Singapore's anti-foreign interference law to be fully enforced on 29 December

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) will become fully operational starting 29 December to address foreign interference utilizing residents as agents.

According to MHA's statement issued on Tuesday (12 Dec), the new provisions within the law will impose strict regulations on "politically significant persons" acting as resident proxies.

FICA was passed in Parliament in October 2021. The government said FICA aims to bolster the government's capacity to prevent, detect, and disrupt foreign interference in domestic politics, focusing on hostile information campaigns (HICs) and the use of local proxies.

The provisions to counteract foreign interference via HICs came into force on 7 July 2022.

Politically significant persons under FICA encompass individuals directly engaged in Singapore's political processes, including political parties, political office-holders, Members of Parliament (MPs), central executive committee members of political parties, election candidates, and their election agents.

These individuals are prohibited from accepting voluntary labor or professional services from non-Singaporean citizens.

Additionally, they are required to disclose any affiliations with a "foreign principal," which includes foreign governments, government-related individuals, foreign political organizations, foreign public enterprises, or foreign businesses.

MHA emphasized that these changes were enacted in response to endeavours by foreign agents to clandestinely impact Singapore's internal political landscape.

These changes followed the initial implementation of provisions targeting hostile information campaigns in July of the prior year.

The newly granted powers empower authorities to obstruct websites and social media accounts involved in hostile campaigns, regulate the circulation of mobile applications within Singapore, and curtail the funding of such content.

Under FICA, the Minister for Home Affairs is authorized to appoint a "competent authority" tasked with designating individuals and organizations as politically significant persons, subject to specific conditions.

For instance, individuals could be labelled as politically significant persons if their actions are deemed by the authority to be geared toward a political objective, and if it is deemed in the public interest to implement countermeasures against foreign interference.

Those designated as politically significant persons through this mechanism are obliged to disclose political donations and foreign affiliations unless the authority perceives a heightened risk of foreign interference.

The legislation further mandates that Singapore citizens—regardless of being designated as politically significant persons—must inform the competent authority if they are affiliated with foreign political or legislative bodies.

Individuals involved in such entities before February 1, 2024, are required to declare their association by March 1, 2024.

Subsequently, Singapore citizens joining these organizations after February 1 will have to declare their involvement within one month of joining, as stated by MHA.

This measure is intended to shield against the possibility of foreign nations attempting to groom citizens to influence Singapore's internal politics, MHA added.

Transparency directive

The authority is granted the ability to issue a "transparency directive" to any licensed newspaper or media outlet, compelling them to reveal specific details regarding foreign authors and their principals responsible for publishing articles or programs.

"The Transparency Directive addresses, for instance, situations where foreign writers masquerade as local writers penning articles relating to Singaporean political matters and seek to influence public opinion," MHA said.

On 5 October 2021, FICA was passed in Parliament with 75 votes in favour, 11 against, and two Nominated MPs abstaining from voting.

Notably, all 10 MPs from the opposition Workers' Party and Progress Singapore Party's Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai voted against it. WP MPs advocated for amendments to the FICA Bill that would have addressed these concerns.

FICA faced criticism from various quarters, including academics, legal scholars, civil society activists, and numerous citizens.

The criticisms centred on several aspects, including the hurried passage of the Bill without formal consultation, the broad powers granted to the Minister based on suspicions, the "ouster" clause limiting judicial appeal against Ministerial decisions, the lack of transparency regarding the Minister's actions under FICA, and the absence of countermeasures against foreign interference targeting Ministers and the Prime Minister.

This timing for the full implementation of FICA appears apt, especially with mounting anticipation surrounding a highly likely early General Election in 2024 following PM Lee Hsien Loong's intention to pass on leadership responsibilities to Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong before the upcoming GE and PAP's 70th anniversary next year.