TL;DR – Tomorrow will be the last day of office for SM Tharman, sobs.
In Parliament today, as it is SM Tharman’s last sitting day, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah shared some heartfelt words for him. She also thanked the current cohort’s Nominated MPs.
Leader of the House shared how the current cohort of NMPs have joined under very unusual circumstances (hello, Covid). Despite the circumstances, they have covered several important milestones from measures to tackle the pandemic, supporting Singaporeans through rising cost of living, the White Paper on Women’s Development to support for the GST bill, thereby ensuring the viability of publicly funded healthcare for Singaporeans, they have contributed a lot.
Thank you, our 9 Nominated MPs!
“I hope the NMPs will remember their time in parliament fondly, and that they will continue to give close attention to issues of national interests, follow parliamentary proceedings and contribute to our national building efforts in their personal or professional capacities.” – Indranee Rajah
Deepest appreciation for SM Tharman
As you would have heard, Senior Minister Tharman has expressed his interest in running for presidency. Well, tomorrow marks the last day of office for SM Tharman already 🙁
A life of service
SM Tharman has served as a member of parliament for more than two decades since 2001. As today is SM Tharman’s last sitting day, Leader of the House Indranee also has some heartfelt words for him.
Fun fact, she entered parliament at the same time as SM Tharman! She shared how during his tenure, he has made many contributions through his different ministerial appointments, including Minister for Education, Minister for Finance, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social policies and most recently, Senior Minister.
SM was also the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Deputy Chairman of GIC, and chaired its investment strategies committee. He was also Chairman of the EDB’s international Advisory Council.
As Minister for Finance, SM Tharman, through his many budget statements in this parliament boosted our economic growth, and helped steer Singapore through the global financial crisis of 2007 to 2009!
He oversaw economic restructuring efforts post crisis to promote inclusive and resilient economic growth and ensure fiscal sustainability. Psst, the permanent GST voucher scheme to help lower to middle income Singaporeans cope better was also introduced by SM!
Good wages and good jobs for Singaporeans
SM Tharman believes in inclusive growth translating into good jobs and wages for all Singaporeans. Did you know that he was the one who led the Skillsfuture programs to encourage upskilling among Singaporeans? SM also paid special attention to uplift wages and improve retirement adequacy especially for the lower wage workers through measures such as the Progressive Wage Model, Wage Credit Scheme, Workfare Income Supplement and refining our CPF system. More recently, during the pandemic, SM chaired the National Jobs Council to safeguard jobs and create employment and training opportunities for singaporeans.
For close to 10 years, he was also advisor to the unions, and chaired the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute (OTCI) since 2002. Under his leadership, the institute has paved the way in going beyond training union leaders to also developing the training of government officials, and labour management partners in the spirit of tripartism. Over the decades, SM Tharman has managed to win the hearts of Singaporeans from all walks of life – regardless of race, language or religion!
“We will miss a friend, and a fellow Member of Parliament.” Indranee Rajah. Leader of the House
In the days ahead, here’s hoping that SM Tharman can continue to serve Singaporeans in his new capacity!
You can view Indranee’s thank you speech here: