A poll commissioned by Yahoo Singapore has confirmed what we’ve all quietly suspected all along — Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the people’s choice for the next Prime Minister.
Way ahead of the likes of fellow Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean or Finance Minister Heng Swee Kiat, Tharman emerged as the clear frontrunner, according to a survey conducted by market research consultancy Blackbox. 69 percent out of 897 respondents expressed their support for Tharman as a candidate to be Prime Minister, while 55 percent named him as first choice to succeed PM Lee Hsien Loong.
Politicians not so favoured by the respondents? Acting Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng, Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung and Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong didn’t get enough votes of confidence, with less than 10 percent.
Meanwhile, an informal poll conducted by The Independent Singapore also saw major approval for Tharman to be the next prime minister.
But does the charismatic Deputy Prime Minister even want the job in the first place?
The issue of having a non-Chinese prime minister has been brewing lately, with Tharman himself commenting that it’s only inevitable to have a minority leader in Singapore. Tharman, however, did not see himself as taking on the job in response to a query during a dialogue at the SG50+ Conference last year.
“Let me put it this way. We all have our preferences and I was always, in sports, playing centre-half rather than centre-forward. I enjoy playing half-back and making the long passes, but I am not the striker,” he said.
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