VZCZCXRO1230
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #2135 3360452
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020452Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4522
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SINGAPORE 002135 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TREASURY SSEARLS, RKAPROTH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN ECON ETRD EFIN EINV SN
 
SUBJECT: PM PASSES FINANCE MINISTER ROLE TO THARMAN 
 
 
¶1.  (U) After 19 months as second Minister of Finance, Tharman 
Shanmugaratnam takes over the top position at the Finance 
Ministry from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, effective December 
¶1.  Trained as an economist at London School of Economics and 
Cambridge University, the promotion caps a long career in 
economic and financial policy.  Minister Tharman also serves on 
the boards of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the 
Government Investment Corporation (GIC).  He will retain his 
position as Minister for Education until a cabinet reshuffle 
next year, according to press reports.  An edited version of 
Minister Tharman's classnet biography follows below. 
Biography 
--------- 
 
¶2. (U) Tharman Shanmugaratnam has been Member of Parliament 
representing the Jurong district of Singapore since October 
¶2001.  Before entering politics, he spent much of his earlier 
professional career at MAS, Singapore's central bank and 
financial regulator, where he rose to the position of Managing 
Director.  While at MAS, he worked on broad-ranging 
liberalization and regulatory changes to Singapore's financial 
sector.  He continues to serve on the Board of MAS, and also 
sits on the Board of GIC. 
 
¶3. (U) He served as Senior Minister of State in the Ministries 
of Trade and Industry and Education between November 2001 and 
July 2003.  He became Acting Minister for Education in August 
2003, and Minister for Education a year later.  He added the 
position of Second Minister for Finance in May 2006.  Tharman is 
also Co-Chairman of the Singapore-Liaoning Economic and Trade 
Council, which was established in 2003 to advance stronger links 
between Singapore and Liaoning Province.  He is Chairman of the 
Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies, and serves as a 
Life Trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association. 
 
¶4. (U) Tharman was appointed to the Central Executive Committee 
(CEC) of the People's Action Party (PAP) in 2002.  He was re- 
elected to the CEC, and appointed the party's Assistant 
Treasurer in 2004. 
 
¶5. (U) Tharman undergraduate and masters degrees in Economics 
from the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, 
respectively.  He later obtained a masters degree in Public 
Administration at Harvard University, where he received the 
Littauer Fellow award.  He was awarded the Singapore Public 
Administration Gold Medal in 1999. 
 
¶6. (U) Born in 1957, he is married and has four children. 
 
 
HERBOLD