SINGAPORE — As a university student at the London School of Economics in the 1970s, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam was known to be an activist who was friends with Communist sympathisers agitating for social change back home in Singapore.
"There’s an old Bob Dylan song that says, 'But I was older then, I’m much younger now' when he was reflecting about his youth," he said.
The former Senior Minister turned presidential candidate was speaking to Mediacorp reporters in a recent interview at Greenology, a company that does urban greening located in Changi Village. "It's powerful when feel empowered and they know that someone is there who trusts them, who respects them, and they can make it on their own. And that fuller idealism is the way I think about society now."Reflecting further on his youth, Mr Tharman conceded that unlike the other two presidential candidates, Mr Ng Kok Song and Mr Tan Kin Lian, he did not come from a particularly humble background.
"I never had an ambition to be in this position or that position. I just enjoyed what I was doing," he said."I enjoyed being an economist and I enjoyed delving deep into economics. When I was at the MAS as chief economist, I enjoyed my policy work greatly." "The President, advised by the CPA , has to understand this well. So that in a crisis, just like we had with Covid, you're not just sitting there in your room and one day, the door opens and the Finance Minister springs in and makes a request."
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