For the primary time in its history, multi-ethnic Singapore has elected a non-ethnically Chinese candidate as its president in a disputed election.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a well-liked, long-time minister of Tamil heritage, was elected with a big majority in September’s presidential elections. When he was sworn into office as Singapore’s ninth president on September 14, it was considered a momentous historical event, but one which political observers consider unlikely to have any significant impact on the island nation.
“Everyone pretends this election actually matters a lot, but honestly it doesn’t,” said Michael Barr, an associate professor of diplomacy at Australia’s Flinders University.
Tharman just isn’t the primary member of an ethnic minority to turn into president, but he’s the primary to achieve this by winning a competitive election. The undeniable fact that he did so in an awesome manner provides compelling evidence that a powerful candidate from an ethnic minority community can overcome race-based voting patterns on the premise of meritocratic achievements.
Much of Singapore’s electoral system was designed on the idea that this was impossible. Instead, positions reserved for ethnic minority candidates were used to make sure their participation in the federal government. Indeed, the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) concerns about electing a non-Chinese candidate are one in every of the the reason why Tharman was allowed to run for president as an alternative of being a possible future prime minister of Singapore, Barr said.
To win the presidential election with 70.4% of the vote, Tharman needed to secure at the least a majority of the votes of Singapore’s Chinese community. During the presidential campaign, Tharman stated that “Singapore is prepared for a non-Chinese prime minister any time.” His election results confirmed this thesis.
“Many of us imagine and consider that Singapore has matured politically, believing in a meritocratic system and multiracialism, that somebody who just isn’t Chinese can still win in open elections,” said Bilveer Singh, an associate professor within the department of political science on the National University in Singapore (NUS). “Tharman has proven [that belief]”
While the election results could have an enduring impact on Singapore’s ethnic politics, limits on the president’s power limit the actual impact of his office.
Since 1991, when Singapore was elected president, his role has turn into largely irrelevant when it comes to government or electoral politics. In fact, it’s a job that many Singaporeans felt Tharman was overqualified for, given his long and storied profession. A graduate of the London School of Economics, Cambridge and Harvard universities, he rose through the Monetary Authority of Singapore to turn into its managing director.
When he entered electoral politics in 2001, he immediately became a government minister and has since served as each deputy prime minister and senior minister, holding portfolios including education and finance.
During his time in power, he broke with the PAP’s deep-seated opposition to social welfare in favor of providing increased state support for the poor and elderly.
“I think he is seen as the people’s champion,” Singh said.
The role of the president was originally intended to be ceremonial, just like that of the governor-general in Commonwealth countries. Prominent Singaporeans, often from an ethnic minority background, can be appointed to the position to represent the country in diplomatic functions.
“We started this work in 1991 and it seemed like very important work, but it was limited by the President’s Council of Advisors and all these new rules that it introduced.”
Michael Barr, associate professor at Flinders University in Australia
When a constitutional amendment established presidential elections thirty years ago, the position was given significant powers. The president could unilaterally veto any try to exhaust the state’s reserves and refuse to consent to the appointment of key figures within the civil service. In Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s mind, it was seen as a formidable test of the federal government in case an unexpected election result handed power to the opposition PAP with an electoral mandate legitimizing the president’s power.
However, soon after the introduction of the direct election system, “the federal government realized that the specter of the so-called a bizarre election consequence is becoming less and fewer likely,” said Kevin Tan, an assistant professor on the NUS Faculty of Law and editor-in-chief of the Asian Journal of Comparative Law.
Since then, the office has been regularly stripped of its ability to meaningfully exercise discretionary power in order that it cannot, in accordance with Barr, limit the ability of the PAP-led government, again leaving the function largely ceremonial.
“We began this work in 1991 and it gave the impression of very necessary work, however it was limited by the President’s Council of Advisors and all the brand new rules that it introduced. Now it’s just an exhibit,” Barr said.
Although the position of president is meant to be non-partisan, the undeniable fact that it’s the only position directly elected by the whole population of Singapore has encouraged many to view its consequence in political terms. Tharman was seen by many as having the unspoken support of the PAP, while candidate Tan Kin Lian, a businessman and former presidential candidate, enjoyed the general public support of opposition party leaders.
However, the candidate eligibility criteria, leaving only government ministers, senior government-appointed officials and leaders of Singapore’s largest corporations eligible to run, meant that a candidate who could plausibly be called “opposition” could contest the first election.
As a result, Barr said, there have been three candidates on this 12 months’s election who, despite presenting themselves as independents, were all, to at least one degree or one other, a part of the PAP establishment. Even Tan Kin Lian, who billed himself as an “anti-establishment opposition candidate,” wasn’t really independent of the PAP: “He’s just not that far behind,” Barr said.
Without a real opposition candidate, those difficult the federal government cannot actually “lose” the election. On the opposite hand, attributable to Tharman’s charismatic popularity, voting for him just isn’t the identical as voting for PAP.
“Tharman has always performed better than PAP, even in every general election,” Singh said.
Still, he added that Tharman is simply too unique a person to attract comparisons with other ethnic minority figures present on Singapore’s political scene, making it unlikely anyone could follow in his footsteps within the foreseeable future.
“Tharman is simply too charismatic a leader whom every Singaporean loves and knows for what he is. So I don’t think the Tharman effect can be replicated elsewhere with another character,” Singh said.
