Rumours circulating in forums and on social media regarding presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam's children "are false and baseless", a spokesman from Team Tharman said in a statement on Aug. 30.

The spokesman said:

"None of his children are in business, let alone having received government support for a business. They went to local schools, and none attended the Singapore American School as claimed.

We have always called for a contest based on facts and track records of the candidates. Such rumours are unfortunate and bring disrepute to the process."

A 'complete non-story'

Earlier in the evening, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Public Service Commission (PSC) Secretariat issued a statement on Tharman's son Akilan, after screenshots of his previous job role at MOF circulated online.

Speaking to the media shortly after, and before his evening walkabout, Tharman said that the statement is to be taken "at face value" and that there was "nothing" for him to answer.

A South China Morning Post reporter asked Tharman about his thoughts on online suggestions that Akilan's job title was "changed hastily" after it received public attention.

Tharman replied:

"These are stray bullets. Are you suggesting that MOF and the PSC were inventing facts? Can't be, right? So I think it speaks for itself.

If you have further questions, please ask MOF and PSC, not myself. I think it's a very serious matter if you're going to invent facts."

When asked if he had declared his relationship with his son to the Elections Department (ELD), Tharman said:

"For what purpose? How about my daughter and my mother and my sister? Or anyone like that?

There has to be some conflict of interest. So if there's no conflict of interest, it's a simple matter. This is an utterly straightforward issue... that's all there is to it. It is a non-story. A complete non-story, that's all."

No conflict of interest between Tharman's candidacy & son's role in MOF

Akilan has been with MOF since June 2022, MOF and the PSC Secretariat said in their statement.

"He is currently working on education and manpower policies in the Social Programmes Directorate," the statement added.

Akilan's job role on the Singapore Government Directory website has since been updated.

The statement further clarified that there is "no conflict of interest" between Akilan's current job and his father's candidacy for presidency.

"Akilan was previously working in the Reserves and Investment Directorate at MOF. No conflict of interest occurred in his previous work at the Directorate.

The decision was made in July to rotate him and preempt any possible potential for conflict of interest situations in the presidential election.

Akilan was treated like all other Overseas Merit Scholars, according to prevailing policies.

Akilan disrupted from his NS in 2011, resumed his NS duties in 2015 and finished his NS obligations, like his other PSC scholarship peers who had disrupted."

Top image by Mothership.