Deputy chief prosecutor, Drew & Napier director join senior counsel ranks

Of all the cases Mr Christopher Ong Siu Jin has prosecuted over the last 27 years, the murder of two-year-old Nonoi by her stepfather has stuck with him.

Mr Ong, 52, a deputy chief prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ crime division, led the prosecution of Nonoi’s stepfather Mohammed Ali Johari in 2007.

Mr Ong was one of two lawyers appointed senior counsel by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at the opening of the legal year on Jan 13.

The other is Ms Blossom Hing Shan Shan, 51, director of dispute resolution and corporate restructuring and workouts at Drew & Napier.

Senior counsel are an elite group of lawyers recognised for their advocacy skills, knowledge of the law, and professional standing. They have the right to suffix the initials “SC” to their names.

Singapore now has 100 senior counsel among 6,348 legal practitioners, and 82 of them are still in practice.

Mr Ong and Ms Hing are the first two senior counsel to be appointed after the selection committee – comprising the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General and judges of appeal – refined the appointment criteria in 2024.

Chief Justice Menon said the committee would place greater emphasis on applicants’ tangible contributions to the development of Singapore law, and on their contributions to the profession.

Mr Ong has handled murder, drug trafficking and money laundering cases, with high-profile ones such as the City Harvest Church and oil tycoon O.K. Lim trials under his belt.

Ms Hing handles corporate commercial disputes as well as restructuring and insolvency cases. In 2024, she was named restructuring and insolvency lawyer of the year by legal research service Lexology Index.

She is on the Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s panel of arbitrators, and is also a member of arbitration centres in other jurisdictions.

Speaking to the media on Jan 13, the two lawyers said they were in the same English drama and debate club at National Junior College in the 1990s.

Mr Ong, whose parents were teachers, once aspired to be a teacher or journalist.

People told him to be a lawyer because he liked to debate, but he realised in law school that talking was not enough.

He said: “It’s important to be able to talk, but more importantly, you have to have substance, and that is where the hard work comes in.”

He said it was challenging to deal with the amount of work involved in a criminal trial, which could mean days of cross-examining witnesses and long nights of preparation.

There is also added pressure from media coverage of high-profile cases, but Mr Ong said he has learnt that litigation is a team sport. He said: “I may be the one standing there questioning the witness, but what I’m doing is actually channelling the work that the team has put in.”

On Nonoi’s murder, he remembers crawling on his belly to access the drain under the Aljunied Flyover along the PIE, where the girl’s stepfather had hidden her body.

After reviewing the evidence, which showed that Ali had sexually assaulted Nonoi and drowned her in a pail of water, it hit Mr Ong that the toddler had died a painful death.

Ali, then 31, was convicted and sent to the gallows.

Mr Ong said: “While it’s never a pleasure to have someone sentenced to death, for that case, I really had a sense that justice was done.”

He has also shaped policies for technology crime, such as drafting new laws in the Protection from Harassment Act to make online harassment – and not just acts of physical stalking – illegal.

Ms Hing’s work allows her to meet interesting clients, such as a business owner who built his half-a-billion-dollar firm from scratch.

The owner, who was in his 70s, fought against his relatives in court for wrenching control of his shares and management when the firm was on the brink of collapse during the Asian financial crisis.

After he won the case, he started a new firm.

Ms Hing said: “That is the kind of spirit that makes me feel, this is why we do our work. We get a chance to tell these people’s stories.”

An avid reader, she said she practises law as she likes understanding people’s motivations and choices.

Both lawyers said they have never thought of leaving the profession, and hope their appointments can encourage younger lawyers to stay in the field.

Ms Hing credited her superiors’ and colleagues’ support for her career longevity, adding: “Focus on the long haul and be resilient. You can’t control the outcome (of cases), but you can control the effort you put in.”

Mr Ong, a married father of three, said the desire to serve the public keeps him going.

He said: “Being a prosecutor comes with a great responsibility. I’m always very aware that the decisions I make affect lives.

“But at the end of the day, if your assessment is that somebody has committed a crime, and justice needs to be done, then you do it to the best of your ability.”

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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