Hello friends!

Short and sweet(ish) from me today with a round-up of the Singaporean foreign interference debate and then a couple of updates on other stories I’m keeping an eye on this week.

Premium readers, see you Friday morning. All Asean and Timorese nationals under 30 are welcome to join them for free — just hit that reply!

Erin Cook

🇸🇬 Who does FICA target really?

Singapore’s government initially introduced the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill — more snappily known as FICA — into parliament on Sept 13 saying it was a necessity after years of increasing alleged interference. The bill is expected to be passed on Monday. 

"We have also seen many instances in recent years where social media and communications technologies were used by entities to mount [high information campaigns] against other countries," a Home Ministry statement read, as reported by Reuters. 

The bill in its current form would give the government powers to block access to social media platforms and other apps if deemed to be spreading this sort of content. Singaporeans have been reassured FICA wouldn’t infringe on political free speech. There are other laws for that! 

FICA doesn’t explicitly name or target another country but the inference is clear. As Sebastian Strangio lays out for the Diplomat: Singapore’s recent history with China has been even bumpier than most.

I found this piece from Kirsten Han’s We, the Citizens brilliantly informative. She’s effectively annotated the bill in its current form and parsed what impact it may have on civil society. It goes deep into the legislation, which isn’t always that much fun to read and is very similar to other foreign interference bills around the world. But if you’re going to dig in, let Kirsten guide you here!

She’s right about civil society. Reporters Without Borders came out swinging against FICA, saying the law is a veil for cracking down further on media freedoms by potentially targeting media with links to foreign entities in the city. 

“Above all, under the pretext of preventing possible foreign influence on the state, this bill institutionalises the persecution of any domestic entity that does not toe the line set by the government and ruling party, starting with independent media outlets. As it stands, this utterly Kafkaesque project contains within it the seeds of the worst totalitarian leanings,” Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said in a statement from the organisation. 

Elsewhere, Singaporean NGOs Maruah and Think Centre have sought clarification from the Home Ministry, fearing that the eventual law could mean regional works become more difficult. Nah, the Ministry said. But keep it tight: “Think Centre’s or Maruah’s members taking part in a talk held by a foreign organisation, having a lunch meeting with a foreigner, attending a talk with a foreign speaker, or taking part in discussions with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations working groups, would not constitute foreign affiliation as long as the foreigners do not have control or power over them.”

This from New Naratif went live literally as this was being readied for a send. Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam will be empowered. PJ Thum, who himself is no stranger to the foreign interference allegation, writes:

A must-read. 

Sidenotes: 

• Australia has had this exact conversation very recently, recently in legislation and a registrar which is reportedly one of the inspirations for FICA. Although it received bipartisan support in Australia and ever-increasing concerns about the influence of China in Australian public life, the enforcement of the law has been super difficult. There’s an interesting chapter on it in Peter Hartcher’s book Red Zone if you’d like to read more. 

• The Straits Times has a timeline of previous foreign interference incidents and some fantastic old snaps. The timeline shows a clear increase in foreign interference fears in just the last few years but that the fears of which states are involved have stayed the same. 

In other news:

🇸🇬

Keeping with the Singapore theme for a moment. Allegations of sexual misconduct and coercion by the owner of famed BooksActually has destabilised the city’s lit community and prompted a reckoning. There’s a lot to read on this and the story is continuing to develop, but I’d suggest beginning here with the Rice Media expose which revealed the allegations. I also found this piece written by Wei Ting excellent.

🇵🇭

The Philippines’ Commission on Elections has formally extended the deadline for voter registration until the end of October. I know I promised a look at the candidates today, but I think I got too excited AGAIN. Nominations close October 8 and then we’ve got eight months to talk about the election endlessly. The extension is a big relief for would-be voters who have been struggling to get their names on the role in snaking queues:

🇹🇭

An expected ruling on marriage equality in Thailand has been pushed back to December, disappointing the country’s LGBT community and their allies who expected an announcement Tuesday. The Foundation for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Rights and Just, the NGO which brought the challenge, says no reason was given by the court for the delay.