Halimah Yacob

Halimah Yacob (born 23 August 1954) is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who served as the eighth President of Singapore from 14 September 2017 to 13 September 2023, the first woman to hold the office and the first Malay president in 47 years. ¹

Before the presidency she spent three decades in the trade-union movement, entered Parliament in 2001, held minister-of-state posts, and in 2013 became the first woman Speaker of Parliament. ¹

Her single term is remembered in the sources for the reserved election that brought her to office unopposed — and for her approval, in 2020, of the largest draws on Singapore's past reserves in its history. ¹

Halimah binte Yacob was born on 23 August 1954 at the family home on Queen Street, Singapore, the daughter of an Indian-Muslim father who worked as a watchman and a Malay mother. ¹

The Urdu article specifies that her father, Yaacob Abdullah, came from Tamil Nadu among the workers brought from India to Singapore. ²

Her father died of a heart attack when she was eight, and she grew up in poverty, helping her mother sell nasi padang outside the former Singapore Polytechnic. ^{1 3}

She was educated at Singapore Chinese Girls' School and Tanjong Katong Girls' School, read law at the University of Singapore, graduating in 1978, and was called to the Singapore Bar in 1981. ¹

She completed a Master of Laws at the National University of Singapore in 2001 and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2016. ¹

Halimah joined the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) as a legal officer in 1978, became its director of legal services in 1992, and served as deputy secretary-general from 2007 to 2011. ¹

She also represented workers internationally, holding roles in the International Labour Organization's workers' group. ¹

She entered politics in 2001 as an MP for Jurong GRC, and after the 2011 elections became a Minister of State, first for Community Development, Youth and Sports and then for Social and Family Development. ¹

On 14 January 2013 she was elected Speaker of Parliament, the first woman to hold the post in Singapore's history; the Arabic article gives the year as 2014, a variant recorded here against the English article's 2013. ^{1 3}

As an MP she was an outspoken voice against the Islamic State, condemning its acts as un-Islamic and warning against self-radicalisation. ¹

In 2015 she moved to Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC, which she represented until 2017. ¹

The 2017 presidential election was reserved for candidates from the Malay community under a 2016 constitutional amendment, and on 7 August 2017 Halimah resigned as Speaker, as MP and from the People's Action Party to stand. ¹

She was the only candidate issued a Certificate of Eligibility, was declared elected unopposed on 13 September 2017, and was sworn in the following day. ^{1 2}

She initially continued living in her Yishun HDB duplex flat, moving in October 2017 on official security advice. ¹

In 2020 she approved government draws on Singapore's past reserves totalling S$52 billion for the COVID-19 budgets, the largest use of the reserves since independence and only the second by any president. ¹

She championed gender equality during her presidency and announced on 29 May 2023 that she would not seek a second term; her term ended on 13 September 2023 and she was succeeded by Tharman Shanmugaratnam. ¹

Halimah became chancellor of the Singapore University of Social Sciences on 1 October 2023, and chief patron of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) on 30 August 2024. ¹

Her honours include the Order of Temasek (with High Distinction), conferred on 29 October 2023, Saudi Arabia's Collar of the Order of King Abdulaziz in 2019, and Kazakhstan's Order of Friendship, first class, in 2023. ¹

The positions and judgements in this section are those of the cited sources, reported as theirs; they are not the museum's verdict.

The article records the criticism her presidency attracted from the start: the reserved election and her uncontested walkover were attacked as undemocratic, the campaign hashtag #NotMyPresident circulated, and former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock described hers as the "most controversial presidency" in Singapore's history. ¹

It also records the countervailing picture of a president who used the office's reserve powers at the pandemic's height and spoke consistently for gender equality and social cohesion. ¹

The English article says Halimah identifies as a Muslim and as part of Singapore's Malay–Muslim community, the Arabic article states that she professes Islam, and Wikidata gives Islam generically; no source consulted names a school for her. ^{1 3 4}

Her faith is therefore recorded as unknown in the data: a generic identification, however clear, is not an attestation of a school, and none is inferred from her community's milieu. ¹

The article notes a further identity particular: her identity card categorises her as Indian by paternal lineage, while she ran as a Malay candidate and identifies with the Malay–Muslim community. ¹

Halimah is married to Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee, whom she met at the National University of Singapore — the Urdu article describes him as a retired officer of Arab descent — and they have five children. ^{1 2}

The sources for this record are the English Wikipedia article "Halimah Yacob" (revision 1380020438), the Arabic Wikipedia article «حليمة يعقوب» (revision 76759629), the Urdu Wikipedia article «حلیمہ یعقوب» (revision 12144430), and Wikidata item Q5642345, all registered as source entities in the museum's data and checked on 25 October 2026.