ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book was written over a period of three years and with the help of many people.I am very grateful to each of them.

I owe an enormous debt to Leong Kwong Sin，my good friend and university colleague，for the many discussions we had over versions of the draft.A brilliant accountant who is extremely knowledgeable，he gave me very valuable views and insights.

I am very thankful for my research assistant，Gerome Goh，who explored many legal facets with me，discussed the drafts and researched various aspects of the book.His acuity，responsiveness and optimism brightened my journey.

I am extremely grateful to VK Rajah，a long-time friend and a superb lawyer and judge，for taking time to read the manuscript and penning the kind Foreword.

At the conception stage，I benefitted from discussions with Henry Chan，Iqbal Jummabhoy and Leonora Leow.Their time and thoughts are much appreciated.

When the manuscript was completed，I approached two groups of people at the School of Law of the Singapore Management University.They were very kind to spend time reading and commenting on the draft.

The first are my wonderful colleagues Basil Bitas，Tan Seow Hon，Dorcas Quek-Anderson and Nicholas Liu.The second are my perceptive students Ian Mah，Darien The，Aaron Lim Chor Yin and Lai Siang Ping.The final product is much better because of their comments.

I am also much indebted to Rosa Dwisanty and Ian Lim，who provided the perspective of young adults who，though not legally trained，have to grapple with law in the course of their work.

Many thanks to my publisher Candid Creation Publishing for bringing this project to fruition.I am grateful，in particular，to Phoon Kok Hwa for his enthusiasm and guidance，to Patricia Ng for her felicitous editorial pointers，to Ryanne Ng for the cover design and Corrine Teng for the page layout.

My sincere thanks to each and every one of you.