SINGAPORE — The Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act will come into full force when provisions take effect on Dec 29 this year to counteract foreign interference that makes use of residents to act as agents.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement on Tuesday (Dec 12) that the latest provisions under the law against such resident proxies will require “politically significant persons” to follow a list of stringent rules.

Politically significant persons are defined as those directly involved in Singapore’s political processes and would comprise political parties, political office-holders, Members of Parliament (MPs), central executive committee members of political parties, and election candidates and their election agents.

Under the provisions, these persons are prohibited from accepting any voluntary labour or voluntary professional services provided by any individual who is not a citizen of Singapore.

They must also disclose their affiliations with any "foreign principal", who may be a foreign government, a foreign government-related individual, a foreign political organisation, a foreign public enterprise or a foreign business.

They are also forbidden from receiving anonymous donations of S$5,000 or more in a calendar year, and are required to report donations of S$10,000 or more from permissible donors.

These changes were put in place to deal with attempts by foreign agents to covertly influence Singapore’s domestic politics and came after provisions tackling hostile information campaigns were first implemented in July last year.

They gave the authorities the power to block websites and social media accounts engaged in hostile campaigns, restrict the distribution of mobile applications within Singapore and stop the funding of such content.

OTHER COUNTERMEASURES

The Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act allows the Minister for Home Affairs to appoint a “competent authority” to designate individuals and organisations as politically significant persons under several conditions.

Individuals may, for example, be designated as politically significant persons if their activities are considered by the authority to be directed towards a political end, and if the authority assesses that it is in the public interest that countermeasures against foreign interference be applied.

Those who are designated as politically significant persons by this route need to disclose only political donations and foreign affiliations, unless the authority assesses that there is a higher risk of foreign interference.

The law also stipulates that Singapore citizens — not just those designated as politically significant persons — have to declare to the competent authority if they are members of foreign political or legislative bodies.

Those who are in such bodies before Feb 1, 2024 will have to declare their involvement by March 1, 2024. Thereafter, Singapore citizens who join these organisations after Feb 1 will have to declare their involvement within one month of joining said organisation, MHA said.

This is to safeguard against the risk of foreign states trying to cultivate citizens to influence Singapore's domestic politics, it added.

The authority can also issue a “transparency directive” to any licensed newspaper or media outlet to disclose the particulars of any foreign author and foreign principal for whom or at whose direction the article or programme is published.

This is aimed at addressing situations where foreign writers masquerade as resident writers penning articles relating to Singapore's political matters and seek to influence public opinion, MHA said. 

The law tackling foreign interference was first passed in Parliament in October 2021 to strengthen the Government’s ability to prevent, detect and disrupt foreign interference in Singapore’s domestic politics.

It was passed with 75 voting for it and 11 against it, with two Nominated MPs abstaining from voting. All 10 MPs from the opposition Workers' Party and the Progress Singapore Party's Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai voted against it.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article stated that Singaporeans have to declare that they are members of foreign political or legislative bodies. This has been edited for clarity: Singaporeans only need to do so if they happen to be members of such bodies.