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K. S. Rajah | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Judicial Commissioner | |
| In office 15 May 1991 – 2 March 1995 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kasinather Saunthararajah 3 March 1930 Perai,Penang,Straits Settlements (nowMalaysia) |
| Died | 17 June 2010(2010-06-17) (aged 80) Singapore |
| Nationality | Singaporean |
| Alma mater | University of Singapore (LL.B. (Hons.), 1963) |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Awards | PBM (2002); C.C. Tan Award (2008) |
Kasinather SaunthararajahPBMSC (3 March 1930 – 17 June 2010),[1] known professionally asK. S. Rajah, was aSenior Counsel andJudicial Commissioner of theSupreme Court ofSingapore. Born inPenang, he came to Singapore in 1950 and worked as a teacher before embarking on part-time law studies at what was later known as theUniversity of Singapore, graduating in 1963 with aBachelor of Laws withhonours (LL.B. (Hons.)). He then spent the next 22 years with theSingapore Legal Service, eventually heading the civil and criminal divisions of theAttorney-General's Chambers and also serving as Director of the Singapore Legal Aid Bureau and head of theOfficial Assignee and Public Trustee's Office. In 1985 he retired from the Legal Service and went into private practice, establishing the firm of B. Rao & K. S. Rajah.
In 1991, Rajah was appointed aJudicial Commissioner of theSupreme Court of Singapore. His time on the Bench was marked by a number of significantfamily law cases, including one in 1991 in which he held that since the gender of atranssexual person was to be determined according to biological criteria,sex reassignment surgery did not alter a person's gender. Thus, a marriage between an individual who had undergone a female-to-male sex change operation and a woman was void, being a marriage between two persons of the same gender. The decision promptedParliament to amend theWomen's Charter in 1996 to permit transsexual people to marry in the capacity of their new gender.
Rajah retired as a judge in 1995 and joined Harry Elias & Partners (now Harry Elias Partnership LLP) as a consultant. He also became the first President of the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents in 1996. The following year, he was appointed Senior Counsel in the first group of lawyers to be conferred this status. A member of the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, he was active as a mediator and arbitrator. A frequent contributor to theMalayan Law Journal and theSingapore Law Gazette, particularly oncriminal law andconstitutional matters, a number of his legal articles provoked controversy.
Rajah was the Chairman of theSri Aurobindo Society Singapore, the Secretary and later the President of the Hindu Centre, and the Vice-President of the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association. He also served with theHindu Endowments Board and the Society for the Physically Disabled. He was conferred thePingat Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Medal) at the National Day Awards in August 2002, and in October 2008 received theC.C. Tan Award, which recognizes lawyers who display the highest ideals of the profession, from theLaw Society of Singapore.
The eldest of 13 children of aSri Lankan couple, K. S. Rajah was born inPerai,[2] Province Wellesley (nowSeberang Perai),Penang, in what was then theStraits Settlements (nowMalaysia) on 3 March 1930.[3] His father was a clerk, and as the family was not well off he often could not afford books and had to borrow them and copy out texts by hand.[4] He was a pupil of theBukit Mertajam High School.[5] Still a student during theJapanese Occupation, to contribute towards his family's finances he worked as amess boy at a Japanese officers' mess and later as a translator for the Japanese authorities.[4]
Rajah left school at the age of 16 years. His first job was as awireless operator on shore for the Penang port authority, usingMorse code to communicate with vessels at sea.[3][4] Coming to Singapore in 1950, he started working as a teacher atSembawang Primary School,[2][4] and was sent for further training in the United Kingdom in 1953 on a scholarship from theMinistry of Education.[6] On his return, he lectured at the Teachers' Training College.[2] He became aSingapore citizen in 1958.[3] In 1959 he joined the pioneer batch of law undergraduates[4] at theUniversity of Malaya inSingapore to study law part-time;[2] in December the same year he married his wife Gnanambigai.[4] The university became known as theUniversity of Singapore in 1962, and Rajah graduated from it with aBachelor of Laws withhonours (LL.B. (Hons.)) the following year.[7]
Rajah joined theSingapore Legal Service in 1963, becoming a deputypublic prosecutor and, later, senior state counsel with theAttorney-General's Chambers.[6] He wasadmitted to the Bar on 18 May 1966.[8][9] He handled a number of prominent criminal matters, including thePulau Senang prison riot[10] andSunny Ang murder trials;[11] and theGold Bar murder case, in which a Hong Kong seaman was found to have tried to unlawfully import 165 gold bars and 134 gold coins worthS$86,076.70 without a permit.[12] In September 1967 he led the prosecution of 262 members of theBarisan Sosialispolitical party (dissolved in 1988) forunlawful assembly anddisturbing the peace, Singapore's largest criminal trial.[7][13] He eventually led the Chambers' civil and criminal sections[6][9][14] until 2 August 1972, when he was appointed to head the Official Assignee and Public Trustee's Office.[15] He was also the longest-serving Director of the Singapore Legal Aid Bureau.[7][16] In 1985, he retired from the Legal Service and went into private practice, establishing the firm of B. Rao & K. S. Rajah.[6][9]
Between 15 May 1991 and 2 March 1995, Rajah served as aJudicial Commissioner of theSupreme Court of Singapore.[3][6][9] During his time on the Bench, he decided a number of significantfamily law cases. InLim Ying v. Hock Kian Ming Eric,[17] he held that the gender of atranssexual person was to be determined according to biological criteria, which meant thatsex reassignment surgery did not alter a person's gender. Thus, a marriage between an individual who had undergone female-to-male sex reassignment surgery and a woman was void, being a marriage between two persons of the same gender.[18] The decision promptedParliament to amend theWomen's Charter[19] to permit transsexual people to marry in the capacity of their new gender.[20] In 1992, Rajah J.C. annulled the marriage of a 21-year-old woman whose family had forced her into an arranged marriage. This was believed to have been the first judicial decision of its kind in Singapore.[21] Two years later, in another landmark case, he applied to ahouse-husband the principle that a divorced woman who has not contributed financially towards the acquisition of matrimonial assets is nonetheless entitled to a substantial share of them in view of her indirect contributions in the form of paying towards the household expenses or caring for the family.[22]
Following his retirement as a judge, Rajah joined the law firm Harry Elias & Partners (now known as Harry Elias Partnership LLP) as a consultant.[9] He also became the first President of the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents, established in 1996 to entitle parents at least 60 years old and unable to maintain themselves adequately to apply for their children to be ordered to pay maintenance to them.[23] In addition, he served as Chairman of theLaw Society of Singapore's Committee on Guidance for the Legal Profession on Anti-Money Laundering.[14] In 1997, Rajah was appointedSenior Counsel in the first group of lawyers to be conferred this status.[24] He was subsequently appointed a member of the Singapore Mediation Centre in 1998, and of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in 2003. He acted as sole arbitrator and as chairman ofarbitral tribunals in domestic andinternational arbitrations, in particular arbitrations taking place in Bangladesh and India.[4] He was also a referee of theMinistry of Manpower's Industrial Arbitration Court.[14]
Rajah was an active contributor of legal articles to theMalayan Law Journal and theSingapore Law Gazette.[14] An article in the August 2003 issue of theLaw Gazette entitled "The Unconstitutional Punishment",[25] which argued that themandatorydeath penalty in Singapore was contrary to theConstitution of Singapore, was obliquely criticized by theChief JusticeYong Pung How. Rajah, appearing before Yong C.J. in an appeal, submitted that a magistrate should have allowed his client tocompound her offence of abusing her maid, arguing that "[t]he idea of composition is international". The Chief Justice said that Rajah, a person of "tremendous experience and wide learning", had stated in one of his "wonderful articles" that the death penalty was unconstitutional due tointernational law. However, he remarked: "I am not concerned with international law. I am a poor humble servant of the law in Singapore. Little island."[26] On 22 March 2005, Rajah delivered a speech on the subject of his article at a LAWASIA conference in theGold Coast, Queensland, Australia.[27] AnotherLaw Gazette article published in January 2006 which argued that the Court of Appeal's conviction of two men accused of murder who had beenacquitted by the High Court violated the constitutional protection againstdouble jeopardy[28] was said by theMinistry of Law to be "legally flawed".[29]
In his last case in 2008, he represented certain minority owners of flats in the Horizon Towers condominium before theHigh Court in their bid to block the collective sale of the housing development supported by a majority of flat owners.[30] He argued, among other things, that the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property was enshrined in the Constitution, but failed to convince the judge.[31] Although the minority owners were unsuccessful at trial, the judgment was later reversed by theCourt of Appeal.[32]
Active in volunteer work, Rajah was the Chairman of theSri Aurobindo Society Singapore[33] the Secretary and later the President of the Hindu Centre,[34] and the Vice-President of the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association. He also served with theHindu Endowments Board,Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple,Mount Alvernia Hospital and the Society for the Physically Disabled.[4][7]
Rajah died in hospital on 17 June 2010 at the age of 80 years, having suffered fromangiosarcoma,[4] a rare cancer of the lining of the blood vessels, of the scalp for a year.[7] He was survived by his wife Gnanambigai Rajah; his sons Surenthiraraj (known as Suressh; as of June 2010 he was Head of Aviation and Shipping and a civil and commercial litigation partner at Harry Elias Partnership)[35] and Yogenthiran, and daughters Jothie and Vaani; eight grandchildren; and 11 of his siblings.[36]
Rajah was conferred thePingat Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Medal) at the National Day Awards in August 2002.[37] In October 2008 he received the C.C. Tan Award, which recognizes lawyers who display the highest ideals of the profession, from the Law Society for "his personal integrity, honesty and outstanding contributions to the legal profession".[7][38]
Singapore's first woman Official Assignee, Mrs. Quek Bee See ..., has resigned. ... Tomorrow will be her last day in office. Her successor, it is understood, is senior State counsel Mr. K. S. Rajah.
The Director of Legal Aid, Mr. K. S. Rajah, will lead the evidence at the inquiry into the Robinson's department store fire which claimed nine lives on Nov. 21..
(1) A marriage solemnized in Singapore or elsewhere between persons who, at the date of the marriage, are not respectively male and female shall be void.
(2) It is hereby declared that ... a marriage solemnized in Singapore or elsewhere between a person who has undergone a sex re-assignment procedure and any person of the opposite sex is and shall be deemed always to have been a valid marriage.
(3) For the purpose of this section —
(a) the sex of any party to a marriage as stated at the time of the marriage in his or her identity card issued under the National Registration Act (Cap. 201) shall be prima facie evidence of the sex of the party; and
(b) a person who has undergone a sex re-assignment procedure shall be identified as being of the sex to which the person has been re-assigned.
22 March 2005: Three major speeches against capital punishment were delivered at the LawAsia 2005 Conference on the Gold Coast. ... K. S. Rajah SC (former judicial commissioner of Supreme Court of Singapore) spoke of the recent decision of the Singapore Court of Appeal dismissing Australian Mr Tuong Van Nguyen's appeal against his death sentence.The text of the speech is available asK. S. Rajah (22 March 2005),The Mandatory Death Penalty(PDF), New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, archived fromthe original(PDF) on 19 July 2008, retrieved18 June 2010.
Our heartfelt sympathies & deepest condolences to the family of our beloved Chairman. From: Members of Sri Aurobindo Society Singapore,
Past President Hindu Centre.
