NUS Pro Bono Group’s “Break the Bonds” campaign Feb 2006

Law student defends less fortunate

By Michelle Chen

A yellow plastic chain tied around a red lantern was seen hanging from a pole in the NUS Central Library block on March 2.

Joseph Wong, a fourth-year law student, explained the significance of the exhibit to interested passers-by. He said the red lantern represented child prostitution while the yellow plastic chain represented the factors that bind children to the trade.

The symbols are used in the NUS Pro Bono Group’s “Break the Bonds” campaign to fight against child-sex tourism. Students were given a pair of pliers to cut a link from the plastic chain after signing their names in a book as a show of support.

“Break the Bonds” is a legal reform project initiated by the Association of Women for Action and Research and supported by Pro Bono. Wong is the founder of the latter advocacy group.

The law student calls Pro Bono a community service group with a legal slant. He said Pro Bono approaches non-profit organizations and assists them with their law reform projects.

Wong also sends Pro Bono members, who are law students, to legal clinics to assist volunteer lawyers. At these clinics, people can receive legal advice for free.

Wong explained he supports legal clinics because he believes in making the law “more accessible” to people who lack the financial means to hire lawyers. He said he would like to volunteer part-time at a legal clinic in future.

Wong also feels strongly about the importance of student welfare and education. He relates this to having grown up in a lower-middle income family.

“I am keenly aware of the opportunities that I had (in order) to climb to the next socio-economic class, and I am keenly aware of how important education is,” he said.

Wong has combined his beliefs about student welfare and education with his commitment towards helping the less fortunate. Despite being busy with law reform projects, he is involved in a free tutoring scheme started by Michael Tan, a friend of 21 years.

The scheme recruits tutors from tertiary institutions and provides free tuition to primary school students from lower-income families.

Tan said he loves having Wong around to help out with the tutoring scheme because Wong is “capable and is unafraid to be unconventional.”

He also called Wong’s idea to begin Pro Bono “excellent.”

“The group has been set up extremely well and I am very impressed by the scope of activities it initiated,” Tan said.

Cassandra Ow, second-year law student and current president of Pro Bono, has also praise for Wong.

“He founded the group and developed it into today’s size of 35,” Ow said. “I think that is enough said.”

Wong continues to be active in Pro Bono. He is currently exploring the possibility of getting Pro Bono to work with The Law Society of Singapore to write a research paper on reforming the criminal legal justice system.

He said he also wants to continue being involved in Pro Bono after graduation even though he may not be in Singapore then.

Wong, whose area of specialty is corporate and financial law services, said he hopes to work in “bigger American cities or London.”

Until he embarks on his professional career, Wong said he hopes to continue working on campaigns such as “Break the Bonds” to capture the attention and imagination of students.

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breaking the bonds

Women's Organisations *
AWARE
Unifem Singapore
Campaigns against CST
World Vision: Child Sex Tourism Prevention Project
ECPAT International
International Justice Mission
Governments working against CST
European Union