Special Report on Online Legal Education in Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore

Abstract

This report compares the development of online legal education in Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore, three quite closely linked Asian economies following the English common law tradition. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, these countries all faced pressing needs to shift their legal education to mostly online modes. In Malaysia, where the health and economic consequences of the pandemic were the most salient, universities and institutions have been struggling to deliver online teaching due to the uneven allocation of internet resources among the large population scattered across large and sometimes remote areas. Being instead small but well-resourced states, Brunei and Singapore were well positioned to weather the global pandemic and adopt online legal education. In particular, Singapore is a leader of online legal education in ASEAN, thanks to its advanced ICT infrastructures and outstanding preparedness for online teaching. Both Brunei and Malaysia can learn from the success of Singapore, to become strong players in the field of online legal education.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, ASEAN, online education, legal education, comparative law, Asian law, Islamic law, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore

JEL Classification: K10, K30