Singapore (Commonwealth Union)_ President Halimah Yacob was a ground breaker in Singapore politics even before she became the nation’s first female president.
She was also the first woman to serve as speaker of parliament and only the second Muslim, holding the role between 2013 and 2017, and the first woman to become the president of Singapore since the island state broke away from Malaysia in 1965 to become independent.
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President Halimah, who ended her six years as the eighth president of Singapore last week, said she would be “grateful” if her career inspired other women, particularly those from minority communities, to aim high.
Singapore politics is still male dominated, with only 27 of 93 elected members of parliament being female, but President Halimah hopes that may change.
President Halimah delivered her farewell speech last week at The Istana, the presidential palace. She said, “Many have shared with me about how uplifting it was for them to see a female head of state and its strong message about women’s place in our society.”
A grandmother who is just 1.55 metres tall and wears a tudung, the traditional headscarf worn by some Muslim women, she also reset the norms of what political leaders look like in South-East Asia.
The 69-year-old is a Malay Singaporean, from a group that represents only 13.5% of the population, with Singaporean Chinese making up almost three-quarters.
In her farewell speech, she said, “It was an excruciating balance between saving for the future and immediate withdrawals to protect jobs and livelihoods”.
President Halimah grew up in humble surroundings on Queen Street in central Singapore, near the bus station that today takes passengers across the border to Malaysia.
One of five children born to an Indian father and Malay mother, she helped her family sell nasi padang, a popular rice dish to make ends meet after her father passed away of a heart attack when she was only eight years old.
She went on to earn a law degree at the National University of Singapore and work in the labour movement before joining politics in the 2001 general election with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).
Following the presidential election in September 2017, she chose to continue living in her public housing flat in the unfashionable suburb of Yishun prior to eventually agreeing to move out to a more secure location.
While she leaves her position as a much-loved president, Madam Halimah’s entry in the position was bumpy.
The Singapore government, keen to maintain racial harmony, insisted that the successor to Tony Tan, a Singaporean Chinese who was president between 2011 and 2017, be a Malay Singaporean, which was the first time that Singapore, which prides itself on being a meritocracy, limited the presidential selection to a single ethnic group.
President Halimah, having been speaker of parliament, was deemed the only suitable candidate after others failed to meet the required financial criteria and ran unopposed, ruffling some feathers in the community.
President Halimah got down to work, turning out to be one of Singapore’s most industrious presidents. She was reported to be the guest of honour at over 1,400 community events in her six years.
And even though the pandemic did clip her wings for a couple of years, she still made 21 overseas trips, including 12 state visits.
Having lived in public housing for most of her life, Madam Halimah fully re-opened the Istana last year to let regular people see the presidential palace, and ensured the palace’s gardens were enhanced to make it wheelchair accessible.
She was described by Prime Minister Lee as the “president for everyone”, at Madam Halimah’s farewell reception saying that her efforts challenged gender stereotypes and heightened awareness of the biases still faced by women.
She was a living reminder of the hard work and sacrifice of so many ordinary men and women who shaped the extraordinary Singapore story.
