Profile Text
Place of Birth: Hammersmith, London, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 25 February, 1957
Ethnicity: Sri Lankan Tamil
Tharman Shanmugaratnam is a Singaporean politician and economist. He has served as President of Singapore , since 14 September, 2023. He has also been Minister for Education, from 1 August, 2003 to 31 March, 2008, Minister for Finance, from 1 December, 2007 to 30 September, 2015, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, from 1 May, 2011 to 8 July, 2023, Minister for Manpower, from 21 May, 2011 to 31 July, 2012, Co-Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, from 21 May, 2011 to 30 April, 2019, Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies/Social Policies, from 1 October, 2015 to 7 July, 2023, and Senior Minister of Singapore, from 1 May, 2019 to 7 July, 2023.
Tharman is the son of Sarvambikai Viswalingam and Emeritus Professor K. Shanmugaratnam (Kanagaratnam Shanmugaratnam), a medical scientist, who founded the Singapore Cancer Registry. He was raised in Singapore. Tharman is married to lawyer Jane Yumiko Ittogi, who is of Chinese and Japanese descent. The couple has four children.
An article from Zee News stated that Tharman’s mother is of Chinese descent. It is not clear if this is accurate.
Tharman’s paternal grandfather was named Kanagaratnam Shanmugam. Shanmugam was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Tharman’s paternal grandmother was named Achimuthu Kanther.
Tharman’s maternal grandfather’s surname was Viswalingam.
Sources: https://prabook.com
Genealogy of Tharman Shanmugaratnam – https://www.geni.com
Birth record of Tharman Shanmugaratnam – https://www.familysearch.org