J B Jeyaretnam
IHF-SG Excellence Award For Political Achievement (Post-Independence)
JBJ was a Tamil Sri Lankan born 5 Jan 1926 in Sri Lanka — 30 Sept 2008. He had his early education at St Andrew’s School in Singapore and later when his family went to stay in Johor Bahru, he studied at the JB English College. From there he went to London for his law degree at the University College London. On November 27, 1951 he was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.
In 1952 he joined the Singapore legal service. He was a former magistrate, crown counsel, deputy public prosecutor, senior district judge, Registrar of the Supreme Court and later a lawyer in private practice.
While pursuing his law studies in London, he met his future wife Margaret Cynthia Walker who was also a law student. Love blossomed between them but he had to return to Singapore to join the government service while she continued her studies there. In
1956 she came to Singapore and a year later they got married. The best man at the wedding was one Tan Boon Teik, who later became the longest serving Singapore’s Attorney General (AG). They have two sons- Kenneth, born in 1959 and Philip, born in 1964.
Jeyaretnam was the first opposition politician to enter parliament after Singapore gained independence in 1965. Under the PAP, the Parliament from 1965 to 1981 was an impregnable fortress, electing only members of the PAP, election after election. It was only when JBJ won a by-election in 1981 from the Anson constituency that the barrier was broken. He was re-elected in the 1984 General Election, one of only two opposition MPs elected to Parliament that year, the other being then leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, Chiam See Tong. In the 1980s, JBJ was the leader of the Workers’ Party and was seen as the de facto leader of the Singapore opposition. He served several terms in Parliament as an MP. In the absence of a strong opposition in parliament, JBJ played a major role as a check to the Government, in the process crossing swords with then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and other ministers, which resulted in law suits for defamation against him by PAP members, to the extent he was made a bankrupt.
He lost his seat in 1986 when he was charged and convicted of falsifying the accounts of party’s funds. On appeal, the conviction was overturned by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which declared the conviction was a grievous injustice. Singapore was not obliged to accept the Privy Council’s ruling. Hence, he was not vindicated but was allowed to contest elections after a period of five years as stipulated in the election laws of Singapore.
After a hiatus of 11 years, he returned to Parliament as a Non Constituency Member of Parliament in 1997 after he garnered the highest votes amongst the losing candidates. Yet again he lost his seat when he was declared a bankrupt in 2001 as he was unable to raise enough funds to pay the creditors. This came about when some PAP members filed a libel suit against him for defamation. The Workers’ Party which by now has been taken over by young Turks didn’t help JBJ in raising the necessary funds to pay off the debtors from being made a bankrupt. Disillusioned with the WP for not coming to his rescue, he resigned and quit the party he had helmed for 30 years from 1971 to 2001.
On 18 June 2008 after leaving the Workers’ Party of Singapore, Jeyaretnam announced that he had received approval from the Registrar of Societies to form a new political party, the Reform Party. He was elected as its first Secretary-General. He was planning to contest the next general election as he had already settled his debts and been cleared from bankruptcy, but death came calling before that.
Untimely Death
On the early morning of 30th September 2008, JBJ experienced breathing difficulties and was rushed to the emergency room of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Doctors tried to revive him but he died of heart failure at the age of 82.