Singapore — On Thursday, Mr Leong Mun Wai submitted to Parliament a petition to delay the passage of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) bill proposed in September on behalf of over 35 civil society organisations.
The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency MP submitted the petition, which asks that a select committee be set up in order to carry out public consultation on the bill.
As of Friday morning (Oct 1), over 5,500 people have signed the petition to rethink the proposed bill, which was introduced on Sept 13 and is scheduled for a second reading on Oct 4 (Monday).
The petition calls FICA “an overly broad law that grants the Minister for Home Affairs vast powers, with serious repercussions for civil society, independent media, and public discourse.”
Entitled “Say no to unfettered power! Rethink FICA!,” it expresses concerns over the nature of the law, characterising it as “overly broad, expansive.”
“If enacted, the law will have serious ramifications for multiple stakeholders and large sections of society, including academia, business, civil society, and the media.”
It also takes exception to the amount of power given to the Minister for Home Affairs to “censor, impose restrictions, and demand information.”
“FICA also grants authorities the right to demand information from any individual, whether inside Singapore or out, for enforcement purposes. Such a broad power can lead to gross violations of privacy,” added the petitioners.
Another issue of concern is the short amount of time Members of Parliament have been given to study the bill, which is 249 pages long. The public has not been given enough time to be consulted on the bill as well.
“A multi-party Select Committee should instead be appointed to carry out extensive public consultation on the issue of ‘foreign interference’. The term should be clearly defined, and measures enacted should take into consideration with best practices in accordance with international human rights standards,” it reads.
The petitioners have also set up a website, FICA.sg, whose members include activist and journalist Kirsten Han, The Online Citizen’s editor-in-chief Terry Xu, Rocky Howe, and Lynn Lee.
The proposed law has been deemed problematic by others.
Dr Tan Cheng Bock, PSP’s chairman, expressed similar concerns on Sept 25. While he underlined that PSP fully supports noninterference, he also said, “What is significant is the extensive powers given to the ministers to execute the bill.”
“Is FICA really to prevent foreign interference?” Dr Tan asked.
“Or is it a means to stifle freedom of expression, alternative views and political discourse in the name of foreign interference?”
He called it “irresponsible” of the government to push the bill through “hastily” over three weeks
Members of Parliament from the Workers’ Party Gerald Giam, Jamus Lim, Leon Perera and He Ting Ru have proposed amendments to the bill, which they said would lead to “greater clarity and transparency.”
“While The Workers’ Party believes in the legitimate need to counter malign acts of foreign interference, we disagree with the current form of the Bill in achieving the said objective” the party said on Wednesday (Sept 29). /TISG