K. Shanmugam
K. Shanmugam | |
---|---|
காசிவிஸ்வநாதன் சண்முகம் | |
File:K Shanmugam.jpg | |
Minister for Home Affairs | |
Assumed office 1 October 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
Preceded by | Teo Chee Hean |
Constituency | Nee Soon GRC |
In office 1 November 2010 – 20 May 2011 | |
Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
Preceded by | Wong Kan Seng |
Succeeded by | Teo Chee Hean |
Minister for Law | |
Assumed office 1 May 2008 | |
Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
Preceded by | S. Jayakumar |
Constituency | Nee Soon GRC |
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Nee Soon GRC (Chong Pang) | |
Assumed office 21 May 2011 | |
Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
In office 21 May 2011 – 30 September 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
Preceded by | George Yeo |
Succeeded by | Vivian Balakrishnan |
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Sembawang GRC (Chong Pang) | |
In office 3 September 1988 – 18 April 2011 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam 26 March 1959 Singapore |
Political party | ![]() |
Spouse(s) |
Seetha Subbiah (m. 2008) |
Children | 2 (from prev. marriage)[1] |
Alma mater | National University of Singapore |
Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam SC (born 26 March 1959), better known as K. Shanmugam, is a Singaporean politician and former lawyer. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Minister for Law since May 2008 and the Minister for Home Affairs since October 2015, a post which he had briefly served from November 2010 to May 2011. He previously served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from May 2011 to September 2015. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1988 representing the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (1988-2011) and the Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (since 2011), serving the Chong Pang ward in both constituencies.
Education
Shanmugam was educated in Raffles Institution from 1972 to 1977 before he went on to read law at the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Law, where he graduated at the top of his class with a LL.B. (first class honours) in 1984.
Early career
After being admitted to the Singapore Bar as an advocate and solicitor in 1985, Shanmugam went into private practice and became a Senior Partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at the Singaporean law firm Allen & Gledhill.
Shanmugam had a successful practice and was consistently recognised in various international publications as one of the top litigation, arbitration and insolvency counsel in Asia. While he was in private practice, he regularly handled trial work in major corporate, commercial, insolvency disputes for private and public listed companies, major international and Singaporean banking and financial institutions, multinational corporations and professional practices.
In 1998, Shanmugam became one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court at the age of 38.[2]
At the age of 29, Shanmugam became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1988 when he was elected as a member for the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) of Sembawang.
Minister for Law (since 2008)
Shanmugam served as an MP and continued to practise law until 2008, when he was brought into the Cabinet to replace S. Jayakumar as Minister for Law.[3] He was concurrently made the Second Minister for Home Affairs in 2008, and succeeded Wong Kan Seng as Minister for Home Affairs in 2010.
Following the 2011 general election, Shanmugam relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Home Affairs and was made the Minister for Foreign Affairs, while continuing to serve as Minister for Law.[4] As of 2015, Shanmugam remains as a Member of Parliament serving Chong Pang.[5]
Following Shanmugam's remarks on changes to the qualifying criteria for Singapore's elected presidency, he was criticized by former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock for pre-empting the legislative process and the Presidential Elections Committee, which decides the eligibility of candidates for the Singapore presidential elections.[6]
In February 2018, Shanmugam said that Singapore would change its criminal breach of trust (CBT) laws to address concerns that company directors and key officers of charities would face less harsh maximum punishments for CBT offences than their employees.[7]
Shanmugam was a member of the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods, where he questioned Simon Milner, Facebook's Vice President of Public Policy for Asia-Pacific, about the misuse of online data by Cambridge Analytica.[8]
Other appointments
Shanmugam served on the board of directors for several companies before his appointment to the Singapore Cabinet.
Directorships
- Non-Executive Director of Sembcorp Industries (July 1998 to April 2008)[9]
- Director of Asia Food & Properties (July 1997- 2001)[10]
- Director of Golden Agri-Resources (May 1999 - 2001)[10]
Personal life
A part of the Tamil diaspora, Shanmugam has been married to clinical child psychologist Seetha Subbiah since 2008. He was previously married to Jothie Rajah, a legal academic and daughter of former Judicial Commissioner K. S. Rajah.
References
- ^ "Free". April 2, 2008. Archived from the original on April 2, 2008.
- ^ "Tempering the law with compassion". The Straits Times. 4 November 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2016 – via AsiaOne.
- ^ Law Minister Jayakumar says K Shanmugam will be asset to cabinet, channelnewsasia.com, 29 March 2008
- ^ PM Lee announces sweeping changes to Cabinet, channelnewsasia.com, 18 May 2011
- ^ Shanmugam, K. "Member's Profile". GOVERNMENT OF SINGAPORE. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ^ Lim, Yan Liang (18 September 2016). "Changes to elected presidency seek to improve system, not bar certain individuals: Shanmugam". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
- ^ "Shanmugam: Gap in CBT law to be plugged soon". The Straits Times. February 6, 2018.
- ^ "Minister Shanmugam grills Facebook representative for 3 hours at parliamentary hearing". Mothership.sg.
- ^ "Sembcorp Industries Annual Report 2008 - Delivering Essential Solutions". www.sembcorp.com. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
- ^ a b Lim, Leonard (2013-06-25). "MFA seeks answers from Jakarta to conflicting views on whether Singapore firms caused haze". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
External links
- K. Shanmugam on Facebook
- Profile of K Shanmugam at Prime Minister's Office website
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ "News and Statements from K Shanmugam". TODAYonline.
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- Members of the Cabinet of Singapore
- Members of the Parliament of Singapore
- People's Action Party politicians
- Singaporean lawyers
- National University of Singapore alumni
- Raffles Institution alumni
- Singaporean people of Tamil descent
- Singaporean Hindus
- 1959 births
- Living people
- Government ministers of Singapore
- Singaporean Senior Counsel