J. B. Jeyaretnam

"Jeyaretnam" redirects here. For his sons, see Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Philip Jeyaretnam.

J. B. Jeyaretnam
ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்
Jeyaretnam in 2005
5th Leader of the Opposition
In office
22 December 1981 – 10 November 1986
Prime MinisterLee Kuan Yew
Preceded byChia Thye Poh
Succeeded byChiam See Tong
7th Secretary-General of the Workers' Party
In office
July 1971 – 27 May 2001
Preceded bySum Choon Heng
Succeeded byLow Thia Khiang
Non-Constituency Member of the
9th Parliament of Singapore
In office
14 January 1997 – 23 July 2001
Preceded byVacant
Succeeded bySteve Chia (SDA)
1st Secretary-General of the Reform Party
In office
18 June 2008 – 30 September 2008
ChairmanNg Teck Siong
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byKenneth Jeyaretnam
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Anson SMC
In office
31 October 1981 – 10 November 1986
Preceded byDevan Nair
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Majority2,376 (13.6%)
Personal details
Born
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam

(1926-01-05)5 January 1926
Jaffna, British Ceylon
Died30 September 2008(2008-09-30) (aged 82)
Singapore
Cause of deathHeart failure
Political partyReform Party
Other political
affiliations		Workers' Party
(1971–2001)
Spouse
Margaret Cynthia Walker
​
​
(m. 1957; died 1980)​
ChildrenKenneth Jeyaretnam (son)
Philip Jeyaretnam (son)
Alma materUniversity College London (LLB)
Profession
  • Politician
  • lawyer
Nickname"Tiger of Anson"

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (Tamil: ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008),[1] better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ,[2] was a Singaporean politician, lawyer and secretary-general of WP between 1971 and 2001 and the de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1981 and 1986. A former member of the opposition Workers' Party, He was a Member of Parliament for Anson SMC between 1981 and 1986.

He was a Non-constituency Member of Parliament between 1997 and 2001.

Born in Jaffna in 1926, Jeyaretnam grew up in Malaya and Singapore before he read law in London and qualified as a barrister in 1951. Upon returning to Singapore, he worked in the legal service from 1952 to 1963 before setting up his own law firm in 1968. He entered politics in 1971 and became the secretary-general of the opposition Workers' Party. Thereafter, he contested in the 1972, 1976, 1980 general election, 1977 and 1979 by-elections, but lost to the governing People's Action Party (PAP) in all of them.[3][4][5][6][7]

Jeyaretnam had his first electoral victory in the 1981 by-election in Anson SMC when he won 51.93% of the vote against the PAP's Pang Kim Hin and United People's Front's Harbans Singh,[8] becoming the first opposition politician to be elected into Parliament since Singapore gained independence in 1965.[2] He contested in the 1984 general election in Anson SMC again and won with 56.81% of the vote against the PAP's Ng Pock Too.[9]

In 1986, following convictions for making false statements about the Workers' Party's accounts, Jeyaretnam was not only fined and imprisoned for a month, but also lost his parliamentary seat. After he was disqualified from practising law in 1987, he appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which reversed his disbarment in 1988 and called his conviction "a grievous injustice". Jeyaretnam appealed to Wee Kim Wee, the President of Singapore, for his convictions to be removed so that he could return to Parliament, but was denied.[10]

During the 1997 general election, Jeyaretnam joined a five-member Workers' Party team to contest in Cheng San GRC, but they lost 45.18% of the vote against the PAP team.[11] Since the Workers' Party team in Cheng San GRC were the "best losers" in an election in which there were fewer than six elected opposition Members of Parliament, they were offered one parliamentary seat as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), which Jeyaretnam took up. However, Jeyaretnam lost his NCMP seat and left the Workers' Party in 2001 when he was declared bankrupt after failing to keep up with damages from a series of defamation suits against him.[12]

After his discharge from bankruptcy in 2007, Jeyaretnam founded the Reform Party in June 2008.[13][14] He died of heart failure on 30 September that year.[15][16]

  1. ^ Vengesan, Martin (7 September 2003). "Still standing". The Star. Archived from the original on 9 November 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2007.
  2. ^ a b Chua, Val; Lee, Ching Wern (14 November 2020). "TODAY20: The lonely fighter (Oct 12, 2002)". Today. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  3. ^ "1972 PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  4. ^ "1976 PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  5. ^ "1980 PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  6. ^ "1977 PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTION RESULT". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  7. ^ "1979 PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTION RESULTS". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  8. ^ "1981 PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTION RESULT". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  9. ^ "1984 PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference WP - 1981 to 1986 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "1997 PARLIAMENTARY GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Elections Department Singapore. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference WP - 1991 to 2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Mok, Fei Fei (20 May 2007). "Opposition politician JBJ forming new political party". CNA. Archived from the original on 23 May 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
  14. ^ Seah, Chiang Nee (19 May 2007). "Return of the 'warrior'". The Star. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  15. ^ "J B Jeyaretnam dies of heart failure, aged 82". Today. 30 September 2008. Archived from the original on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
  16. ^ Kor, Kian Beng (30 September 2008). "JBJ dies of heart attack". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2008.