Sunday, October 13, 2013

Euromoney’s Finance Minister of the Year Tharman Shanmugaratnam would have been PM-to be if not for…


Euromoney’s Finance Minister of the Year Tharman Shanmugaratnam would have been Singapore's PM-to be if not for…

Dear Friends,
I have always known how great an asset Singapore has in Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. The renowned financial magazine Euromoney ( see link)  has just confirmed what many of us already know.

Unlike the new media, including one chappie ( who happened to be a ex-Presidential candidate) who said ,” I am surprised as I find Singapore to be costly, inefficient and wasteful, and the situation has not improved in spite of a lot of money being spent, or given away ” and many others with the usual negative comments about almost anything that others have to say about Singapore, I have always felt that Tharman has done very well ( within the constraints that he operated in).
I have said before ( and I will say it again), that Tharman would have made an excellent PM when the time comes.

However according to past and present government leaders this is unlikely to be.

Former PM Lee Kuan Yew said,

“I am a realist and am inclined to agree with Mr S. Dhanabalan that Chinese Singaporeans are not ready to accept a non-Chinese prime minister….This is the reality and fact of life that we cannot pretend that such mindset does not exist.” ( 1 Dec 2007)


And even more surprisingly to me present PM Lee also has similar sentiments) at Excerpts from ST on 9 Nov 2008.

Non-Chinese PM?


SINGAPORE may have a non-Chinese prime minister one day but that is unlikely to happen any time soon, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday, four days after Americans elected their first black president.

So,

1.       Has Tharman done well for us and is his accolade deserved?

2.       Has Singapore matured and gone to First World meritocracy where the best gets to lead?

3.       Can our present group of leaders ever come out of the shadow of the past leader/s?

I know my answers, what are yours?

Cheers,

Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan