The passing of JBJ

What PM and SM told JBJ’s sons

TODAY Wednesday • October 1, 2008

IN 1993, Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam wrote toMr Goh Chok Tong, who was then Prime Minister, to say that employers in Singapore were reluctant to offer him a job. Mr J B Jeyaretnam’s elder son, who had been working in the finance industry in Tokyo, suggested that employers felt the authorities would not welcome his employment because of his name.

But for all the political battles betweenMr J B Jeyaretnam and the leadership of the People’s Action Party, their differences were not personal, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

Both Mr Lee, in his condolence letter toMr Jeyaretnam’s two sons, and Senior Minister Goh, who replied to media queries, recounted the incident after the Opposition veteran’s death.

“I was sad to learn that your father,Mr Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, has passed away,” wrote Mr Lee. “Mr J B Jeyaretnam was a Member ofParliament for Anson constituency from 1981 till 1986, and a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament from 1997 till 2001. He used to engage in heated debates in the House.

Perhaps it was because he and the PAP never saw eye to eye on any major political issue and he sought by all means to demolish the PAP and our system of government. Unfortunately, this helped neither to build up a constructive opposition nor our Parliamentary tradition. Nevertheless, one had to respect Mr J B Jeyaretnam’s dogged tenacity to be active in politics at his age.”

Mr Jeyaretnam’s death came as a surprise to Mr Goh, who pointed to his formation of the Reform Party and interest in contesting in the next General Election.

“My first encounter with Mr Jeyaretnam was in the 1981 Anson by-election, which he won. I was then the PAP’s Organising Secretary. His victory showed that it was possible for opposition MPs to be elected into Parliament,” he wrote. “We had many more encounters later, in Parliament, during elections and in the Courts.

Politically, we were on different sides of the fence. I did not believe his brand of politics was good for Singapore. PAP leaders and he had many heated exchanges. But despite this, we kept up our personal relationship.”

Singapore also needed every talented person it could find, which is why Mr Goh replied to Kenneth with a letter which could be shown to prospective employers to say that the Government did not hold anything against him, recounted Mr Lee.

The letter asked employers to “evaluate you fairly on your own merits, like any other candidate”, Mr Lee added.

Prior to that,Mr Goh had invited Philip to lunch to tell him the same thing.

“I am therefore happy that both of you have established yourselves in Singa­pore. Please accept my deepest condolences,” wrote Mr Lee.

And what does Mr Goh remember orrespect most about Mr Jeyaretnam? “Even though I did not agree with his political cause, I respect his fighting spirit to advance it and his willingness to pay a price for it,” wrote the Senior Minister.

Remembering Mr J B Jeyaretnam

Wednesday • October 1, 2008

COMPILED BY ESTHER NG, JESSICA YEOAND ONG DAI LIN

MR TEO SER LUCK,SENIOR PARL SEC, (COMMunityDEVELOPMENT, YOUTH AND SPORTS):

“As a young boy, I was impressed with his delivery on TV. JBJ added a lot of colour; he brought a different approach to issues inparliamentary debates. We won’t see this kind of Opposition figure any more — that era is gone. He was special.” MR CHARLES CHONG,MP FOR PASIR RIS-PUNGGOL GRC: “I remember him in Parliament when he was a NCMP — he’d seem very docile but every time MM (Lee Kuan Yew) walked into the chambers, it was as if a bell had gone off in his head. He would be pumped up like a boxer, getting ready to slug it out with the MM. “He suffered for his convictions. He did what he believed was right. You could say he served as an outlet for a certain section of the population who did not see eye to eye with the ruling party. I hope members of the Opposition would be as passionate as he was and motivated to take his place.”

MR ZAINUL ABIDIN RASHEED,SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, WHO WAS PART OF THE PAP TEAM THAT BEAT THE WORKERS’ PARTY TEAM IN CHENG SAN GRC IN 1997:

“JBJ and his supporters thought they had won and asked for a re-count. They refused toaccept the result. We were on stage to give our victory speech when JBJ came on stage, his eyes blazing at us. “The WP supporters were making a lot of noise. I almost thought it was going to be a riot ... I told them let’s cool down, all of us here are Singaporeans, and they did. I could see a sense of relief on JBJ’s face. “After that, JBJ and I became friends. I met him last month and asked why he won’t take things easy, but he laughed and said he had not achieved his mission. He’s a son of Singapore who believed in what he was doing.We may differ in our approach, but I respect him.”

DR TAN CHENG BOCK,MP FOR AYER RAJAH FROM 1980 TO 2006:

“I remember him coming into Parliament in 1981. He was always alone. As parliamentarians, it didn’t matter which party you were from, we would try to make friends but he was too caught up with his cause and didn’t care too much about establishing friendships.”

MR TAN SOO KHOON,FORMER SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT:

“He was very persistent in pursuing issues he wanted to raise, for example, freedom of speech which he would doggedly go about at every opportunity. He has to be respected for his perseverance. He stood for four elections before he finally found a seat.”

Mr SHRINIWAS RAI, LAWYER, FORMER NMP:

“He would fight to the end for his client. There was this case where someone was charged for corruption and he asked me to help out. I was surprised to learn that, as a senior lawyer, he was charging the client half the price. But he succeeded in getting the client acquitted.”

Mr SIMON TAY, FORMER NMP:

“He was a man of courage and conviction. Events scarred him but he held his head high. When he spoke in Parliament, it was hard as a lone voice. But he persisted from a belief that others might support what he said. “I remember one motion he raised to consider the reform of defamation law, which I surprised him by supporting. He had a personal history and reasons for that motion which I did not share. But I did agree with his overall idea.”

MRS SARAS SANKAI, 50ADMIN EXEC and FORMER ANSON VOTER:

“I think it was good for someone to question things. When he was elected, many changes took place in the ward. If there had been no Opposition in the ward, I don’t think the changes would have been be so rapid.” JEMIMAH TSOI, 21: “He was a very outspoken guy. Maybe if he’d been more subtle, he might’ve had more success as an Opposition member.”

MILESTONES

1926: Born in Sri Lanka while
his parents were on vacation.
Studied law in London
and worked in the Singapore
legal service for 11 years.

1971: Joined Workers’ Party,
elected Secretary General.

1981: Defeats the PAP’s
Pang Kim Him in the Anson
by-election winning 51.9
per cent of the votes, as
WP chief, becomes the first
Opposition candidate elected
to Parliament since 1965.

1983: Non-Constitutency
MP concept introduced; JBJ
ridicules it as “toothless”.

1984: Re-elected. Two
months later, charged with mis-stating party accounts.

1986: Convicted, disqualified from Parliament and barred from practising law.

1988: On JBJ’s appeal, Privy Council in London reverses the judgment. Singapore Law Society reinstates him as lawyer, but Government refuses to remove the convictions.
Barred for five years from standing for re-election.

1997: Leads WP team that garners 45 per cent of the votes in Cheng San GRC, and is installed as NCMP. Sued for defamation by then-PM Goh Chok Tong and 10 others, for
remarks at an election rally during which JBJ told the crowd he had been handed two police reports against Mr Goh “and his people”.

1998: Court orders JBJ and the WP to pay damages totalling $265,000 for a 1995 defamatory article in the party’s newsletter, The Hammer.

2001: Declared bankrupt after he fails to keep up payments. Loses NCMP seat and resigns from the WP, accusing its leadership of failing to help him fight the bankruptcy case.

2002: Starts selling his books, Make It Right for Singapore and Hatchet Man of Singapore, to pay off debts. Government leaders drop defamation suits after he reads out an apology in court for remarks made in 1997.

2004 to 2005: Fails in his application to be discharged from bankruptcy.

2007: Discharges himself from bankruptcy after paying back $233,255.

2008: Registers the Reform Party as a launchpad for his comeback to politics. Last month, files court application to declare mandatory a by-election in Jurong GRC.