Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has announced that he plans to run for Singapore's presidency, and will retire from politics and all his positions in government.

Former Nominated Member of Parliament, Eugene Tan who’s also Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University shares personal anecdotes of his interactions with Mr Tharman, and an analysis of what Mr Tharman will bring to the plate for Singapore and Singaporeans, ahead of the Presidential Election.

Presented by: Ryan Huang

This podcast is produced and edited by Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg) 

Highlights:

(00:00) Intro

(01:31) Are you surprised by Mr Tharman’s decision?

(02:07) I think maybe we can expand on "not from the establishment"?

(03:03) And of course, you actually had interaction with him or had the chance to meet him in-person when you were in Parliament yourself as an NMP between 2012 and 2014. What's your impression of him? How would you describe Mr Tharman?

(04:37) We haven't heard from anyone else about the intention to run for presidency, so let's talk about what might happen with the potential competition. Are we likely to see anyone come forth, especially from the private sector, anyone who might be gutsy enough to stand up?

(05:51) Here's what they're up against. Mr Tharman has previously served as Deputy PM, Finance and Education Minister; he comes with two decades and more actually of experience as a politician. He also held important past global appointments, for example, the first Asian Chair of the IMFC or the International Monetary and Financial Committee, so quite a long CV and impressive one as well. Jumping the gun a little here, if Mr Tharman’s elected, how much weight will that bring to Singapore’s international standing?

(07:24) We were just chatting off-air earlier, and you mentioned the word counter-intuitive. I was wondering if you can unpack how different his background is, and what's similar to past presidents, because as we all know, he is quite closely linked to the PAP, after going through two decades in various roles? In terms of optics, what will people take away from him being president if he's elected?

(08:57) Talking about bringing things to the table, the value right of him being in that role, what will be the potential synergies that might be coming forth, as he works with the 4G leadership, when you think about how there's in a sense a change of guards, new leaders coming up, and also when you look at his relinquishing of some roles, who will be stepping up to take over some of these roles?

(11:07) Let's take a quick look back at our current President, Madam Halimah Yacob - who is Singapore’s first female president. Looking back at her six-year term, what would you say are the most notable and impressionable moments for you? 

(13:08) And just to wrap things up, we've got the process of the Presidential Election set to begin when the Prime Minister issues the Writ of Election. So of course, we can't let you go for asking that million dollar question - when will the presidential election likely be held? Will it be after National Day?