Singapore parliament passes foreign interference bill amid opposition calls for checks on abuse of power

K. Shanmugam did not identify sources of foreign meddling, saying there would be implications in naming countries, but mentioned expulsion of Chinese-American academic Huang Jing

Critics maintain Fica is too expansive, with courts having limited say on how authorities use it

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The Fica bill was tabled in Singapore’s parliament just three weeks ago. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:25pm, 4 Oct 2021Updated: 12:01am, 5 Oct 2021

Singapore’s parliament on Monday approved a controversial bill to counter foreign interference, after nearly 11 hours of heated debate that saw Law and Home Affairs minister K. Shanmugam cross swords with opposition lawmakers who flagged concerns about the legislation’s broad nature and inadequate oversight mechanisms.

The Foreign Interference (Countermeasures), or Fica, bill cleared the third reading in the 104-seat parliament with 75 lawmakers giving their approval, 11 MPs – all from the opposition – voting no and two abstentions. It will be enacted upon receiving assent from President Halimah Yacob.

Fica has been touted by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) as an urgent necessity given increasing instances of foreign meddling in countries’ local affairs, especially via the internet.

Some examples of this include the kind of interferences that plagued Britain’s Brexit referendum and the 2016 United States presidential elections, but apart from Australia, no other country in the Asia-Pacific has in recent times enacted new legislation to deal with it.

Critics of the long-ruling PAP have charged that the Fica bill, tabled in parliament just three weeks ago, was so expansive that it could easily be turned against domestic critics by future “rogue governments”.

One strident critic, P.J. Thum, claimed in a commentary last week that the law was tantamount to a “stealth coup” on the part of Shanmugam – a top lieutenant of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – as it would allow him to be “theoretically free to abuse the law for political and personal benefit”.

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