The Workers’ Party refers to the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill which was introduced for First Reading in Parliament on 13 September 2021.
While The Workers’ Party believes in the legitimate need to counter malign acts of foreign interference, we disagree with the current form of the Bill in achieving the said objective.
To that end, The Workers’ Party Members of Parliament (MPs) have on 27 September 2021 given notice to the Clerk of Parliament, to table amendments to the Bill at its Second Reading. The Notice of Amendments (NOA) have since been circulated by the Office of Clerk of Parliament on 29 September 2021. The NOA filed by the respective MPs can be found in Annexes A to D.
To summarise, The Workers’ Party has proposed amendments to the Bill which will result in, amongst other outcomes :
(a) Oversight of Executive action by the Judiciary;
(b) A more precise scoping of executive powers to significantly lower the likelihood of abuse of power; and
(c) Greater clarity and transparency on the identities of the entities and individuals against whom, and reasons for which, any directive, order or decision under this Bill is made.
WP MPs will canvass fuller arguments at the Parliamentary debate on the Bill.
The Workers’ Party
29 September 2021
Annex A: Notice of Amendments filed by Gerald Giam
Clause 8:
(1) In page 29, lines 31 to 33: to leave out “(f) to influence, or seek to influence, public opinion on a matter which, in Singapore, is a matter of public controversy;”.
(2) In page 30, lines 1 to 4: to leave out “(g) to influence, or seek to influence, any aspect or to promote or oppose political views, or public conduct relating to activities that have become the subject of a political debate, in Singapore.”.
Consequential amendment:
In page 29, line 30: to leave out “;” and insert “.”.
Clause 14:
In page 42, line 20, after line 19, to insert —
“(f) a member of the central executive council, or its equivalent, of any registered political party in Singapore;
(g) a senior public servant holding the office of deputy secretary or above, or its equivalent;
(h) a board member or chief executive of a statutory board or government company listed on the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore;”
Consequential amendment:
In page 42, line 20: to re-letter paragraph (f) as paragraph (i).
Clause 78:
In page 126: after line 9, to insert —
“(f) a member of the central executive council, or its equivalent, of any registered political party in Singapore;
(g) a senior public servant holding the office of deputy secretary or above, or its equivalent;
(h) a board member or chief executive of a key statutory board or government company listed on the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore,”.
Consequential amendment:
In page 126, line 9: to leave out “,” and insert”;”.
Annex B: Notice of Amendments filed by Jamus Lim
Clause 17:
(1) In page 44, lines 25, 27 and 29: to leave out “or is likely to be”.
(2) In page 45, line 1: to leave out “or is likely to incite”.
(3) In page 45, line 5: to leave out “or is likely to diminish”.
(4) In page 45, line 10: to leave out “or is likely to be”.
(5) In page 45: to leave out lines 18 and 19.
Consequential amendments:
(1) In page 45, line 17: to leave out “—”.
(2) In page 45, line 20: to leave out “(b)”.
Clause 18:
(1) In page 46, line 17, 19, 21 and 32: to leave out “or is likely to be”.
(2) In page 46, line 23: to leave out “or is likely to incite”.
(3) In page 46, line 27: to leave out “or is likely to diminish”.
(4) In page 47: to leave out lines 4 and 5.
Consequential amendments:
(1) In page 47, line 3: to leave out “—”.
(2) In page 47, line 6: to leave out “(b)”.
Clause 20:
In page 49, lines 3 and 4: to leave out “, or is suspected of being or having been undertaken,”.
Clause 21:
(1) In page 49, line 21: to leave out “suspects or has reason to believe”, and insert “has evidence or actionable intelligence indicating”.
(2) In page 50, line 1: to leave out “reason to believe” and insert “evidence or actionable intelligence indicating”.
(3) In page 50, lines 4 and 5: to leave out “is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to authorise the giving of the anticipatory direction” and insert “has evidence or actionable intelligence indicating that withholding the anticipatory direction presents a real risk to the public interest”.
Clause 40:
(1) In page 69, lines 26, 28 and 30: to leave out “or is likely to be”.
(2) In page 69, line 32: to leave out “or is likely to incite”.
(3) In page 70, line 3: to leave out “or is likely to diminish”.
(4) In page 70, line 8: to leave out “or is likely to be”.
Clause 75:
In page 119, lines 25 and 26: to leave out “or is likely to facilitate”.
Clause 120:
In page 169: after line 15, to insert —
“(i) an activity undertaken by Singaporeans to exercise their right to discuss politics by expressing their own views on political matters, unless they are agents of a foreign principal;
(j) an activity undertaken by foreign individuals or foreign publications reporting or commenting on Singapore politics, in an open, transparent and attributable way, even if their comments may be critical of Singapore or the Government.”.
Consequential amendment:
In page 169, line 15: to leave out “.” and insert “;”.
Annex C: Notice of Amendments filed by Leon Perera
Clause 47:
In page 80: after line 21, to insert —
“(6) Any entity designated a politically significant entity shall be listed along with reasons for designation on a registry that is provided free-of-charge and easily accessible to the public through electronic means unless the competent authority considers it not practicable or desirable to do so on national security grounds.”.
Clause 48:
(1) In page 81, line 1: after “authority’s”, to insert “reasonable”.
(2) In page 82: after line 12, to insert —
“(6) Any person designated a politically significant person shall be listed along with the reasons for designation on a registry that is provided free-of-charge and easily accessible to the public through electronic means unless —
(a) the person is not a politically significant person under this Act; or
(b) the competent authority considers it not practicable or desirable to do so on national security grounds.”.
Clause 78:
In page 127: after line 26, to insert —
“(7) A list of reportable arrangements under this shall be made publicly available by the competent authority in accordance with section 81 of this Act.”.
Clause 79:
In page 129: after line 2, to insert —
“(5) A registry of the persons with declared involvement in a foreign policy organisation shall be made publicly available by the competent authority, together with the terms of these relationships, in accordance with section 81 of this Act.”.
Clause 81:
In page 132: after line 9, to insert —
“(4) All transparency directives, directive modifications, directive cancellations, disclosures, reports and explanations for these decisions shall be made publicly available by the competent authority over the internet in a searchable, sortable and downloadable manner without charge.”.
Clause 84:
In page 133: after line 29, to insert —
“(3) Any directive to a Part 4 politically significant entity, the suspension, modification or cancellation of the directive, and explanations for these decisions under this section shall be made publicly available in accordance with section 81 of this Act.”.
Clause 85:
In page 135: after line 30, to insert —
“(7) Any directive to a politically significant person, the suspension, modification or cancellation of the directive and explanations for these decisions under this section shall be made publicly available in accordance with section 81 of this Act.”.
Annex D: Notice of Amendments filed by He Ting Ru
Clauses 92 to 103:
In page 144: to leave out line 19, to the end of line 26 in page 151.
Clause 104:
In page 151: to leave out line 27 to the end of line 13 in page 152, and insert —
“Appeals to High Court
92.— (1) Any person who is subject to a determination, order or any other decision under this Act may appeal to the High Court against such a determination, order or decision.
(2) No appeal may be made to the High Court by any person unless the person has first appealed to, or sought reconsideration from the Minister or the alternate authority mentioned in section 106, made or purportedly made under this Act and the appeal is first refused whether in whole or in part.
(3) An appeal may only be made to the High Court within such a period as may be prescribed by the Rules of Court.
(4) The High Court must hear and determine any such appeal and may either confirm the determination, order or decision or set it aside.
(5) A determination, order or any other decision that is the subject of the appeal in subsection (1) remains in effect despite the appeal, and only ceases to have effect if it is set aside by the High Court, or if it expires or is cancelled under the provisions of this Act.
(6) There is such further right of appeal from a decision of the High Court under this section as exists in the case of a decision made by that Court in the exercise of its original jurisdiction.
(7) The Rules of Court may provide for the manner in which and the time within which an appeal under subsection (1) may be made and the procedure for an application to stay a determination, an order or any other decision appealed against.
(8) The High Court may order that the whole or any part of any appeal heard under this Act shall be dealt with in camera if it is satisfied that it is expedient in the interests of justice or of public safety or security to do so.”
Consequential amendments:
(1) In page 20: to leave out lines 9 and 10.
(2) In page 152, from line 15: to re-number clauses 105 to 127 as clauses 93 to 115, respectively.
(3) In page 167: to leave out lines 25 to 29.