Defended the welfare of vulnerable groups

The Singaporean president lived through difficult days of poverty and hardship in her childhood

  • Halima Yacoub spent many of her childhood years helping her mother run a cooked food stall.

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As a child, she grew up in a difficult household, but despite this, Singaporean President Halima Yacoub plans to become a lawyer to bring justice to the weak and disadvantaged. Her family plunged into further hardships when her father passed away, and she spent many of her childhood years helping her mother run a cooked food stall. “I have seen the powerlessness and powerlessness of those who have no resources,” Halima says in an interview published in the December 2021 issue of the National University of Singapore Law School Alumni Journal.

This prompted her to study law, where she later joined the National Trade Union Congress as an in-house lawyer advising unions and workers on industrial relations and employment rights.

This was not a very rewarding business in those days, and the labor movement was not a good source of money.

But for Ms Halima, who ended up spending 33 years at the National Congress of Trade Unions, the most important thing for her is gaining the ability to fight for a fairer workplace.

She saw her role as helping to balance the bargaining power between unions and well-resourced employers.

"It was a very satisfying period in which I felt that I was giving a voice to workers, fighting for their rights and ensuring a fairer workplace," she tells Le Link.

Even after entering politics in 2001, defending the welfare of vulnerable groups was a major focus for her.

As a Member of Parliament from 2001 to 2011 - prior to her appointment as Minister of State in the then Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports from 2011 to 2013 and then Parliament Speaker from 2013 to 2017 - she often spoke about the cost of living, affordable health care, and fair employment. When Halima joined politics, she was the country's first female MP since independence.

She told media outlets that she wanted to contribute to the broader society, not just the labor movement, and she also felt a responsibility to set an example for other women. She adds, “One of my tasks in the National Trade Union Congress was to persuade young women to take leadership positions in their unions or in the National Trade Union Congress. It was a daunting task because many of them cited the difficulty of balancing work and family as a major challenge.” "Having spent time persuading women to come forward and be willing to sacrifice for a higher purpose, I felt that I had to practice that myself, and I thought it was important for women to participate in policy making and to make their voices heard."

Halima has been steadily moving forward when she was elected the first woman Speaker of Parliament in 2013 and subsequently the first woman to hold office in 2017. In her opening speech after being elected President, Ms. Halima emphasized the core values ​​of multiculturalism, merit and stewardship, which she outlined as fundamental to Singapore's continued success.

In this context, I put forward the idea of ​​the International Conference on Cohesive Societies, which brings together participants from all over the world to promote understanding between different societies.

The inaugural conference took place in 2019, and Halima says there are plans to hold a follow-up conference this year.

While she believes that Singapore has made great strides towards achieving gender equality, she hopes it has paved the way for other women.

She noted that "there may still be expectations that women will take on more caregiving responsibilities, and preconceived notions of what roles women should play and how women should act."

• She has been moving forward steadily when she was elected the first woman Speaker of Parliament in 2013 and subsequently the first woman to hold office in 2017.

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