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SINGAPORE: Because the nation is abuzz with Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s announcement final Thursday (8 June) that he plans to contest the upcoming Presidential Election, a supply who spoke to digital journal Jom has mentioned that the ruling social gathering politician’s father was as soon as supplied the presidency, method again within the 70s.
Mr Tharman’s father, Professor Kanagaratnam Shanmugaratnam, was referred to as the “Father of Pathology” and has a hard-earned place of honour in Singapore’s medical historical past, given his vital contributions to most cancers analysis and healthcare in Singapore.
He established the Singapore Most cancers Registry (SCR) in 1967 and served as director of SCR from 1968 to 2002, enjoying a pivotal position in shaping most cancers analysis and therapy methods within the nation.
Prof Shanmugaratnam can be broadly considered a world authority on nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and his groundbreaking analysis on this space has considerably contributed to developments within the analysis and administration of the illness.
His impression prolonged past Singapore’s borders, as Prof Shanmugaratnam actively participated in quite a few worldwide organizations. He was president of the Worldwide Affiliation of Most cancers Registries from 1984 to 1988 and performed a key position within the Worldwide Council of Societies of Pathology from 1974 to 1978.
Prof Shanmugaratnam served as the pinnacle of the Worldwide Reference Centre for the Histological Classification of Tumours of the Higher Respiratory Tract from 1972 to 1995, additional cementing his world affect within the discipline.
Even after retirement, Prof Shanmugaratnam continued to contribute to the medical neighborhood. He was an emeritus marketing consultant on the Nationwide College Hospital (NUH) and served as an emeritus professor of pathology on the Nationwide College of Singapore (NUS).
In a report printed on Friday (9 June), Jom – which is based by famous author Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh – cited an unnamed supply and mentioned: “…one supply advised Jom that Kanagaratnam Shanmugaratnam, Tharman’s late father and famend pathologist, was as soon as requested by the social gathering to function Singapore’s second president.
“He declined, and the position was as a substitute stuffed by Benjamin Sheares (from 1971 to 1981). Now, on the second time of asking, the Shanmugaratnams have mentioned ‘sure’.”
Singapore’s first 4 Presidents had been all appointed to the position. Till 1991, the President was chosen by Parliament and a constitutional modification that yr made the president immediately elected by a preferred vote, which was subsequently first held in 1993.
4 people have served as head of state for the reason that elected presidency scheme was enacted. Curiously, three of the 4 elected presidents have been Folks’s Motion Social gathering (PAP) politicians, whereas the remaining previous president, S. R. Nathan, was a profession civil servant.
If elected, Mr Tharman won’t solely change into Singapore’s fourth PAP Minister-turned-President, however he may even be the third former Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) to clinch the position.
The development of PAP Ministers being made president has led to questions on how impartial these ex-politicians are, given their lengthy careers as members of the ruling social gathering. Mr Tharman, for example, has spent 22 lengthy years as a PAP politician.
Whereas he declined to debate intimately the problem of independence at this level, on condition that he has but to resign from his political roles, Mr Tharman advised the press yesterday (11 June):
“However those that know me, know me fairly properly. They know who I actually am and my views. So I’ll discuss that later. I actually don’t wish to get into what seems to be a marketing campaign messaging at this level.”
Tharman would possibly change into 4th PAP minister and third DPM to change into President, out of 5 elected presidencies
Tharman guarantees he won’t be “on the identical staff” because the Govt if elected
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