Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Tharman Shanmugaratnam}} (born 25 February 1957), also known mononymously as Tharman, is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been serving as the ninth president of Singapore since 2023.

Prior to his presidency, Tharman served as Senior Minister of Singapore between 2019 and 2023, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore between 2011 and 2023, and Deputy Prime Minister between 2011 and 2019.He also served as Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies between 2011 and 2015, Minister for Finance between 2007 and 2015, Minister for Education between 2003 and 2008 and Minister for Manpower between 2011 and 2012.

Tharman was committed through his years in government to building economic resilience and a more inclusive society. He introduced major educational reforms while serving as Education Minister, to make for a broader and more flexible system of meritocracy. He later led the ‘SkillsFuture’ programme, aimed at enabling life-long learning for all. He has also promoted initiatives to deepen and advance Singapore’s model of multiculturalism.

Tharman has led several international councils focused especially on global financial reforms, preparedness for future pandemics, education, and global water sustainability. He currently chairs the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Group of Thirty (G30), a grouping of eminent thought leaders in economic policymaking, academia and the financial industry. He also co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW), whose initial recommendations helped shape the outcomes of the UN Water Conference in March 2023. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum (WEF), an advisory board that helps shape the strategic directions of the WEF.

Tharman co-chaired the Advisory Board for the UN Human Development Report (HDR) from 2019 to 2024. The Advisory Board provides intellectual advice and guidance on the overall vision, direction and message of the UN HDR. He led the Board for the [https://hdr.undp.org/reports-and-publications/towards-2023-human-development-report 2023/24 HDR] with Joseph E. Stiglitz, and co-chaired with Thomas Piketty, Michael Spence, and Michèle Lamont, respectively, for the previous three editions of the HDR.

A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Jurong GRC between 2001 and 2023. Tharman [https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/great-mp-who-will-be-missed-jurong-grc-residents-on-tharman-s-presidential-bid made his political debut in the 2001 general election], and had been re-elected to Parliament four times at subsequent general elections in 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2020.

On 8 June 2023, Tharman [https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/tharman-shanmugaratnam-singapore-presidential-election-candidate-3547586 announced his intention to run for the 2023 presidential election] and his [https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/sm-tharman-to-run-for-president-will-resign-from-govt-and-pap-on-july-7 scheduled resignation on 7 July 2023] from all his positions in the government and as a member of the PAP, as the presidency is a non-partisan office. On 2 September 2023, Tharman was announced as the winner after receiving 70.41% of the vote in a landslide victory and was elected as the [https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/presidential-election-tharman-elected-70-cent-landslide-win-ng-kok-song-tan-kin-lian-3740526 ninth president of Singapore]. He is the first presidential candidate not of Chinese descent to win in a contested presidential election in Singapore. Provided by Wikipedia