Navigating Cultural Complexity within an Asian Court's Mediation Programme: A Perspective from Singapore

Abstract

The impact of globalisation has been far-reaching not only on Asian legal jurisprudence, but on the administration of justice within the courts. In response to the global growth of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”), a number of courts have established court-annexed mediation programmes. These programmes are increasingly encountering cultural diversity amongst the disputants. Singapore is a case in point, being a microcosm of Asia with its potpourri of cultures and external influences.This paper examines the impact of cultural complexity on the development of the Singapore State Courts’ mediation programme for civil cases. It also analyses the implications of the increasing use of court-annexed mediation on access to justice. These issues are discussed in relation to judicial mediation, a unique mediation model which has been in place in the Singapore State Courts for more than 20 years. Judicial mediation brings to the fore many intriguing issues concerning the role of the judge in advancing dispute resolution and access to justice, as well as how the judge mediator’s role is best utilised to respond to the variegated cultural orientations of court users.It is submitted in this paper that much caution is needed before concluding that judicial mediation is consonant with a society’s culture. A more nuanced and calibrated approach is required in order to ensure that both the design of the mediation programme and the judicial mediation style are not incongruous with the individual cultural orientations of disputing parties. In addition, judicial mediation has much potential to contribute to greater access to justice, but must be supplemented with ample safeguards to ensure that both procedural and substantive justice are advanced.