PM congratulates new S’pore president

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has congratulated Singapore’s former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam over his victory in the island republic’s presidential election on Friday.

He also expressed hope that bilateral relations and cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore would remain intact in a family spirit that would benefit the people of both nations, and Singapore would continue to prosper under Tharman’s leadership.

“Congratulations to Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the new president of the Republic of Singapore,” he said in a social media post yesterday.

In the election, the former Singapore deputy prime minister garnered 70.4% of votes, followed by GIC Pte Ltd former group chief investment officer Ng Kok Song, who received 15.7% and NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Ltd former CEO Tan Kin Lian, with 13.8%.

A Singaporean statesman and economist, Tharman, 66, served as Singapore’s deputy prime minister between 2011 and 2019, and as senior minister in the Cabinet from 2019 to this year.

His other roles include Monetary Authority of Singapore chairman between 2011 and this year, and GIC deputy chairman between 2019 and this year.

Being a former member of Singapore’s governing People’s Action Party (PAP), he was the MP representing the Taman Jurong division of the Jurong group representation constituency between 2001 and this year.

He made his political debut in the 2001 general election and was re-elected to Parliament four times at subsequent general elections in 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2020.

In July, Tharman stepped down from Parliament and all his positions in the government and resigned as a member of the PAP to stand as a candidate in the presidential election.

On Friday, 2,480,760 Singaporeans cast their votes at 1,264 polling stations islandwide. Some 50,152 votes were rejected.

On Facebook, Tharman said he was “truly humbled by the strong endorsement” given to him by voters in the nation’s presidential election.

“I believe the vote for me and what I stood for is a vote of confidence in Singapore itself, a vote of optimism in how we can progress together and support one another as Singaporeans.” – Bernama