SINGAPORE - Academics presenting research overseas, writing for international journals and receiving international funding will not fall afoul of the proposed law to counter foreign interference, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a Facebook post on Sunday (Oct 3). The ministry was responding to academics Cherian George, Chong Ja Ian, Linda Lim and Teo You Yenn who expressed concerns, in an editorial published on Academia.sg on Friday, that the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill (Fica), in its current form, would "suddenly transform activities that are currently encouraged into a legal minefield". The editorial listed various activities that could potentially be threatened by the passage of Fica, including "presenting research at overseas conferences; writing for international journals and multi-author book projects; publishing in and reviewing for prestigious academic presses; participating in international collaborative research projects; partaking of fellowships, visiting appointments and training programmes; and participation in international funding opportunities". MHA said: "Please allow us to state without qualification: None of these activities will be affe...