The passage of a controversial bill aimed at preventing “foreign interference” in Singapore’s domestic politics has sparked debate in the city-state, with some airing concerns that the broadly worded Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act, or FICA, could negatively impact perceptions of Singapore as a global hub.
Others see the new legislation, approved by the country’s parliament on October 4 after a nearly 11-hour debate, as being at least in part a reaction to signs of increasing Chinese cyber-espionage across Asia and the risk it could pose to the multiracial city-state, which has a large Mandarin-speaking ethnic-Chinese majority.
Rights groups and activists, meanwhile, have argued that the law overreaches by giving broad powers to the government and limiting judicial review. Critics have described FICA as being crafted to stifle dissent and target political activists, community organizers and independent media outlets under the guise of defending national sovereignty.
Singapore’s powerful Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said in his parliamentary speech that FICA is part of a “comprehensive strategy to deal with foreign interference,” calling it a “calibrated piece of legislation to allow us to act surgically against threats” while describing the internet as a “powerful new medium for subversion.”
Read the full story at Asia Times.
Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
