Thum Ping Tjin

Thum Ping Tjin
Dr Thum Ping Tjin delivering a lecture, "Merger, Acquisition, or Takeover? The Enduring Consequences of Operation Coldstore in Singapore" at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, on 17 September 2013
Born	17 December 1979 Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Other names	PJ Thum
Alma mater	University of Oxford, Harvard University
Organization	Project Southeast Asia, University of Oxford

Thum Ping Tjin (born 17 December 1979), better known as PJ, is a Research Associate at the Centre for Global History and co-ordinator of Project Southeast Asia, University of Oxford. He is the first Singaporean to swim the English Channel. He is also the first Oxford University graduate student to do so. He was a member of the Singapore national swimming team and has represented Singapore at every level, including the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He is a Rhodes Scholar and Commonwealth Scholar.

PJ was born on 17 December 1979 in Singapore. he received his early education at five of the Anglo-Chinese Schools. At the age of 16, he went to Harvard College. He graduated from Harvard in the year 2000 with a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies. Thum has participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta as a member of the Singapore national swimming team. That same year, he was awarded the Sportsboy of the Year award by the Singapore Sports Council. As a Rhodes Scholar he attended Hertford College at the University of Oxford, reading for a second bachelor's degree in Modern History and Politics. At both institutions he was an integral part of the swimming program. He was Captain of the Oxford University Swimming Team and earned two Blues.

Thum retired in 2002 from representing his country but continued to represent the University of Oxford. His younger brother, Thum Bingming, is also a member of the Singapore national swimming team, as well as a Member of the Cornell University Men's Varsity swim team.

In early 2005, PJ was a teacher at Anglo-Chinese School (International) in Singapore. This makes him the only person to have been a student or teacher at every single Anglo-Chinese School.