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NEW POLITICAL ERA FOR THE CITY-STATE
Saro Thiruppathy profiles the political, skilled and private lifetime of Singapore’s new president who swept into energy in September
Tharman Shanmugaratnam succeeded former president Halimah Yacob and was sworn in because the ninth President of Singapore on 14 September.
Shanmugaratnam made historical past when he secured a landslide victory with 70.4 p.c of the favored vote. Broadly identified by the mononym ‘Tharman,’ he has held senior posts within the authorities of the ruling Folks’s Motion Occasion (PAP). He resigned from all his portfolios after asserting his candidacy for the presidential election.
His opponents within the race to the highest job included Ng Kok Music and Tan Kin Lian. Tan was backed by opposition heavyweights however garnered solely 13.88 p.c of the vote. Usually, about 30 p.c of votes normally elections go to the opposition candidate. On this occasion nevertheless, there was a severe shift in voting preferences.
Although he was standard even whereas in authorities, the PAP didn’t take into account Tharman to be a possible successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. When explaining why he was not an acceptable candidate in 2019, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat mentioned that older Singaporeans weren’t prepared for a non-Chinese language premier.
However, surveys had proven that Singaporeans – particularly the youthful technology – had been much less involved with race. And the 66-year-old Tharman’s resounding victory on the polls within the latest presidential election might be laying the race card to relaxation since he was clearly backed by a big Chinese language majority.
Analysts additionally really feel that the PAP might not have thought-about him as the best selection for the publish of prime minister as a result of he’s seen as being extra independent in thought than his friends. It was additionally felt that he was leaning extra to the left.
In the meantime, the PAP has chosen Finance Minister Lawrence Wong as Lee’s successor if the get together wins the subsequent normal elections in 2025. Wong was appointed Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister in June 2022 and is serving alongside Heng.
At a post-election interview, Shanmugaratnam famous that the choice to call Wong as Lee’s successor was one of many elements that helped him resolve to contest the presidential election.
He defined: “It’s truly a brand new period that we’ve got entered. Singapore society is altering, Singapore politics is altering, and I feel the connection between the president and the brand new prime minister needs to be a constructive one. And I imagine we are able to make that work.”
Tharman can maintain workplace as president for 2 six-year phrases and if the PAP wins the final elections in 2025, the Wong-Tharman crew may take Singapore to new heights.
POLITICAL LIFE Earlier than throwing his hat into the ring for the presidential election, Tharman was a member of the PAP and the MP representing the Taman Jurong division of Jurong GRC from 2001 to 2023.
He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 2011 and 2019, Minister for Finance from 2007 to 2015 and Minister for Schooling from 2003 until 2008.
Tharman entered politics within the 2001 normal elections and was re-elected 4 instances to parliament – in 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2020.
In June this yr, he introduced his intention to contest the presidential election, and resigned from all his authorities posts and membership of the PAP on 7 July.
And on 2 September, following his landslide victory, Tharman was declared the winner and elected because the ninth president of Singapore. Along with being the primary non-Chinese language candidate to win the contested election, he additionally obtained the very best variety of standard votes within the historical past of the nation’s presidential elections.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE Tharman is an economist by career. Along with his varied posts in authorities, he chaired the Board of Trustees of the Group of Thirty and co-chaired the International Fee on the Economics of Water.
He additionally co-chaired the G20 Excessive Stage Impartial Panel on International Financing for Pandemic Preparedness and Response since 2021. And earlier in 2017, he chaired the G20 Eminent Individuals Group on International Monetary Governance.
Shanmugaratnam was on the Board of Trustees of the World Financial Discussion board and a member of the UN Secretary-Basic’s Excessive Stage Advisory Board on Efficient Multilateralism. And he was additionally the primary Asian chair of the Worldwide Financial and Monetary Committee (IMFC), which is the coverage advisory committee of the IMF, from 2011 to 2014.
And between 2019 and 2022, Tharman co-chaired the Advisory Board of the Human Improvement Report of the United Nations Improvement Programme (UNDP).
PERSONAL LIFE The brand new president’s ancestry consists of Sri Lankan-Tamil and Indian heritage. His father Emeritus Prof. Okay. Shanmugaratnam was a medical scientist who was referred to as the ‘father of pathology in Singapore.’
Tharman has been married to Singaporean lawyer Jane Yumiko Ittogi for 33 years; and collectively, they’ve a daughter and three sons. He was actively engaged in sports activities in his youth.
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