Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Tharman Shanmugaratnam has been President of Singapore since September 2023, elected with about seventy per cent of the vote in a contest that was unusually competitive by Singaporean standards. Born in 1957, the son of a pathologist who founded a medical research institute, he studied economics at the London School of Economics, Cambridge and the Harvard Kennedy School. He spent his early career at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he was investigated and fined a token amount under the Official Secrets Act in 1994 over a growth estimate discussed in a document, a case he has said involved no leak of consequence. He entered parliament for the People's Action Party in 2001 and held the education portfolio from 2003, then finance from 2007 to 2015, deputy prime minister from 2011 to 2019, and senior minister until 2023. He chaired the Monetary Authority of Singapore for twelve years, and from 2011 to 2014 chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the IMF's policy steering body — the first Asian to do so. As finance minister he introduced Workfare, which supplements low wages rather than providing unemployment benefit, and progressive property and income tax changes, and he has argued consistently that social spending should be framed as investment in capability rather than redistribution. The Singaporean presidency is largely ceremonial but holds custodial powers: it can veto draws on the country's past financial reserves and block key public appointments. Candidates must clear stringent eligibility rules, and Tharman resigned from the PAP to run as an independent. He is widely regarded internationally, has co-chaired a G20 panel on pandemic preparedness and a global commission on water economics, and speaks Tamil, English, Malay and some Mandarin and Japanese. He was a keen sportsman in his youth and captained his school hockey team.
- Lived: 1957 CE – ?
- Nationality: Singaporean
- Roles: President of Singapore (2023-present)
