Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s decisive victory has three implications for the future of Singapore politics, says former veteran newspaper editor Han Fook Kwang.
Which brings me to the political significance of his decisive victory. There are three.Despite his popularity and ability, he wasn’t considered by the party to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The other reason cited by observers is that Mr Tharman might not have been considered for the prime minister post because he was more independent-minded than his colleagues, and his views on social issues tended to be more left-leaning. Mr Tharman himself has said in a post-election interview that the fact that there was an imminent leadership transition in Singapore with Finance Minister Lawrence Wong set to become the new prime minister was one reason he entered the presidential race.
Whether it will turn out to be politically significant depends on how Mr Tharman makes use of the opportunity to define it in a way that is true to the values he campaigned for. There are no bread-and-butter issues in a Presidential Election and voters do not see it in a politically partisan way. This was a painful lesson for those who flew the opposition flag in support of Mr Tan and suffered collateral damage when the pickings turned out to be so meagre.
In a curious way, the party that can learn the most useful lesson from the 2023 Presidential Election is the PAP. One of their ex-senior members has just secured a stunning win with a margin that was beyond their wildest expectations.
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