Seeing P2 boy with HSA fine for vaping spurred SMU law student to create app for youth to quit habit看到一名二年级男生因吸电子烟被新加坡健康保险局罚款，一位新加坡管理大学（SMU）法学院学生深受启发，开发了一款帮助青少年戒除电子烟习惯的应用程序。
A Singapore law student created an app to help youth quit vaping after meeting a fined Primary Two boy, highlighting rising underage vaping concerns. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Published Oct 03, 2026, 05:25 PM
Updated Oct 03, 2026, 05:25 PM
A team of SMU students created the ClearAir app to help youth quit vaping by tracking progress and providing support during cravings.
Other student teams developed platforms to assist visually-impaired individuals with employment claims and to warn youth against becoming money mules.
LAW@CDC, promoting legal awareness since 2015, continues with renewed partnerships and nationwide talks on legal issues, emphasising access to justice.
SINGAPORE - At a Meet-the-People (MPS) session in Tampines in 2025, a father came with his Primary Two son who had been fined by the Health Sciences Authority for vaping.
The scene struck Joy Liew, 21, a law student from Singapore Management University (SMU) who helped them file an appeal to waive the fine.
It prompted her to create an app to help youth quit vaping, which was one of the winning student projects showcased at the launch of Law Awareness Weeks @ CDC (LAW@CDC) 2026 on Oct 3 at Our Tampines Hub.
LAW@CDC is a nationwide effort started in 2015 to promote legal awareness in the community. Over the next month, the initiative will bring talks on issues like neighbour disputes; marriage and divorce, and scams, to community centres and Residents’ Networks around Singapore.
Liew said she had previously thought vaping mainly affected older teenagers.
She said: “I was really shocked that vaping had even reached children at such a young age.”
She does not know the outcome of the boy’s case. But with tougher laws on vaping , she felt it was important to steer young people away from this vice given its potential impact on their future.
Liew and fellow law student, Amber Tng, 21, computer science student, Anson Koh, 23, and information systems student, Lee Yi Terng, 24, created the app ClearAir for youth who had been caught vaping and want to quit.
They spoke to social workers and discovered support gaps.
Some youth may not have family members to hold them accountable during their rehabilitation.
And there were moments between counselling sessions where youth may be tempted to vape again.
App users track their progress with daily check-ins and set financial goals to avoid spending their savings on vapes.
They can also indicate locations where they feel triggered to vape, such as where their friends congregate, and the app will remind them when they are near these spots.
When the urge to vape arises, pressing a red “Craving SOS” button leads users to activities which can distract them, such as playing games and reading success stories of former addicts .
Their group was one of five teams which won $5,000 in prize money for their ideas as part of the Access to Justice Community Co-Lab, which invites university students to address legal issues through innovative community solutions.
Money mules and employment claims
Another winning team of SMU law students realised that online infographics about legal information were unintelligible to screen readers - software which converts content on a screen into speech or Braille for visually-impaired individuals.
Employment claims, such as for wrongful dismissal, are even more difficult as individuals are typically meant to file such cases without a lawyer’s help.
The group, made up of Jace Bong, 23, Kristen Ng, 21, Lim Chia Yeh, 27, and Sean Cheng, 24, created a platform, See-Kaki, with an artificial intelligence chatbot which asks questions and guides visually-impaired individuals through the employment claim process.
Warning youth against becoming money mules was the focus for a team of National University of Singapore (NUS) law students, Kristen Joseph Fernando, 24, Owen Tan, 24, Dorthy Wang, 22, and Naomi Goh, 22.
During an attachment with the Public Defender’s Office, Fernando realised there were many youth who were caught for being money mules. Some were not aware of the legal consequences.
Their team sent messages to youth that sounded like money mule advertisements promising fast cash. Clicking on the message’s links leads people to their website, Spot It First, which educates them on common red flags and penalties for scam offences. Over 180 people have accessed their website so far.
Minister for Law Edwin Tong said at the launch event that he was heartened to see young people lend their fresh perspectives to the age-old issue of access to justice .
The heart of access to justice is looking at problems from the laypersons’ perspective and not only from a legal practitioner’s point of view, said Tong.
He said: “It must be a system that can work for people. It’s easy to say, but I think it’s much harder to do.”
Christine Tan is a correspondent at The Straits Times reporting on social affairs and issues of justice in Singapore.
Community Development Councils
发布于 2026 年 10 月 3 日下午 5:25
更新于2026年10月3日下午5:25
SMU 的一群学生开发了 ClearAir 应用程序，旨在通过跟踪进度和在烟瘾发作时提供支持来帮助青少年戒掉电子烟。
其他学生团队开发了平台，以帮助视障人士申请就业，并警告年轻人不要成为洗钱工具。
LAW@CDC 自 2015 年以来一直致力于提高法律意识，通过新的合作关系和全国范围内的法律问题讨论，继续强调获得司法救济的权利。
新加坡——在2025年淡滨尼举行的一次民众见面会上，一位父亲带着他上小学二年级的儿子前来，他的儿子因吸电子烟而被卫生科学局罚款。
眼前的情景触动了 21 岁的 Joy Liew，她是新加坡管理大学 (SMU) 的一名法律系学生，她帮助他们提交了上诉，以争取免除罚款。
这促使她开发了一款帮助青少年戒掉电子烟的应用程序，该应用程序是 2026 年 10 月 3 日在 Our Tampines Hub 举行的“法律意识周 @ CDC (LAW@CDC)”启动仪式上展出的获奖学生项目之一。
LAW@CDC 是一项始于 2015 年的全国性活动，旨在提高社区的法律意识。在接下来的一个月里，该活动将在新加坡各地的社区中心和居民网络举办讲座，内容涵盖邻里纠纷、婚姻离婚和诈骗等问题。
刘女士表示，她之前认为电子烟主要影响年龄较大的青少年。
她说：“我真的很震惊，电子烟竟然已经蔓延到这么小的孩子身上了。”
她不知道男孩的案件结果。但鉴于电子烟相关法律日益严格，考虑到电子烟可能对年轻人的未来造成的影响，她认为引导年轻人远离这种不良嗜好至关重要。
Liew 和他的同学，21 岁的法学院学生 Amber Tng，23 岁的计算机科学系学生 Anson Koh，以及 24 岁的信息系统系学生 Lee Yi Terng，共同开发了 ClearAir 应用程序，旨在帮助那些因吸电子烟而被抓到并想要戒烟的年轻人。
他们与社会工作者交谈后，发现了支持方面的不足。
有些青少年在康复期间可能没有家人监督他们。
在咨询辅导的间隙，青少年可能会再次受到诱惑而吸电子烟。
应用程序用户通过每日打卡跟踪进度，并设定财务目标，以避免将积蓄花在电子烟上。
他们还可以指出哪些地方会让他们产生吸电子烟的冲动，例如朋友聚集的地方，当他们靠近这些地方时，应用程序会提醒他们。
当用户产生吸电子烟的冲动时，按下红色的“渴望 SOS”按钮，即可引导用户进行一些可以分散他们注意力的活动，例如玩游戏和阅读前吸毒者的成功故事。
他们的团队是五个团队之一，凭借他们在“司法援助社区合作实验室”中的想法赢得了 5000 美元的奖金。“司法援助社区合作实验室”邀请大学生通过创新的社区解决方案来解决法律问题。
洗钱骡子和雇佣索赔
另一支由新加坡管理大学法学院学生组成的获奖团队发现，有关法律信息的在线信息图表对于屏幕阅读器（一种将屏幕上的内容转换为语音或盲文，供视障人士使用的软件）来说是无法理解的。
劳动纠纷，例如不当解雇，更加难以处理，因为个人通常需要在没有律师帮助的情况下提起此类诉讼。
该团队由 23 岁的 Jace Bong、21 岁的 Kristen Ng、27 岁的 Lim Chia Yeh 和 24 岁的 Sean Cheng 组成，他们创建了一个名为 See-Kaki 的平台，其中包含一个人工智能聊天机器人，该机器人会提出问题并指导视障人士完成就业申请流程。
新加坡国立大学 (NUS) 法律系学生 Kristen Joseph Fernando（24 岁）、Owen Tan（24 岁）、Dorthy Wang（22 岁）和 Naomi Goh（22 岁）组成的团队，以警告年轻人不要成为洗钱骡子为重点。
在公共辩护律师办公室实习期间，费尔南多意识到有很多年轻人因充当洗钱工具而被捕。其中一些人并不了解相关的法律后果。
他们的团队向青少年发送类似洗钱广告的信息，承诺快速赚钱。点击信息中的链接会跳转到他们的网站“Spot It First”，该网站会向人们普及常见的诈骗伎俩和相应的处罚措施。目前已有超过180人访问过该网站。
律政部长唐振辉在启动仪式上表示，他很高兴看到年轻人为解决司法公正这一由来已久的问题贡献了新的视角。
童表示，司法公正的核心在于从普通民众的角度看待问题，而不仅仅是从法律从业者的角度看待问题。
他说：“这必须是一个能为人民服务的体系。说起来容易，做起来难得多。”
克里斯汀·谭是《海峡时报》的记者，报道新加坡的社会事务和司法问题。
社区发展委员会