The Singaporean parliament, overwhelmingly dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) which has ruled the island since 1959, passed the Political Donations Bill late Monday.

A formal ban on foreign donations to political parties was accepted by opposition MPs, but they objected to a provision limiting anonymous donations to S$5000 US$2906 a year per party.

The law requires that the name, national identity card number and address of anyone who donates money above the limit be recorded.

Any single donation above 10,000 dollars must also be declared in a report filed with the Registrar of Political Donations.

Opposition parties are heavily reliant on small, anonymous donations.

Longtime PAP foe J.B. Jeyaretnam, an MP representing the Workers' Party, said this disclosure rule "will dry up a big source of funds" for Singapore's struggling opposition parties because of "a climate of fear."

"It's all right for the PAP (donors), no one will be frightened if their names are revealed. They will be quite happy for the PAP to know," he said. "People (supporting the opposition) are frightened that the PAP will find out."

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told parliament Monday that opposition parties only had themselves to blame if they found it difficult to raise funds.

Jeyaretnam, while agreeing that political parties should not receive foreign money, said non-government organizations (NGOs) working for greater democracy should be exempt from the restriction on foreign money.

"Of course we do not for one minute want foreigners to come and tell us how to run this country or interfere with politics," he said.

But there are NGOs "which are working towards bringing about democracy to this country and greater transparency and accountability in government dealings, and I can't see anything wrong in them getting (money) from abroad to further the cause of democracy in this country."

He likened it to the government campaign to attract foreign investment.

"Apart from developing the country into a business, financial center, why can't people help to develop this country politically ... to be a full democracy ? What's wrong with that?" he said.