01-06-2023, 02:34 PM
Politics: Halamak
Halimah Yacob, Singapore’s president, will not be running for a second term—the election must be called by September 13th—despite acknowledging that it’s been an honour and privilege to have served. “The president has significant constitutional, ceremonial, and community-related duties, and holds the second key to our reserves, and to key appointments in the public service,” she also said, in a rebuff to persistent suggestions that the office is limp. The 68-year-old decided against it without giving any reason. It’s unlikely to be health or age—her immediate predecessors, Tony Tan (then 71) and SR Nathan (75), were older when they began their terms. Not performance either—officials, analysts and the public have lauded her as she pushed forward on her primary aim, “to help create a more caring and compassionate society.” The announcement will fuel speculation that she has been sidelined by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) elders, who apparently don’t trust her to win the votes of Singaporeans (especially, in their racially-charged worldview, if she faces a Chinese male). PAP heavy-weights passing through the rumour mill include Lim Boon Heng and Khaw Boon Wan, former ministers, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister. Halimah’s ascent to power in 2017 was controversial for numerous reasons, including the fact that the government changed the Constitution to limit it to Malays—something positioned as representation but what many perceived to be a manoeuvre to rule out Tan Cheng Bock, a former PAP MP who’s switched sides. Halimah won in a walkover, after the government declared that no other person qualified (a possibility this year too). “History might remember her as Singapore’s first female president or the first head of state to live in public housing when she initially assumed office,” said The Straits Times. Well, that’s the PAP’s version: more fantasy than history. The people will remember how she was seemingly installed by her party—and then just as quickly discarded.
Halimah Yacob, Singapore’s president, will not be running for a second term—the election must be called by September 13th—despite acknowledging that it’s been an honour and privilege to have served. “The president has significant constitutional, ceremonial, and community-related duties, and holds the second key to our reserves, and to key appointments in the public service,” she also said, in a rebuff to persistent suggestions that the office is limp. The 68-year-old decided against it without giving any reason. It’s unlikely to be health or age—her immediate predecessors, Tony Tan (then 71) and SR Nathan (75), were older when they began their terms. Not performance either—officials, analysts and the public have lauded her as she pushed forward on her primary aim, “to help create a more caring and compassionate society.” The announcement will fuel speculation that she has been sidelined by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) elders, who apparently don’t trust her to win the votes of Singaporeans (especially, in their racially-charged worldview, if she faces a Chinese male). PAP heavy-weights passing through the rumour mill include Lim Boon Heng and Khaw Boon Wan, former ministers, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister. Halimah’s ascent to power in 2017 was controversial for numerous reasons, including the fact that the government changed the Constitution to limit it to Malays—something positioned as representation but what many perceived to be a manoeuvre to rule out Tan Cheng Bock, a former PAP MP who’s switched sides. Halimah won in a walkover, after the government declared that no other person qualified (a possibility this year too). “History might remember her as Singapore’s first female president or the first head of state to live in public housing when she initially assumed office,” said The Straits Times. Well, that’s the PAP’s version: more fantasy than history. The people will remember how she was seemingly installed by her party—and then just as quickly discarded.