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O-i-C...

What they want to know now?.
Tharman should have been an obvious candidate to succeed Lee. But in 2008 Lee declared that only a candidate from Singapore’s majority Chinese community was acceptable. This verdict was confirmed in 2019 by Lee’s then-designated successor, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat. In the same year, Tharman stepped down as Deputy Prime Minister to make way for Heng. This is the lot of a talented Indian in Singapore’s supposedly meritocratic society.

On 8 June 2023, Tharman announced that he was stepping down from Cabinet to run for President later in the year. This should not have been a surprise, given that he had no prospect of advancement in Cabinet.

Despite being a notionally apolitical position, the presidency has become something of a sinecure for former Deputy Prime Ministers amenable to a lucrative soft landing. There are a set of reserve powers attached to the position, but there is no clear mechanism for these to be exercised, so the role is not very onerous.

The choice of Tharman for President arguably solves several problems for PM Lee.