https://www.scmp.com/rss/523303/feed The latest news and top stories on Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the President of Singapore since September 2023. He previously was Singapore's Senior Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Education Minister. He chaired the Monetary Authority of Singapore and served as Deputy Chairman of GIC. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Kolette Lim,Jean Iau Kolette Lim,Jean Iau Competition between the United States and China could help drive global progress, but only if both powers exercise restraint in sensitive areas such as nuclear technology and artificial intelligence, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has said. Speaking at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Tharman stressed that broad innovation benefits could come from rivalry between the two superpowers. He added that innovations born of competition could lead to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3340733/davos-singapores-tharman-calls-us-china-rivalry-benefit-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3340733/davos-singapores-tharman-calls-us-china-rivalry-benefit-world?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:09:25 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Just under a third of Singapore residents in a recent survey by global communication firm Edelman believe that the next generation would be better off than the current one – a drop of 11 percentage points from last year’s findings. The Edelman Trust Barometer 2026 figures showed Singapore as being among four other Asian countries that registered a double-digit decrease, with the city state’s 31 per cent mark just under the global average of 32 per cent. The 26th edition of the annual survey,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3340345/most-singaporeans-not-upbeat-future-next-generation-survey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3340345/most-singaporeans-not-upbeat-future-next-generation-survey?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Jan 2026 23:00:20 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Singapore’s parliamentarians on Wednesday voted Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh unsuitable as Leader of the Opposition following his court conviction for lying to a committee, with his opponents questioning his integrity and leadership, while supporters suggested there was a political agenda against him. The heated discussion in Singapore’s typically sterile parliament, which saw WP MPs repeatedly calling points of order, centred on Leader of the House Indranee Rajah’s motion calling on... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3339895/singapores-pritam-singh-debate-mps-trade-barbs-over-bid-remove-opposition-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3339895/singapores-pritam-singh-debate-mps-trade-barbs-over-bid-remove-opposition-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jan 2026 10:42:58 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Singapore’s acting sports minister has conceded he “should have been more respectful” after calling Hong Kong football fans and players “idiots” in a locker room pep talk to his side, following the city state’s historic win on Tuesday night in Hong Kong. Singapore came back from a goal down to beat Hong Kong 2-1 in the Asian Cup qualifier match in front of a record 47,762-strong crowd in Kai Tak Stadium, sealing their qualification for a major football tournament on merit for the first time. The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3333416/singapore-minister-sorry-derogatory-remarks-hong-kong-football-team-fans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3333416/singapore-minister-sorry-derogatory-remarks-hong-kong-football-team-fans?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Nov 2025 09:49:09 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A Malaysian man on death row for trafficking heroin is to be executed this week in Singapore, anti-death penalty activists said on Monday, renewing calls for a halt to capital punishment in the city state. If the execution goes through, Datchinamurthy Kataiah, 39, will become the third Malaysian national and the eleventh person to be hanged this year in Singapore. His family received a notice on Sunday that his hanging will take place on Thursday at Singapore’s Changi prison, according to Kokila... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3326386/malaysian-mans-singapore-execution-heroin-trafficking-sparks-new-clemency-calls?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3326386/malaysian-mans-singapore-execution-heroin-trafficking-sparks-new-clemency-calls?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Sep 2025 09:10:03 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Singapore must remain a reliable base and a gateway to Asia’s dynamism in an increasingly divided world, while addressing social mobility and cohesion at home, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday. Tharman, a former cabinet minister, was speaking at the opening of the 15th parliament in Singapore, during which the city state’s president addresses MPs on key issues in the fresh five-year term. He noted that the new parliament was opening amid a more fragmented world where economic... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324567/singapore-must-be-asias-gateway-uphold-social-mobility-home-president?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324567/singapore-must-be-asias-gateway-uphold-social-mobility-home-president?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 14:56:10 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau The gap in the credibility scores separating Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) and main opposition the Workers’ Party (WP) is narrowing, while an uptick in young conservative voters contributed to the PAP’s triumph at the May election, a survey has revealed. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first general election as PAP chief on May 3 bucked the trend of new leaders in the city state seeing a decline in the ruling PAP’s popular vote, with his party enjoying a vote-share swing in its favour... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324098/gap-between-singapores-pap-wp-credibility-scores-narrows-survey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324098/gap-between-singapores-pap-wp-credibility-scores-narrows-survey?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Sep 2025 14:06:27 +0000 Yanto Chandra Yanto Chandra The protests that have sprang up across Indonesia are a warning about the state of the country and a wake-up call for better governance. Social media posts are filled with photos of lawmakers who left the country in a rush to find safety. Picture an administration running a huge fiscal deficit. Interest payments on loans take up an increasingly large part of the national budget, state spending is soaring amid efforts such as a national school lunch programme costing more than 300 trillion rupiah... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3323912/protest-hit-indonesia-badly-needs-new-ideas-root-out-corruption?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3323912/protest-hit-indonesia-badly-needs-new-ideas-root-out-corruption?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Sep 2025 08:30:08 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Singapore has granted clemency to Tristan Tan Yi Rui, an inmate on death row for drug trafficking, and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment instead. The 33-year-old’s case is believed to be the first time since 1998 that the city state, known for its zero tolerance for drugs, has commuted the death sentence of an inmate on death row. Tan was convicted in 2023 of trafficking not less than 337.6 grams of methamphetamine. In a letter from Julius Lim, principal private secretary to the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3322038/rare-move-singapore-commutes-drug-traffickers-sentence-death-life-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3322038/rare-move-singapore-commutes-drug-traffickers-sentence-death-life-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Aug 2025 11:34:28 +0000