Halimah Yacob, born to an Indian Muslim father and a Malay mother, is all set to assume charge as the first female president of the country. The leader -- a former speaker of Parliament -- belongs to the nation's poorest ethnic minority.
Yacob's one of the primary agendas is to represent the minority in the country. There are no Muslim Malays in the top ranks of the Singapore army and a very few can be seen in the country's judiciary rank.
The last Malay who became Singapore's president was Yusof Ishak, his image can be seen in the nation's banknotes. Ishak held the position between 1965 and 1970, these were the first years of Singapore's independence following a union with neighbouring Malaysia, which did not last long.
Yacob, aged 63, will be formally named to the most ceremonial post on Wednesday, after other candidates for the position did not meet the criteria required for contesting the election, according to Reuters reports.
Singapore had decreed that the presidency this time around would be reserved for the candidates from the Malay community. The official order was issued with an aim to build a sense of inclusivity in the multicultural nation.
Since Yacob had a significant amount of experience as a house speaker, she automatically qualified for the position and criteria laid under the nomination rules.
The election department said that out of the other four applications who applied for the candidature of presidency, two were not Malay and the other two were not given certificates of eligibility.
Malays in Singapore form just over 13 percent of the country's population of 3.9 million citizens and permanent residents. A government report, published in 2013, had found that Malays in the country felt discriminated against and did not have a widened prospect in several institutions, including the armed forces.
