Ultimately, the greatest confidence we get in our future as Singaporeans comes from our social compact.
I spoke about how we are strengthening our society, in this 5th Ministerial Broadcast that was aired on TV tonight - youtube links below.
My talk included some important issues – including the national effort we are making to support middle-aged and mature Singaporean workers with jobs; how we are uplifting incomes and security for our lowest paid workers; and investing more to help children from lower income families, starting with their earliest years.
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Singaporeans have no reason to not be ready for a non-Chinese PM
With elections around the corner, perhaps it is a good time to look back at a comment by then Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in March last year.
During a forum at the Nanyang Technological University on March 28 last year, this question was posed to Mr Heng: “Is it Singapore who is not ready for a non-Chinese Prime Minister, or is it the PAP who is not ready for a non-Chinese Prime Minister?”
Mr Heng replied that he felt that the older generation was not ready for a non-Chinese leader, even though young Singaporeans at the forum were satisfied to have a non-Chinese PM. A report on the forum in todayonline.com on March 29 last year stirred quite a bit of controversy.
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Older generation of S'poreans not ready for non-Chinese PM: Heng Swee Keat
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is expected to succeed Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, said this during a forum at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on Thursday (March 28). He was replying a question posed by a member of the audience, who noted that Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was a popular choice to take on the top job.
In asking the question, Assistant Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah of NTU's School of Social Sciences’ public policy and global affairs programme, also pointed out that Mr Tharman’s popularity was evident in his constituency’s elections results. A survey conducted by market research consultancy Blackbox in 2016 found that Mr Tharman was the top choice among Singaporeans to succeed Mr Lee, with 69 per cent of almost 900 respondents indicating that they would support him to be the candidate for prime minister.
“Is it Singapore who is not ready for a non-Chinese prime minister, or is it the PAP (the ruling People’s Action Party) who is not ready for a non-Chinese prime minister?” Asst Prof Walid asked.
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Minority PM inevitable, but Tharman rules himself out
IT is only a matter of time before Singapore has its first minority-race prime minister, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Friday - but it won't be him because he isn't interested in the job.
He said: "Let me put it this way. We all have our preferences, and I was always, in sports, playing centre-half rather than centre-forward. I enjoy playing half-back and making the long passes, but I am not the striker. Unless I'm forced to be, and I don't think I'll be forced to it, because I think we've got choices.
"We won't always get it the way we expect it to be, but we think very hard about succession in Singapore."
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Singapore's Deputy PM rules himself out from becoming PM
Singapore's Indian-origin Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam today "categorically" ruled himself out from becoming the Prime Minister of the city-state.
"Just to be absolutely clear, because I know there's this talk going around...I'm not the man for PM, I say that categorically. It's not me," the 59-year-old leader was quoted as saying by the local media.
"I know myself, I know what I can do and it's not me. I'm good at policy-making, good at advising my younger colleagues and supporting the PM, not being the PM. That's not my ambition and that's not me," he said.
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DPM Tharman rules himself out as next prime minister: 'I am not the man for PM'
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday (Sept 28) ruled out the possibility that he might be PM, saying Singapore has a distinctive political culture where each minister contributes to the team in a way that matches his strengths.
This culture has been built up over time and the next PM - who will be “first among equals” - will be decided from among the fourth generation of leaders, he added.
“There’s no urgency to see succession in this term of government. That’s why we’re focused on the fourth generation of leaders, building them up and enabling them to take over during the next term of government,” he said.
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DPM Tharman on Yahoo survey: I’m not the man for Prime Minister
DPM Tharman at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year. Photo: Associated Press
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam ruled himself out as a candidate to become Singapore’s prime minister on Wednesday (28 September), saying that a few of the fourth-generation leaders have the potential to be “first among equals”.
Tharman was responding to a question from the media on the results of a survey commissioned by Yahoo Singapore, which showed that 69 per cent of 897 Singaporean respondents would support him as a candidate to be prime minister. The survey, released on Monday (26 September), was conducted by market research consultancy Blackbox.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Tharman said, “Just to be absolutely clear, I am not the man for PM. It’s not me.” “I have expressed myself quite clearly and categorically: I know who I am and I know how I want to serve.”
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“Why doesn’t the PAP allow Tharman to be PM?” Netizens speculate
MAS Chairman, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Photo: AFP)
Mr Tharman, the Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, also served as the country’s Deputy Prime Minister from 2011 to 2019, until he was replaced by Heng Swee Keat. He’s a well-beloved and highly respected political leader.
In a 2019 poll on social media which had nearly 20,000 respondents, an overwhelming 92 percent of voters said they would choose Mr Tharman over Mr Heng to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and become the nation’s next head of Government. A survey from this publication, as well as a Blackbox survey commissioned by Yahoo Singapore, had similar results.
related: Why doesn’t Tharman Shanmugaratnam want to be PM?
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DPM Tharman: "I'm not the man for PM"
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the clear favourite of Singaporeans to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore’s next Prime Minister, a survey conducted by market research consultancy Blackbox shows.
According to the poll commissioned by Yahoo Singapore, 69 per cent of all 897 respondents said they would support Tharman as a candidate to be prime minister.
The 59-year-old led three other men who emerged as possible contenders: fellow DPM Teo Chee Hean (34 per cent), Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat (25 per cent) and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing (24 per cent).
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Shàng Dámàn (尚达曼) Career before politics
While serving as Director of the Economics Department of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in 1993, Tharman was one of five persons charged under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) in a case involving the publication of Singapore's 1992 second-quarter flash projections in the Business Times newspaper. The others were a research director, Raymond Foo, and economist Manu Bhaskaran, of Crosby Securities, journalist Kenneth James and editor Patrick Daniel of the Business Times.
The OSA case, which stretched over more than a year, was reported extensively in the Singapore press. Tharman contested and was eventually acquitted of the charge of communicating the GDP growth flash projections. Senior District Judge Richard Magnus then introduced a lesser charge of negligence, because the prosecution's case was that the figures were seen on a document that he had with him in a meeting room during his meeting with the private sector economists together with one of his colleagues. Tharman also contested this lesser charge of negligence, and defended himself on the witness stand for a few days.
The Court nevertheless convicted him together with all the others in the case, including the editor of Business Times newspaper which published the figures. Tharman was fined S$1,500, and the others S$2,000. As there was no finding that he communicated any classified information, the case did not pose any hurdle to his subsequent appointment as the Managing Director of the MAS, or to his subsequent larger national responsibilities.
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related:
SM Tharman: A stronger and more Cohesive Society
DPM Tharman: "I'm not the man for PM"
DPM Tharman in Focus
Ask DPM Tharman
From Baey Koh Tin to Tharman
Spore pushes for minority race President but not ready for non-Chinese PM
Strong opposition good for party and country
Dominant But Not Dominating
