts and principles”.
“Prof Tan’s passing is a great loss to legal academia and is felt not just by his faculty colleagues but also by many cohorts of lawyers who acquired their legal foundations in his classes,” she added.
The Upper Thomson Road accident involved four vehicles: a car, a van, a lorry and a bus. A video of the accident posted on Facebook by Shin Min Daily News showed a white lorry running over a road divider and crashing into a black car travelling in the opposite direction.
The 26-year-old driver of the lorry has been arrested for careless driving causing death.
The “deeply distressing news” of Prof Tan’s death was announced to staff by NUS law faculty dean Andrew Simester on Saturday.
In an email, Prof Simester said: “Yock Lin was, and remains, an important part of our history. He taught pretty much everything... his willingness to serve reflected the breadth of his intellectual interests. Nobody I know had Yock Lin’s width and depth of knowledge in Singapore law.”
NUS vice-provost (educational innovation) Simon Chesterman, who was law faculty dean from 2012 to 2022, said that he was shocked and saddened to hear about Prof Tan’s passing.
He described Prof Tan as a passionate teacher and a painstaking researcher who was constantly innovating and trying new things throughout his career.
Prof Chesterman said: “He dedicated his professional life to NUS Law over four decades... holding himself to exacting standards but always being generous as a mentor and counsel to others.
“He leaves a wealth of scholarship and generations of students whom he taught.”
In 2021, Prof Tan was lauded as the longest-serving member of the Singapore Academy of Law’s Law Reform Committee and for contributing the largest number of papers on law reform.
NUS law professor Hans Tjio called Prof Tan a “legal giant who behaved like he was the least of us”.
“He was a jack of all trades who also mastered more areas of law than any modern academic,” said Prof Tjio.
“He constantly pushed us to see things from a different perspective in ways we did not always appreciate. He would hate that these words were said of him, but he also leaves us with no choice but to do so. His contrarian spirit remains and will be commemorated each time we rely on something he taught us.”
Singapore Management University law professor Tan Seow Hon shared fond memories as a former student of Prof Tan.
She said: “Students in my cohort held Yock Lin in highest regard for his intellectual prowess. He would come to tutorials empty-handed – without even the tutorial question sheet – as he had an amazing memory.
“He was also one of the most eloquent teachers. His monographs were very deep and not only were they written with his unique flair, but he was also able to pack many points into each sentence. I recall his opening line in his first lecture on evidence law left some of us awestruck – and scrambling for the dictionary.”
She added that Prof Tan was exceedingly generous with his time and ideas.
“I greatly admired his analytical mind and his prodigious memory,” she said. “Whether it (was) a question on law or on theology, he had an ability to answer comprehensively and deeply off the top of his head.
“While many will remember him for his intellectual capabilities, I want to remember him most for his gentle kindness, his humility and his generosity.”
