Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2011
Preceded by	Wong Kan Seng
Minister for Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2007
Preceded by	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister for Manpower
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2011
Preceded by	Gan Kim Yong
Second Minister for Finance
In office 2005 – 1 December 2007
Minister for Education
In office 1 August 2003 – 1 April 2008
Preceded by	Seat created
Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 November 2001
Personal details
Born	1957 Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse(s)	Jane Yumiko Ittogi
Alma mater	London School of Economics, Cambridge University, Harvard University
Religion	Hindu

At the official opening of Yuan Ching Secondary School's new building on 16 July 2010

Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Tamil: தர்மன் சண்முகரத்தினம், simplified Chinese: 尚达曼; traditional Chinese: 尚達曼; pinyin: Shàng Dámàn; born 1957) is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he is currently the country's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance and Minister for Manpower. He previously served as the Minister for Education from 2003 to 2008. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2001.

In March 2011, Tharman was appointed the Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the policy steering committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He was also admitted to the Group of Thirty (an international consultative group made up of 30 leading financiers and academics) in June 2008.

Career

Tharman served as the Chief Executive of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) before he entered politics in 2001.

Political career

Tharman was elected to Parliament at the 2001 general election. Following the election, he was a Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education. He then served as the Minister for Education from 2003 to 2008. In May 2006, he was also appointed to the post of Second Minister for Finance.

In December 2007, Tharman was appointed the Minister for Finance. He continued to concurrently hold the post of Minister for Education until March 2008.

In June 2008, Tharman was admitted to the Group of Thirty (also known as the 'Consultative Group on International Economic and Monetary Affairs'). This international body is made up of 30 leading financiers and academics, with the American Paul Volcker as the Chairman of its Board of Trustees.

In March 2011, Tharman was selected as the Chairman of the policy steering committee of the IMF, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC). He was the first Asian to head the IMFC, coming after Dr Youssef Boutros-Ghali, Egypt's former Minister of Finance, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, who had been Italy's Economy and Finance Minister, and Gordon Brown, the United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer, who chaired the committee for eight years until he became Prime Minister. In announcing Tharman's selection, the IMF said in a statement that his "broad experience, deep knowledge of economic and financial issues, and active engagement with global policy makers will be highly valuable to the IMFC".

At the 2011 general election, Tharman's team in Jurong GRC won 66.96% of votes against the team from the National Solidarity Party.

Following the 2011 election, Tharman was appointed as one of two Deputy Prime Ministers of Singapore. He was also appointed as the Minister for Manpower in addition to his role as the Minister for Finance.

Other roles

Tharman also serves as the Chairman of the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies, Chairman of the Council of Advisors of the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees Union, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). He served for five years as Chairman of the Singapore-Liaoning Economic and Trade Council (SLETC), which was established to advance stronger links between Singapore and the province of Liaoning in China.

Legal charge and conviction

While serving as Economic Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1993, Tharman was charged under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) in a case involving the release of Singapore's 1992 second-quarter flash projections to a research director, Mr Raymond Foo, and economist Manu Bhaskaran, of Crosby Securities, and to journalists Kenneth James and Patrick Daniel of the Business Times.

The OSA case, which stretched over more than a year, was reported extensively in the Singapore press. Tharman contested and was eventually acquitted of the charge of communicating the GDP growth flash projections. Senior District Judge Richard Magnus then introduced a lesser charge of negligence, because the prosecution's case was that the figures were seen on a document that he had with him at a meeting with the private economists which he had attended with one of his colleagues. Tharman contested this lesser charge too, and took to the witness stand for a few days.

The court nevertheless convicted him together with all the others in the case, including the editor of Business Times newspaper which published the figures. Tharman was fined S$1,500, and the others S$2,000. As there was no finding that he knowingly communicated any classified information, the case did not pose any hurdle to his subsequent appointment as the Chief Executive of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Education

Tharman studied at Anglo-Chinese School, before going on to the London School of Economics, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics. He subsequently obtained a Master's degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University where he received a Lucius N. Littauer Fellow award for outstanding performance.

Personal life

Tharman is of Sri Lankan ancestry. He is married to Jane Yumiko Ittogi, a lawyer of Chinese-Japanese parentage. The couple have three sons and one daughter.

External links

• Tharman Shanmugaratnam at cabinet.gov.sg
• Tharman Shanmugaratnam at parliament.gov.sg
• Taman Jurong Website

Political offices
Preceded by Wong Kan Seng	Deputy Prime Minister 2011–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Teo Chee Hean	Minister for Education 2003-2008	Succeeded by Ng Eng Hen
Preceded by Lee Hsien Loong	Minister for Finance 2007–present	Incumbent
Preceded by None	Second Minister for Finance 2005-2007	Succeeded by None
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC (Taman Jurong) 2001–present	Incumbent