Elections are often remembered for who won rather than who lost. And indeed, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam will go down in history books as Singapore’s first Indian president to win an open election, and a sign of the big strides Singapore has made as a multicultural society.

Yet the man of these past three weeks ought to be Mr Ng Kok Song – the former GIC investment chief who had thrown his hat into the ring to give Singaporeans a contest.