Tharman: ‘Singapore is ready any time for a non-Chinese PM’

SINGAPORE: At an election meeting on Aug 25, former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugarantnam was asked when the country would know it’s ready to have a non-Chinese Prime Minister.

“Singapore is ready any time for a non-Chinese prime minister,” he answered. He added that today, compared to 40 or 50 years ago, people look at a candidate as a whole, not just race.

“They look at people in totality… Singapore’s ready any time. If someone comes up who’s a superior candidate for prime minister, the person can be made the prime minister. I believe they can,” The Straits Times quotes him as saying.

Is this a sign that times are changing?

As recently as 2019, then-Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in a ministerial forum organised by the NTU Students’ Union that the older generation of Singaporeans is not ready to have someone from a minority race as Prime Minister, even though a portion of the population has said they’d be satisfied if this were the case.

Mr Heng had at that time been widely believed to be the successor of Prime Minister Lee Loong but bowed out of contention in 2021.

Assistant Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah of NTU’s School of Social Sciences public policy and global affairs programme mentioned that Mr Tharman had been consistently popular at Jurong GRC. The audience member who had posed the question about a non-Chinese Prime Minister had said that Mr Tharman was also many people’s choice to succeed PM Lee.

“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?” Asst Prof Walid had asked.

“My own experience in walking the ground, in working with different people from all walks of life, is that the views — if you go by age and by life experience — would be very different,” answered Mr Heng.

However, Mr Tharman said that Singapore’s top job is not for him and would go to someone from a younger generation.

In 2017, he replied to similar questions, “I’m not the man for PM; I say that categorically. It’s not me. I know myself. I know what I can do, and it’s not me. I’m good at supporting the Prime Minister, not being the Prime Minister. That’s not my ambition, and it’s not me.”

Mr Tharman noted that the fourth generation of leaders is a “strong team” and that one would emerge as the “first among equals” to be the next Prime Minister.

/TISG

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