Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam ( ta, காசிவிஸ்வநாதன் சண்முகம்; born 26 March 1959), better known as K. Shanmugam, is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as

Minister for Law The Ministry of Law (MinLaw; ms, Kementerian Undang-Undang; zh, 律政部; ta, சட்ட அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for the advancement in access to justice, the rule of law, the economy ...

since 2008 and Minister for Home Affairs since 2015. A member of the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party ( abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) a ...

(PAP), he has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) representing the Chong Pang division of Nee Soon GRC since 2011. A lawyer by profession, Shanmugam made a name for himself in

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or ' arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...

and

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet in ...

cases before he entered politics. In 1998, at the age of 38, he was one of the youngest lawyers in Singapore to be appointed

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel ( post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdicti ...

. Along with Davinder Singh, he was known as one of the "twin titans of litigation" and a prominent figure in Singapore's legal circles. Shanmugam has also received praise for being one of the top cross-examiners in Singapore and has acted for and against all three prime ministers in civil lawsuits. Kurt Campbell, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, once spoke of Shanmugam: "The quality of his mind is impressive. In meetings with him, he has legal framing, approaches problems in a deeply systemic way, is unsentimental about the world, clear-eyed and very strategic... He can be hard-headed about what is best for Singapore, but he is always upfront and clear."

Education

Shanmugam was educated at

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

from 1972 to 1977. He went on to read law at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...

's Faculty of Law and graduated in 1984. During his time in law school, Shanmugam earned several awards, book prizes and scholarships for being the top student from his first to third years and for academic merit (1982–1983). He also won the Montrose Memorial Prize for Jurisprudence (1984). Shanmugam was awarded the Adrian Clarke Memorial Medal, the Leow Chia Heng Prize and the External Examiner's Prize (1984) for being the top law student of his graduating class and top student in the final-year examinations. He also represented Singapore in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in 1984, in which his team won Runner-Up in the International Division.

Legal career

After being admitted to the Singapore Bar as an advocate and solicitor in 1985, Shanmugam went into private practice and became a senior partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at Allen & Gledhill. In 1998, Shanmugam became one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed

of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

at the age of 38. Shanmugam has acted for Singapore's

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Pa ...

and his predecessors (

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

and

Goh Chok Tong Goh Chok Tong (; born 20 May 1941) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1990 and 2004, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party between 1992 and 2004. He was the Member of Parliament (MP ...

) in lawsuits. In 1995, the '' International Herald Tribune'' selected Shanmugam to represent them after the Lees and Goh initiated a civil

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

lawsuit against the newspaper. Lee Kuan Yew later stated that the ''Tribunes decision to choose Shanmugam to represent them even though he was a

member and was close to the Lees and Goh, was the highest form of praise to the Senior Counsel's integrity and to the integrity of the Singapore Government as a whole.

Political career

Shanmugam entered politics when he joined the

(PAP) team contesting Sembawang GRC in the 1988 general election. The PAP team won and Shanmugam became a

representing the Chong Pang ward of Sembawang GRC. Shanmugam served as a Member of Parliament and continued to practise law until 2008 when he joined the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

to replace

S. Jayakumar Jayakumar or Jeyakumar is a Sinhalese and Indian surname. It consists of two parts: ''jaya'', which means ''victory'' in Sinhalese and is also the name of a Hindu demigod, and ''kumar'', meaning ''child'', ''son'' or ''prince''. The name may refer t ...

. He was concurrently appointed Second Minister for Home Affairs in 2008, and succeeded

Wong Kan Seng Wong Kan Seng ( zh, s=黄根成, j=Wong4 Gan1 Sing4, poj=N̂g Kun-sêng, p=Huáng Gēnchéng; born 8 September 1946) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 2005 and 2011. He has been serving ...

as Minister for Home Affairs in 2010. Following the 2011 general election, Shanmugam relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Home Affairs and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, while continuing to serve concurrently as Minister for Law. As of 2015, Shanmugam remains as a Member of Parliament representing Chong Pang ward, which had become part of Nee Soon GRC. Following Shanmugam's remarks on changes to the qualifying criteria for Singapore's elected presidency, he was criticised by former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock for pre-empting the

legislative process A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the Executive (government), executive. Once a bill has been enacted into ...

and the

Presidential Elections Committee The Presidential Elections Committee was set up by the Government of Singapore to ensure that each candidate running for the office of President of Singapore has the qualifications needed — referred in Article 19 of the Constitution of Singapore. ...

, which decides the eligibility of candidates for the presidential election. In February 2018, Shanmugam said that Singapore would change its criminal breach of trust (CBT) laws to address concerns that company directors and key officers of charities would face lower maximum penalties for CBT offences compared to their employees. Shanmugam was a member of the

Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods The Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods is a select committee of the Parliament of Singapore that was formed on 11 January 2018 to examine and report on the problem of deliberate online falsehoods and to recommend strategies to deal ...

formed in 2018. During the public hearings, he questioned Simon Milner,

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

's Vice President of Public Policy for Asia-Pacific, about the misuse of online data by Cambridge Analytica., and crossed swords with historian Thum Ping Tjin over a paper about Operation Coldstore written by Thum in 2013.

As Minister for Law

As Minister for Law, Shanmugam was a believer in tempering the law with empathy. This has been the basis to make Singapore's laws to be more compassionate, with greater collectivism, and to make the country to looks out for those who are unable to look after themselves. During Shanmugam's tenure as Minister for Law, some changes to the criminal and family justice system were effected. These include: * Overhaul of the existing

Penal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

, to modernise Singapore's criminal laws and enhance protection for the vulnerable in society, such as women and children. * Enactment of the Protection from Harassment Act, to provide remedies and recourse for victims of harassment,

online bullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...

and

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The ter ...

. Subsequent amendments fortified the Act by establishing a stand-alone Protection from Harassment Court to allow protection to be obtained expediently by victims, including that of intimate partner violence. * Enhancing access to justice through government funding for legal representation of accused persons. * Major changes to the family justice system, in which the child's welfare and best interests are placed at the centre of the system. Changes also include helping families navigate the court system with less costs and delays by handling family disputes in less rancorous ways. * Introduction of community-based sentences to tap on community resources in the rehabilitation of offenders. * Review of the

mandatory death penalty Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are ins ...

to give judges discretion to replace the death penalty with

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed te ...

in cases involving unintentional

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

and

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

by couriers, if the stipulated conditions for such are met. * Amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act to fortify Singapore's

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general int ...

regime through a more calibrated approach.

Other appointments

Shanmugam served on the board of directors for several companies before his appointment to the Singapore Cabinet.

Directorships

* Non-Executive Director of Sembcorp (July 1998 – April 2008) * Director of Asia Food & Properties (July 1997 – 2001) * Director of Golden Agri-Resources (May 1999 – 2001)

Board

* Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law * Raffles Institution Board of Governors * Media Development Authority * Sembawang Corporation Industries Ltd Shanmugam served as the President of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) from March 2002 to March 2009.

Personal life

Shanmugam has been married to clinical psychologist Seetha Shanmugam since 2008. He was formerly married to Jothie Rajah, daughter of KS Rajah. They later divorced. Shanmugam is a practising Hindu. He is also often involved in various religious activities organised by communities of various faiths. He has met Pope Francis in the Vatican City and has referred to the Pontiff as exemplifying the "essence of religion" and a "strong advocate of interfaith dialogue and understanding". Shanmugam also participates regularly in the Taoist Nine Emperor God's festival in his Constituency since he became an MP for the area.

References

External links

K. Shanmugam
on Prime Minister's Office
K. Shanmugam
on Parliament of Singapore * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanmugam, K Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Members of the Parliament of Singapore People's Action Party politicians 20th-century Singaporean lawyers National University of Singapore alumni Raffles Institution alumni Singaporean people of Tamil descent Singaporean Hindus 1959 births Living people Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Singapore Singaporean Senior Counsel Ministers for Law of Singapore Ministers for Home Affairs of Singapore