Steven Chong Horng Siong (born 22 September 1957) is a Singaporean jurist who has been serving as a judge of the
Court of Appeal of Singapore
The Court of Appeal of Singapore is the highest court in the judicial system of Singapore. It is the upper division of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the lower being the High Court (which since 2021 has itself been sub-divided into a Gener ...
since 2017. He had previously served as the seventh
attorney-general of Singapore
The attorney-general of Singapore is the public prosecutor of the Republic of Singapore and legal adviser to the Government of Singapore. The attorney-general is the head of the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), whose staff carries out the f ...
between 2012 and 2014, and a judge of the
High Court of Singapore
The High Court of Singapore is the lower division of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the upper division being the Court of Appeal of Singapore, Court of Appeal. The High Court consists of the Chief Justice of Singapore, chief justice and the ju ...
between 2010 and 2012, and again between 2014 and 2017.
Early life
Chong graduated from the
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
with a
Bachelor of Laws
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
degree in 1982.
In that same year, Chong, together with
Davinder Singh,
V. K. Rajah and Jimmy Yim, won the
Philip C. Jessup Cup.
Chong was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1983. He was appointed
Senior Counsel in January 1998,
Judicial Commissioner in October 2009 and Supreme Court Judge in June 2010.
Career
Chong started his legal practice at
Drew & Napier
Drew & Napier LLC is a Singaporean law firm. Founded in 1889, the firm has more than 500 employees. It is regarded as one of the Lawyers in Singapore#Law firms in Singapore, Big Four law firms in Singapore.
In Singapore, Drew & Napier is part ...
, where he spent 14 years and built up his legal career from an associate to the joint Managing Partner. He then spent 12 years in
Rajah & Tann
Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP is a Singaporean law firm with affiliate offices in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Founded in 1976, the firm is regarded as one of the Big Four law firms in Sin ...
and was its Senior Partner and then Managing Partner until his appointment to the Supreme Court Bench. He was a leading commercial lawyer during his practice and argued many cases in court. He was also a senior member of the Singapore arbitration community and participated in arbitration as both a counsel as well as an arbitrator. He is an accredited Arbitrator of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration. Chong was also
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
's Honorary Consul to Singapore from 2003 to 2009.
Chong was appointed Attorney-General on 25 June 2012, succeeding
Sundaresh Menon
Sundaresh Menon (born 26 February 1962) is a Singaporean lawyer and judge who has served as the fourth Chief Justice of Singapore since 2012 after being appointed by president Tony Tan. He is the first Singapore-born Chief Justice and the secon ...
. In April 2014 it was announced that he would return to Singapore's High Court at the conclusion of his two-year term, to be succeeded by Judge of Appeal
V. K. Rajah.
During his tenure as judicial commissioner, Chong heard the case of prostitute killer
Madhuri Jaya Chandra Reddy
On 4 September 2008, at a hotel in Geylang, Singapore's red-light district, the naked body of a 21-year-old Sri Lankan prostitute was found under the bed of one of its rooms. The victim, identified as Radika Devi Thayagarajah, was later found to b ...
, an Indian national who strangled a pregnant sex worker to death in a
Geylang
Geylang () is a planning area and township located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore, bordering Hougang and Toa Payoh in the north, Marine Parade in the south, Bedok in the east, and Kallang in the west.
Geylang is ...
hotel after they argued over the payment of the prostitute's services. Reddy was originally charged with murder before the charge was reduced to manslaughter through a plea bargain between the defence and prosecution. Chong found that Reddy's act of killing the victim was disproportionate to the threat she may pose to his safety, and he also made note that Reddy was fully conscious of his actions. Chong stated that Reddy clearly was unremorseful of his actions, given that he misappropriated the items of the deceased and having sexual intercourse with another sex worker in the same room where he killed the victim, whose body was hidden under the bed. Chong sentenced Reddy, then 21 years old, to 17 years' imprisonment in January 2010.
References
External links
Attorney-General's Chambers factsheet on the appointment of Justice Steven Chong as Attorney-GeneralSteven Chong's profile at Rajah & Tann LLP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chong, Steven
Singaporean people of Chinese descent
Anglo-Chinese School alumni
Living people
National University of Singapore alumni
20th-century Singaporean lawyers
Singaporean people of Hakka descent
Singaporean Senior Counsel
Attorneys-general of Singapore
Singaporean judges of appeal
1957 births
21st-century Singaporean lawyers