Singapore’s ‘foreign interference’ law will weaken people power

There are already signs the law will be used to divide civil society and cast a dark shadow over internationalism. When the Foreign Interference Bill, or Fica, was tabled in Singapore’s Parliament on September 13, local activists were watching closely. Co-hosting an event on climate change with a permanent resident, international students participating in a campus LGBTQ group, a media outlet hiring non-Singaporean writers, an NGO accepting grant money from an INGO – any of these actions could get individuals and organisations into trouble under this law, which was passed on October 4 by a Parliament dominated by the ruling People’s Action Party. But if the people of Myanmar living in Singapore – whose communities are devastated by the military coup – participate in a local solidarity campaign, under Fica, this could be labelled “foreign influence”. One of the reasons Fica is so threatening to civil society work in Singapore is that local resources free of the government’s control are extremely scarce.