1. Tharman Shanmugaratnam was born on 25 February 1957 and is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been the current and ninth President of Singapore since 2023.
52 Facts About Tharman Shanmugaratnam
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam 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.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam 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.
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On 8 June 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced his intention to run for the 2023 presidential election and his scheduled resignation on 7 July 2023 from all his positions in the government and as a member of the PAP and his division was being covered by other members in Jurong GRC, as the presidency is a non-partisan office.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the first presidential candidate of non-Chinese descent to win an openly contested presidential election in Singapore.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was born in Singapore during British colonial rule in 1957 to a family of Sri Lankan Tamils origin.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam subsequently went on to the University of Cambridge, where he completed a Master of Philosophy degree in economics.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam then became a student at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, where he completed a Master in Public Administration degree and was a recipient of the Lucius N Littauer Fellows Award.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was a student activist while studying in the United Kingdom during the 1970s.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam originally held socialist beliefs, but his views on economics evolved over the course of his working career.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam started his working career at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he became its chief economist.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam later joined the Singapore Administrative Service and served in the Ministry of Education as Senior Deputy Secretary for Policy, before returning to the MAS where he eventually became its managing director.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was awarded the Public Administration Medal in 1999.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam resigned as managing director of the MAS to contest in the 2001 general election as a candidate for the People's Action Party.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam contested, and was eventually acquitted of, the charge of communicating the GDP growth flash projections.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam contested this lesser charge of negligence, and defended himself on the witness stand for a few days.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was appointed Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Senior Minister of State for Education.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Education in 2003 and served in this role until 2008.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam served as Minister for Manpower between 2011 and 2012 concurrently.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam remained Deputy Prime Minister and was appointed Coordinating Minister for Social Policies.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the People's Action Party in December 2002, and was appointed 2nd Assistant Secretary-General in May 2011.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam would be Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and advise the prime minister on economic policies.
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In July 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam stepped down from Parliament and all his positions in the government and resigned as a member of the PAP in order to stand as a candidate in the 2023 Singaporean presidential election.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam served as Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore for 12 years from 1 May 2011 until 7 July 2023, when he was succeeded by his deputy, Lawrence Wong.
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In May 2019, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was appointed Deputy Chairman of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, a position he held until 7 July 2023.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam served as Director of GIC between 2004 and 2023, and Chairman of the Investment Strategies Committee between 2011 and 2023.
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On 8 July 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was succeeded by Lawrence Wong as Chairman of the Investment Strategies Committee.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam chaired the International Advisory Council of the Economic Development Board between 2014 and 2023, and the International Academic Advisory Panel that advises the Singapore Government on strategies regarding the university sector.
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On 8 July 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was succeeded by Lawrence Wong in both positions.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam chaired the Board of Trustees of the Singapore Indian Development Association, which seeks to uplift educational performance and aspirations in the Indian community in Singapore from 2008 until 2023.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam chaired the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute from 2002 until 2023.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam chaired the National Jobs Council aimed at rebuilding skills and jobs for Singaporeans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam led the SkillsFuture programme, launched in 2014 with the aim of developing skills of the future, and opportunities for life-long learning and job upskilling among Singaporeans.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam chaired the tripartite councils from 2011 to 2016 which drove national efforts to transform productivity through innovation and skills, and the implementation of industry-specific transformation programmes.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam co-chaired a few bilateral committees to promote economic and trade relations between Singapore and other countries, including the Singapore-Liaoning Economic and Trade Council from 2004 to 2008, and the High-Level Russia-Singapore Inter-Governmental Commission from 2011 to 2022.
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On 1 January 2017, Tharman Shanmugaratnam succeeded Jean-Claude Trichet as Chair of the Group of Thirty, an independent global council of leading economic and financial policymakers.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was succeeded by Mark Carney and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees on 1 January 2023.
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On 22 May 2019, the United Nations Development Programme announced that Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be co-chairing the Advisory Board of the Human Development Report 2019 alongside Thomas Piketty.
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In May 2019, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.
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In January 2021, Tharman Shanmugaratnam was appointed by the G20 to co-chair the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, alongside Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Lawrence Summers.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam co-chaired the Global Commission on the Economics of Water with Mariana Mazzucato, Ngozi Owonjo-Iweala, and Johan Rockstrom.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam is co-chair of the High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, established by the World Bank Group in July 2024.
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On 8 June 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced his intention to be a candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the first non-Chinese presidential candidate to win in a contested presidential election in Singapore.
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On 24 January 2024, Tharman Shanmugaratnam made his first state visit to Brunei as president.
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On 15 May 2024, Tharman Shanmugaratnam appointed Lawrence Wong as the 4th prime minister of Singapore after Lee Hsien Loong resigned as prime minister.
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In October 2019, Tharman Shanmugaratnam received the Institute of International Finance's inaugural Distinguished Leadership and Service Award, together with Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, for his role as a leading proponent of global reforms to de-risk and grow development finance and to achieve more resilient capital flows.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was named Finance Minister of the Year 2013 by Euromoney, in recognition of the roles he played in the economic restructuring of Singapore and as statesman of the region on the international stage.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was conferred the Freedom of the City of London award in June 2019, in recognition of his significant contributions to global finance governance, and his efforts to strengthen ties between Singapore and the city.
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One of three children, Tharman is the son of Emeritus Professor K Shanmugaratnam, a medical scientist known as the "father of pathology in Singapore", who founded the Singapore Cancer Registry and led a number of international organisations related to cancer research and pathology.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam founded and chairs Tasek Academy and Social Services, a local NGO, and is actively engaged in its initiatives for social development and sustainability.
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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was an active sportsman in his youth, particularly in hockey, athletics, football, and cricket, and has expressed his views on how sports instils lessons for life.