A+ for Authoritarianism

 Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here.

Singapore will soon take another step towards becoming a totalitarian state with the introduction of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill, or FICA, in Parliament last Monday. Independent Singaporean journalist Kirsten Han analyzes the problems with the bill effectively here. As she summarizes,

"The official narrative is that this law will protect Singapore from foreign meddling in our domestic affairs and governance. We’re told that it’s about safeguarding our political sovereignty. FICA, like the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), will take on hostile information campaigns, so that Singaporeans can decide on Singaporean issues without the sneaky intervention or sabotage of outsiders.

The reality, though, is that FICA is yet another vaguely worded piece of legislation, designed to give the authorities maximum discretion to cast a wide net over all sorts of activities — including advocacy work by civil society organisations and individual activists. Like POFMA, it hands large amounts of power over to the government, without accompanying checks and balances that will protect people from arbitrariness and potential abuse."

Given the fact that the People's Action Party (PAP) government has more than two-thirds majority in Parliament, the bill is bound to pass after its Second Reading scheduled for the next parliamentary sitting. So what can we do? Singaporean writers and literary organizations can together issue an Open Letter objecting to the overly broad definitions and provisions of the Bill. What is at stake here is a free and open society. Singapore Unbound would gladly sign up to such an Open Letter. Such a letter will not prevent the Bill from becoming law, but at least the people of Singapore will know that their writers will not stand for the imposition of wide and arbitrary powers on the country.

For the longer term, the PAP must learn the election costs of trying to exert totalitarian control over a people who are awakening to their rights and freedoms. Who cannot abide the arrogance of the governing elite, insulting their fellow parliamentarian by describing him as "illiterate" and coming from "a lousy school." The PAP drew the wrong lesson from its losses at the last election, and so is in apparent need of a remedial class.

Jee Leong Koh
September 16, 2021

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