Past Events
Identity and Change – The Basic Structure in Asian Constitutional Orders
Agenda
Panel I: general reflections
Po Jen Yap, Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong, China
“Democratic Values and the Conundrum of Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments in Asia”
Panel II: India
Arun Thiruvengadam, School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University, India
“Constitutional Change, Basic Structure and Constitutional Politics: Insights from the Indian experience”
Ronojoy Sen, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore
“Revisiting the Bommai Judgment: The Basic Structure Doctrine and Secularism in India”
Panel III: Pakistan
Marva Khan, Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, Lahore University of Management Studies, Pakistan
“Synthesising Judicial Review and Basic Structure in Pakistan”
Panel IV: The Philippines, Indonesia
Dante Gatmaytan, College of Law, University of the Philippines, The Philippines
“Assertive Separatism and the Death of Constitutional Checks: Political Pressure on the Basic Structure in the Philippines”
Satya Arinanto, Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, Indonesia
“The Basic Structure of the Indonesian Constitution after the amendment of the 1945 Constitution (1999-2002)”
Panel V: Myanmar, Socialist countries
Myint Zan, Faculty of Law, Multimedia University, Malaysia
“Brief Glimpse and Juxtaposition of Basic Structures of Three (Southeast Asian) Constitutional Orders”
Nehginpao Kipgen, Jindal Global School of International Affairs, India
“The Federal States and the Constitutional Basic Structure in Myanmar”
Bui Ngoc Son, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, Singapore
“Constitutional Identity Change in the Contemporary Socialist World”
Panel VI: Japan, Thailand
Nobuyuki Sato, Chuo Law School, Japan
“Can the Supreme Court of Japan be the Final Interpreter of the Constitution?: Judicial Review System and ‘Unconstitutional Constitutional’ Order in Japan”
Henning Glaser, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG), Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, Thailand
“Preservative Restatement: Thai Constitutionalism in Transition
Panel VII: General reflections
Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, School of Law, Singapore Management University, Singapore
“A Constitution’s Basic Structure: A Matter of Judicial or Political Choice?”
Report
On 29-30 November 2016, CPG and Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) jointly hosted the international conference “Identity and Change – The Basic Structure in Asian Constitutional Orders” at the Windsor Suites Hotel in Bangkok. Throughout the conference, acclaimed experts from across Asia and Europe presented on and discussed the basic constitutional orders of several countries across the globe with a particular focus on Asia. All presentations were greatly received and thoroughly discussed by the participants.
On the first conference day, subsequent to opening remarks by Karl-Peter Schönfisch (HSF) and CPG Director Henning Glaser, guests and speakers had the opportunity to discuss presentations on India by Arun Thiruvengadam, Associate Professor, School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University and Ronjoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore; Pakistan by Marva Khan, Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, Lahore University of Management Studies; The Philippines by Dante Gatmaytan, Professor at the College of Law, University of the Philippines; and Indonesia by Satya Arinanto, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia; which were pre- ceded by general reflections on ‘Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments’ by Po Jen Yap, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong.
The following day of the conference consisted of three more panels in which Professor Myint Zan, Faculty of Law, Multimedia University, Malaysia and Assistant Professor Nehginpao Kipgen, Jindal Global School of Inter- national Affairs, India, elaborated on the constitutional order of Myanmar and Dr. Bui Ngoc Son, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore explored in great detail the basic constitutional order in socialist countries. Moreover, CPG director Henning Glaser delivered a presentation on constitutionalism in Thailand, Professor Nobuyuki Sato from Chuo Law School in Japan elaborated on the ‘unconstitutional constitutional’ order in Japan before Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, School of Law, Singapore Management University, reflected on judicial and political choices in constitution’s basic structures. The CPG Director then ended the conference ended with a concise summary and some closing remarks.
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