Tharman Shanmugaratnam, former chair of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has won the election for the city-state’s presidency with more than 70% of the vote.
According to multiple reports from Sept. 2, Shanmugaratnam defeated presidential candidates Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian to become the next president of Singapore. He will be sworn into office on Sept. 14, less than two weeks after the election.
In the lead-up to his presidential campaign, Shanmugaratnam resigned from his position in Singapore’s parliament and at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), where he served as chair from 2011 to 2023. He was also the country’s finance minister from 2007 to 2015. Under Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s financial regulator witnessed the collapse of Three Arrows Capital and Terraform Labs amid the 2022 market crash.
The president-elect reportedly once called crypto assets “highly volatile” and “highly risky as investment products” in 2021 warnings to Singapore-based users in his role as MAS chair. The financial regulator granted Crypto.com an in-principle approval to operate in the city-state in June 2022, as well as exemptions for Bitstamp, Coinbase and Gemini Trust.
Shanmugaratnam, as president, will become the head of state in Singapore, representing the country in diplomatic functions as part of a largely ceremonial role. He will be replacing Halimah Yacob, who served as president since 2017.
Following Shanmugaratnam’s departure from MAS, the financial regulator has announced a revised regulatory framework for stablecoins in Singapore as part of a public consultation launched in 2022. In July, Singapore’s high court ruled that cryptocurrencies could be treated as personal property akin to fiat money.
Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.