Lai Kew Chai |
SINGAPORE, Feb 27: Former Singapore High Court judge Lai Kew Chai died this morning after a seven–month battle against stomach cancer.
Lai, aged 65 who was born in Perak, leaves behind his wife, Dorothy, two children Stanley, 37, and Amy, 33, both lawyers, and two granddaughters.
The Straits Times reported today that Lai who retired on February 7 after 25 years of service on the Bench had been in hospital since February 20. His family members were at his bedside when he passed on just before noon.
Lai was the youngest judge to be appointed to the High Court in 1981 when he was just 40, after having been in private practice with law firm Lee & Lee for 13 years. From 1979 to 1981, he was the vice–president of the Law Society of Singapore and was chairman of the Board of Legal Education from 1981 to 1993.
To Malaysians, Lai is better known to be the judge who sentenced Tan Koon Swan in 1986 to two years' imprisonment in Singapore over the collapse of Pan–Electric Industries. Tan was then the President of the Malaysian Chinese Association. In his judgement, Lai said Tan’s offences had “struck at the very heart, integrity, reputation and confidence of Singapore as a commercial city and financial centre”.
The last time I met Lai was at the Malaysia–Singapore Bench and Bar Games Dinner on May 22 last year.
Thinking that he might have forgotten my name, he showed that he had the memory of an elephant by acknowledging me even though I had left Singapore in 1989 when he was then the Chairman of the Board of Legal Education.
As a senior judge, he had always been kind and patient towards young lawyers. In 1988, I had the rare honour of assisting the Board in organising a dinner and dance for the Practice Law Course students at his residence.
I remember I went with him in his vintage Mercedes Benz to the nearby shopping centre to buy groceries for the dinner. But when we walked to the payment counter, there stood the Singapore politician J.B. Jeyaretnam whom Lai had earlier ordered to pay Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew damages for defamation amounting to about SGD$260,000. Fearing that the encounter might turn out to be a rather awkward one, the tense situation became a subdued one when Lai gave a polite smile to the politician. Such were his humility, friendliness, and most of all his kindness in sponsoring the event for the cash–strapped students who had yet even to start their pupillage.
In fact, we promised to meet again for dinner in Johore Bahru, but alas this would now never materialise. But I have no doubt that his name will remain in the annals of Singapore's legal history for a long, long time to come.
The funeral service will take place at St Andrew's Cathedral at 11 St Andrew's Road, at 12 noon on Friday 3 March to be followed by cremation at 3pm at Mandai Crematorium.
FLASHBACK: The late Justice Lai with Justice Dato' James Foong as judges for the "boat race" which was the Malaysia–Singapore Bench and Bar Games' grand finale at the Dinner and Dance held at Oriental Hotel in Singapore on May 22 last year.
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