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Cometh the hour, cometh the person. After the latest divisive controversies, Polling Day (September 1) was a breath of contemporary air as Singaporeans got here collectively to elect Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam as their new President.
Within the first presidential broadcast by Channel NewsAsia, Mr Tharman and his opponents, Mr Ng Kok Track and Mr Tan Kin Lian, had been requested how they supposed to unify the nation. Mr Tharman demonstrated how on the polls, when Singaporeans elected him President by a landslide, with greater than 70 per cent of the votes solid.
Analysts are reportedly stunned by the magnitude of Mr Tharman’s victory. That’s as a result of they parse on a regular basis realities. It didn’t put together them for a magical second like this when nearly the complete nation voted as one, for one candidate.
Singapore simply had its Obama second. Simply as Individuals made historical past by electing Mr Barack Obama to the White Home in November 2008, so did Singaporeans yesterday (September 1). In a convincing present of unity in variety, Singaporeans transcended race, faith and creed to elect a minority ethnic Indian as their President.
Modest and gracious, Mr Tharman mentioned he was “actually humbled” by the robust endorsement. “I imagine the vote for me and what I stood for is a vote of confidence in Singapore itself, a vote of optimism in how we will progress collectively and assist one another as Singaporeans,” he mentioned.
He was proper. It was a optimistic, not a unfavorable, vote. Individuals voted not in opposition to somebody or one thing however for him and what he represents. September 1, 2023, in Singapore turned out to be what November 4, 2008, was in America.
Simply as Individuals voted for Mr Obama not as a result of he was black or out of a need to make historical past however as a result of he was such an inspiring determine, so did Singaporeans vote for Mr Tharman not as a result of he was a minority candidate or from a want to set a historic precedent however as a result of he has been so spectacular and endearing a determine.
Mr Tharman is likely one of the hottest politicians in Singapore and top-of-the-line certified, so extremely regarded internationally that he was chairman of the Worldwide Financial and Monetary Committee (IMFC), the coverage advisory committee of the Worldwide Financial Fund, from 2011 to 2014.
With the advantage of hindsight, analysts at the moment are attributing the electoral landslide to the “Tharman impact”. The spectacular scale of his triumph is “a mirrored image of his private reputation and confirmed that voters didn’t deal with this election as a referendum on the ruling Individuals’s Motion Get together, mentioned political analysts,” stories the Straits Instances.
Certainly, Mr Tharman is accustomed to successful by enormous margins. He led the Individuals’s Motion Get together (PAP) to a thumping victory within the Jurong GRC with 74.62 per cent of the vote within the 2020 basic election.
One might say the individuals voted within the presidential election on his phrases. Standing as an impartial like his opponents, he requested voters to guage candidates not by their political affiliations however by their character and observe report, and the voters did simply that.
Mr Tharman clearly had probably the most spectacular observe report, having served as training minister, finance minister, deputy prime minister and senior minister, and distinguished himself in each capability. He abolished streaming on the main stage, was finance minister when the Authorities tapped previous reserves for the primary time in 2009 throughout a recession and performed an necessary position as Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Insurance policies.
However now is just not the time to look again on his previous achievements. Singaporeans have accomplished their little bit of retrospection earlier than going to the polls and handed of their verdict — and what a verdict it has been! Seventy per cent!
It’s a victory not only for Mr Tharman however for Singapore as properly. The individuals have laid division apart in an amazing present of assist for Mr Tharman.
One key (there could also be extra) to his reputation is his capability to be so casual. He smiled, waved and spoke freely to individuals whereas ready for the election outcomes. There was no palpable rigidity. It was as if he knew Singaporeans had been going to vote for him once more as they’d accomplished each time since he first stood for election in 2001. Regardless of the purpose, he was at his ease with the gang, as at all times.
That’s additionally like Mr Obama — his ease with the gang.
Singaporeans clearly need Mr Tharman to stay in public life. Now, with him elected President, we’re assured that Mr Tharman shall be making information, assembly individuals and dealing with the Authorities for six extra years. The voters have had their want.
It’s a cheerful day for democracy for which Mr Tharman’s opponents must be thanked, too. Like Mr Tharman, we have now to thank Mr Ng Kok Track and Mr Tan Kin Lian for coming ahead as candidates. Solely due to them did we have now this election that gave Singaporeans the chance to reveal how united they’re.
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