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When the Foreign Intervention (Countermeasures) Bill or Fica was submitted to the Singapore Parliament on September 13, local activists were paying close attention. We worry that it will—just like the previous law—grant excessive powers to the country, further threaten our civil liberties, and stifle Singapore’s insignificant space for important political participation. Our concerns are not unfounded-Fica allows the government to supervise, prohibit or criminalize almost all communication and cooperation with non-Singaporeans on social and political issues.
Fica’s most severe penalties are fines up to 100,000 Singapore dollars (74,000 US dollars) and/or up to 14 years in prison. Compared with other laws used to persecute dissidents in recent years, this makes it more effective in terms of chilling political radicalism.
Co-hosting climate change events with permanent residents, international students participating in LGBTQ groups on campus, media employing non-Singaporean writers, NGOs funded by international NGOs-any of these actions may involve individuals and organizations. October 4 In Japan, the parliament led by the ruling People’s Action Party passed the law.
Although malicious actors’ efforts to undermine any social stability are legitimate concerns, authoritarian regimes have a long history of using evil foreign intervention as an excuse to restrict democratic freedom or to accuse those who challenge their power as foreign agents.
Singapore often invokes concepts such as “national security”, “threat to public order”, “public interest” and “foreign hostile intervention” to justify the expansion of state control. We are led to believe that we cannot control these serious and complicated things, and that only a government with unconstrained power can save us.
But under more liberal conditions, ordinary people such as hackers, whistleblowers, and investigative reporters often discover and expose compromised public officials and hostile attempts to manipulate the regime.
In the past few years, Singapore has been tightening restrictions on non-Singaporeans participating in progressive social movements. The 2016 amendment to the Public Order Act means that Singapore’s annual Pride Rally Pink Dot is prohibited from accepting sponsorship from foreign registered companies or allowing foreigners to participate in the event.
In order to comply with the new law, Pink Dot set up roadblocks in the park where the event was held and asked participants to show government-issued ID cards at police checkpoints.
In a country where more than 1.5 million of the population of 5.5 million are non-residents, what does it mean to keep immigrants behind roadblocks, both literally and figuratively? They are also sharing in this society-they have shaped the advantages, problems and characteristics of this society, and are closely influenced by its political conditions. In a society full of racism and increasing xenophobia, Fica is another tool that can distract our communities and weaken people.
In my life and work as a community organizer in Singapore for the past 10 years, I have been greatly nourished by non-Singaporeans. When I started as a baby activist, it was feminists in India and Canada who introduced me to anti-violence work. Malaysian human rights lawyers join us in opposing the death penalty in Singapore. Migrant workers in Singapore continue to place their bodies on the margins of labor rights that are beneficial to all of us.
Why should these acts of equal cooperation be vilified as “foreign interference”? When working with collaborators, Singaporeans can think independently-we are not their lackeys, just because we have close connections.
Fica would make us believe that our interests mainly depend on the citizens of which country we are, but working-class communities around the world—the vast majority of people—have interconnected struggles. When we stand with everyone, We will become stronger other. This power is the goal of Fica.
Singapore’s working class has a rich history of internationalism, and Fica insults them by distorting what foreign influence is truly problematic. The Singaporean government and Singaporean capitalists are the largest investors in the Burmese military, selling weapons to them, doing business with them, and providing training for military officers. However, if the Burmese people living in Singapore — their communities were destroyed by a military coup — participate in the local solidarity movement led by Fica, they may be labeled “foreign influence.”
In 2018, the government began to talk about foreign interference. Around that time, PAP politicians and pro-PAP websites began falsely accusing some activists and media organizations of being traitors representing foreign interests, expressing solidarity or feelings for neighboring countries, or receiving grants from the Open Society Foundation. It was clear at that time that any law on foreign interference could be used to suppress dissent and transnational solidarity.
Many of Fica’s provisions evade the courts and directly authorize the government—especially the Minister of the Interior—to take action against citizens. They do not need any evidence of foreign interference to issue instructions to delete content or force someone to release government information. They can act on suspicion alone. Ignoring these instructions is an arrestable and non-bailable crime.
The Minister of the Interior can also make it illegal to request or receive funds or income from online media platforms, effectively shutting them down. Any individual or entity engaged in activities deemed “political” by the government can be designated as “political.” Once designated, their activities will be closely monitored and restricted.
Staining reputation through defamation activities is a strategy often used by the government to deal with critics. Once this law comes into effect, anyone can be accused of being a foreign agent and then subject to more state control and humiliation.
Many people worry that Fica will deepen the rift in the activist space. It may encourage certain groups to self-regulate so that they will not be assigned or issued instructions. This will reduce the possibility of real effective action. At the same time, those who are targeted by Fica may become more isolated because their peers do not want to be marked as guilty by the association or their work is affected. For example, designated persons are instructed to surrender information related to projects in which both parties are involved. Material. Work.
Fica puts the militants navigating in an already fearful political climate in an impossible position. They must count every step. Even so, they will never really know when they will be criticized because of the inconsistency and opacity of the government’s ever-expanding tools of repression.
One of the reasons Fica is such a threat to Singapore’s civil society work is that local resources that are not controlled by the government are extremely scarce. Whether it is capital, information, infrastructure, or community space, almost every resource is monopolized by the government.
As a result, democratic activists who challenged the dictatorship of the DAP were cut off from most forms of support. Many people in Singapore, even if they support these efforts spiritually, dare not donate to them because they fear that an all-knowing government will find out (now with Fica, they can definitely) and punish them. In this case, it is crucial to get support from a space for progress outside of Singapore.
When Fica was first launched, the entire civil society was hit, but we were united. Artists, journalists, lawyers, scholars, opposition parties and students quickly organized. We plan to hold meetings and city halls to unravel the bill and develop strategies around response. Independent reporters wrote the explanation and summary of the bill so that more people can understand what is happening. Human rights lawyers hold workshops to explain the impact of the bill to civil society groups. A working group was set up to lobby members of parliament and initiate a public petition, and 7,000 people signed it in just over a week. 39 civil society groups issued a joint statement against the bill.
The bill will always pass, but it shows that our resistance to the “rule of law” tyranny is important. If the government restricts the use of Fica in the next few months and years, it will be because the people are fighting for it.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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