NTUC to be designated as politically significant person under foreign interference law
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The notice was served to NTUC on July 11, according to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
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SINGAPORE - The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) will be designated a politically significant person
The notice was served to NTUC on July 11, according to a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The statement said: “The Registrar (of Foreign and Political Disclosures) has assessed that given NTUC’s close nexus and symbiotic relationship with the People’s Action Party, it is in the public interest for countermeasures under Fica to be applied to NTUC.”
The pre-emptive measure is intended to mitigate NTUC’s risk of being a target of foreign interference in the future.
“It is not because NTUC has been compromised by a foreign actor, or has committed any wrongdoing nor anything of concern,” MHA said in response to queries.
Politically significant persons can include political parties, political office-holders, MPs, and election candidates and their election agents.
Other persons or groups may also be designated politically significant if the authorities assess that their activities are directed towards a political end, and that it is in the public interest that countermeasures against foreign interference be applied.
As a designated politically significant person, NTUC would have to make yearly disclosures to the authorities of political donations of $10,000 or more that it receives and accepts, as well as foreign affiliations.
NTUC’s designation is at the federation level and will not include affiliated unions and associations, nor its social enterprises, which are separate legal entities. It will also not include NTUC’s personnel such as its central committee members and employees, said MHA. However, several of NTUC’s central committee members may already be politically significant persons, given their roles as political office-holders or sitting MPs.
They include Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How and Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Desmond Tan.
On why NTUC is being designated a politically significant person only now, more than six months after Fica provisions against interference via local proxies came into force in December 2023, MHA said it needed time to consider and assess many issues.
NTUC has 14 days from the date of the notice to submit representations to the authorities. If it is designated a politically significant person, NTUC may appeal against the decision to the Minister for Home Affairs.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said it notes that the designation of NTUC as a politically significant person does not result in any prohibitions on the organisation’s ongoing activities.
“MOM will continue to work with NTUC as a key tripartite partner,” said a ministry spokesperson. “NTUC’s activities have been in compliance with the Trade Unions Act.”
NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng said in a media statement that his organisation is committed to championing its members’ and workers’ interests.
“We do so with accountability and transparency. We are aligned with national safeguards to prevent foreign interference, and we will continue to ensure that our operations remain free from foreign influence,” he said.
Mr Ng added: “We will review MHA’s requirements for the designation process and would like to assure our members, partners and stakeholders that NTUC’s core work to better workers’ lives and livelihoods will continue unabated.”
Human rights group Maruah and non-governmental organisation Think Centre were designated politically significant persons in December 2023 when Fica provisions against interference via local proxies came into force.
MHA said the reasons for designating NTUC a politically significant person are very different from those that resulted in these two organisations being similarly designated under the law.
Maruah and Think Centre were gazetted political associations under the Political Donations Act, which was repealed when Fica came into force.
Their designations under Fica were accompanied by stepped-up countermeasures, which required them to not accept donations from foreigners, among other things. These were issued to largely mirror requirements imposed on them under the repealed Act.
However, the authorities have assessed that it is not necessary to issue such measures to NTUC at this point.
Instead, NTUC is being designated a politically significant person because it has a close nexus and symbiotic relationship with the People’s Action Party.
Symbiotic relationship between PAP and NTUC
Singapore’s political leaders have often spoken about the symbiotic relationship between NTUC and the PAP. In his 2023 May Day Rally speech
“We share the same objectives – to improve the lives of workers and Singaporeans, promote economic growth for all, and ensure social cohesion and stability,” he said.
Workers and unions have supported the PAP through good and bad times, while the PAP works with NTUC to implement pro-worker laws and policies, and ensures that NTUC has the resources to look after our workers, he added.
Mr Ng pledged to deepen this symbiotic relationship
NTUC has 1.3 million members
As at May 2024, about 45 per cent of union members were professionals, managers and executives.
A Cabinet minister has traditionally held the post of NTUC secretary-general. The practice began with Mr Lim Chee Onn, who was the first labour chief to be appointed minister in the Prime Minister’s Office in 1980.
