House passes foreign interference law after 10-hour debate

Singapore

A NEW law to deal with foreign interference in Singapore will go further than existing laws with executory powers to explicitly cover global platforms that are often vectors for hostile information campaigns, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Monday.

The law - the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (Fica) - was passed in Parliament after 75 MPs from the ruling People's Action Party voted overwhelmingly in support of it, following two calls for division by Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh at the end of a 10-hour marathon debate that began shortly after noon.