Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam ( ta, ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008),
better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ,
was a Singaporean politician, lawyer, and judge who served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Anson SMC
Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988 and was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency
Tiong Bahru GRC was a defunct three-member group representation constituency that from 19 ...
between 1981 and 1986 and
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament between 1997 and 2001.
Born in
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
in 1926, Jeyaretnam grew up in
Malaya and Singapore before reading law in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and qualified as a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
in 1951. Upon returning to Singapore, he worked in the
legal service
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...
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
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
,
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
,
1980 general election,
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
and
1979 by-elections, but lost to the governing
People's Action Party (PAP) in all of them.
Jeyaretnam had his first electoral victory in the
1981 by-election in
Anson SMC
Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988 and was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency
Tiong Bahru GRC was a defunct three-member group representation constituency that from 19 ...
when he won 51.93% of the vote against the PAP's
Pang Kim Hin
Pang Kim Hin is a businessman and former politician from Singapore. He stood as the candidate of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) in the Anson by-election in 1981 and was defeated by the leader of the Workers' Party, J.B. Jeyaretnam, b ...
and United People's Front's Harbans Singh,
becoming the first opposition politician to be elected into
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
since Singapore gained independence in 1965.
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
Ng Pock Too () is a former Singaporean politician. A member of the country's governing People's Action Party (PAP), he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Nee Soon Central from 1988 to 1991.
Career
Ng began his career ...
.
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
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
, which reversed his
disbarment
Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct ...
in 1988 and called his conviction "a grievous injustice". Jeyaretnam appealed to President
Wee Kim Wee for his convictions to be removed so that he could return to Parliament, but was denied.
During the
1997 general election, Jeyaretnam joined a five-member Workers' Party team to contest in
Cheng San GRC
Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (Simplified Chinese: 静山集选区;Traditional Chinese: 靜山集選區) was a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the North-eastern region in Singapore. The GRC consisted of the eastern part ...
, but they lost 45.18% of the vote against the PAP team.
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
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
suits against him.
Following his discharge from bankruptcy in 2007, Jeyaretnam founded the
Reform Party in June 2008.
He died of
heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
on 30 September that year.
Early life and education
An
Anglican Christian of
Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
descent,
Jeyaretnam was born in
Chankanai
Chankanai or Changanai ( ta, சங்கானை) is a town located 12 km north-west of the city of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Popular market known as Chankanai Chanthai (in Tamil Chankanai Market) is located in there. It is so popular, the immi ...
,
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
while his parents were on leave from
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
.
His father, Victor Lord Joshua, moved to Malaya and took up a position with the Public Works Department.
Jeyaretnam grew up in
Johor
Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...
and started his formal education in
Muar in a French convent where his eldest sister was a student. When his education at
English College Johore Bahru
The English College Johore Bahru, also known as Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar, abbreviated as English College, EC, MSAB, The college, and sometimes dubbed "The Pride Of Johore", is an old premier school in Malaysia. It is an all-boys school in Johor ...
was disrupted by the
Japanese occupation of Malaya, Jeyaretnam learned Japanese to make himself more employable, and began working in the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
department, then as an interpreter in the Japanese Transport Department. In Jeyaretnam's oral interviews, he said it was a means to avoid being
pressed into building the
Burma Railway, which was called the "Death Railway" due to the high fatality rate during its construction.
After the war, Jeyaretnam moved to
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, where he continued his education at
St. Andrew's School. In 1948, he left for England to read law at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
. He graduated with a
Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
(honours) in 1951.
Legal career
After being
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
as a
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
at
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
on 27 November 1951, Jeyaretnam joined the
legal service
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...
in 1952. In the following 11 years, Jeyaretnam held various positions, including magistrate, district judge, crown counsel, deputy public prosecutor and registrar of the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. He was also Singapore's first criminal district judge. In his memoir, Jeyaretnam revealed that he had crossed swords with
Lee Kuan Yew when the latter was still a practising lawyer, at times when Jeyaretnam was the deputy public prosecutor and later the presiding court judge. He left the legal service in 1963 for private practice and eventually set up his own law firm in 1968.
In 1983, Jeyaretnam defended Tan Mui Choo, one of the three perpetrators of the 1981
Toa Payoh ritual murders.
Political career
Elections between 1971 and 1980
In June 1971, Jeyaretnam joined the opposition
Workers' Party and became the party's secretary-general.
He made his electoral debut in the
1972 general election when he contested in
Farrer Park SMC against
Lee Chiaw Meng
Lee Chiaw Meng (; 28 February 1937 – 23 May 2001) was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister for Education (Singapore)#Ministers, Minister of Education between 1972 and 1975, and Minister of Science and Technology between 1975 and 197 ...
of the governing
People's Action Party (PAP) and
S. A. Latiff of the opposition
United People's Front (UPF). He lost with 23.11% of the vote against Lee's 73.82%, but did better than Latiff's 3.07%.
During the
1976 general election, Jeyaretnam contested in
Kampong Chai Chee SMC against PAP candidate
Andrew Fong
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...
, but lost after garnering 40.08% of the vote against Fong's 59.92%.
The following year, he contested in the
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
in
Radin Mas SMC
The Radin Mas Single Member Constituency is a single member constituency (SMC) located in the central area of Singapore. The ward covers a portion of Bukit Merah, specifically the suburbs of Redhill, Bukit Merah Central, the eastern half of Telok ...
against the PAP's
Bernard Chen
Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "bra ...
, but lost with 29.41% of the vote against Chen's 70.59%.
In 1979, he contested in a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
in
Telok Blangah SMC against
Rohan Kamis of the PAP, but lost with 38.78% of the vote against Rohan's 61.22%.
During the
1980 general election, he contested in Telok Blangah SMC against Rohan and lost again after garnering 46.98% of the vote against his opponent's 53.02%.
First opposition Member of Parliament since 1965
Jeyaretnam contested in a three-cornered fight during the
1981 by-election in
Anson SMC
Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988 and was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency
Tiong Bahru GRC was a defunct three-member group representation constituency that from 19 ...
against
Pang Kim Hin
Pang Kim Hin is a businessman and former politician from Singapore. He stood as the candidate of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) in the Anson by-election in 1981 and was defeated by the leader of the Workers' Party, J.B. Jeyaretnam, b ...
of the PAP and
Harbans Singh
Harbans Singh (6 March 1921 – 30 May 1998) was an educationist, administrator, scholar and the editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopaedia of Sikhism''. He was respected for his contributions to Sikh scholarship and Punjabi literary studies and had ...
of the
United People's Front. He won with 51.93% of the vote against Pang's 47.1% and Singh's 0.97%,
becoming the first opposition politician to be elected to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
since Singapore gained independence in 1965.
In the same year, Jeyaretnam represented
Chiam See Tong, founder of the opposition
Singapore Democratic Party
The Singapore Democratic Party (abbreviation: SDP) is a politcal party in Singapore.
The party was founded on 6 August 1980 by Chiam See Tong. During the 1991 general election, Ling How Doong and Cheo Chai Chen won Bukit Gombak SMC and Nee ...
, in filing a writ in the
High Court seeking damages from Defence Minister
Howe Yoon Chong
Howe Yoon Chong ( zh, s=侯永昌, p=Hóu Yǒngchāng; 12 August 1923 – 21 August 2007) was a Singaporean politician and civil servant who served as Minister for Defence between 1979 and 1982, and Minister for Health between 1982 and 1985. A ...
and Foreign Affairs Minister
S. Dhanabalan
Suppiah Dhanabalan ( ta, சு. தனபாலன்; born 8 August 1937), also known as S. Dhanabalan, is a Singaporean former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Singapore), Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1980 and ...
for slandering him during the speeches they made in 1980. Chiam eventually dropped the lawsuits against Howe and Dhanabalan after they publicly apologised to him.
In 1982, a complaint against Jeyaretnam was referred to the Committee of Privileges, which looks into allegations of breaches of parliamentary privilege.
He received a reprimand for not declaring a
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
in an issue he brought up in Parliament which involved a person whom he was representing as a lawyer.
Jeyaretnam contested in Anson SMC again during the
1984 general election and won with 56.81% of the vote against the PAP candidate
Ng Pock Too
Ng Pock Too () is a former Singaporean politician. A member of the country's governing People's Action Party (PAP), he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Nee Soon Central from 1988 to 1991.
Career
Ng began his career ...
's 43.19%.
The 1984 general election also saw Chiam winning the election in
Potong Pasir SMC
The Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency is a Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the central region of Singapore. The current Member of Parliament of the constituency is Sitoh Yih Pin of the People's Action Party
The People's Action Pa ...
with 60.28% against the PAP candidate
Mah Bow Tan
Mah Bow Tan ( zh, s=马宝山, p=Mǎ Bǎoshān; born 12 September 1948) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Leader of the House between 2007 and 2011, Minister for National Development between 1999 and 2011, Minister for the Envir ...
.
Jeyaretnam and Chiam were the only two elected opposition Members of Parliament in the
Sixth Parliament.
Parliamentary fines and loss of parliamentary seat
In March 1986, Jeyaretnam was referred to the Committee of Privileges again
for making an unsubstantiated allegation in Parliament about the wrongful arrest of a citizen and failing to declare a
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
in an issue he brought up in Parliament. He received two fines amounting to S$2,000.
Jeyaretnam was also fined S$1,000 by the Committee for alleging that the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
had interfered with the
Subordinate Courts. After he sent letters to
Anson SMC
Anson Constituency was a constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1959 to 1988 and was merged into Tiong Bahru Group Representation Constituency
Tiong Bahru GRC was a defunct three-member group representation constituency that from 19 ...
residents about the Committee's conduct during his hearing, he was fined a total of S$25,000 for making a distorted report of the hearing in his letters.
On 10 November 1986, Jeyaretnam lost his parliamentary seat following
his convictions for making false statements.
Jeyaretnam was fined S$10,000 in 1987 on a complaint that he, as the editor of the
Workers' Party's newsletter "The Hammer", had allowed the publication of a distorted report on the Committee in December 1986. The Workers' Party's executive council was also fined S$5,000.
1997 general election
During the
1997 general election, Jeyaretnam joined a five-member Workers' Party team to contest in
Cheng San GRC
Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (Simplified Chinese: 静山集选区;Traditional Chinese: 靜山集選區) was a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the North-eastern region in Singapore. The GRC consisted of the eastern part ...
against a PAP team led by Education Minister
Lee Yock Suan. However, the Workers' Party team lost after garnering 45.18% of the vote against the PAP team's 54.82%.
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). The Workers' Party selected Jeyaretnam to be the NCMP, which he accepted.
He lost his NCMP seat after being
declared bankrupt in July 2001 because undischarged bankrupts are barred from serving in Parliament and running for parliamentary elections.
Leaving the Workers' Party
In October 2001, Jeyaretnam resigned from the
Workers' Party after he felt ostracised by his fellow party members and after he accused the party's leaders of not offering to help him with his debt payments.
Founding the Reform Party
Following his discharge from bankruptcy in May 2007, Jeyaretnam announced his intention in April 2008 to challenge the
PAP government again by forming a new political party, the
Reform Party. On 17 June 2008, the Registry of Societies approved the Reform Party's application, making it an officially registered society in Singapore. Jeyaretnam served as the interim secretary-general of the party, which had only the legal minimum of ten members at the time of its creation.
Legal troubles
1977–1979: Defamation suit from Lee Kuan Yew
After the
1976 general election,
Lee Kuan Yew demanded an unconditional apology from Jeyaretnam for making the following remarks in a speech during the lead-up to the election:
Lee filed a defamation suit against Jeyaretnam in court when the latter refused to apologise. Both Lee and Jeyaretnam were represented in court by
Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...
s
Robert Alexander and
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole.
Early life
Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...
respectively, with the latter defending Jeyaretnam ''
pro bono
( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...
''.
A five-day trial took place in November 1978 and made headlines in ''
The Straits Times
''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...
''. During the trial, Michael Wong Pakshong, the managing director of the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), claimed that the law firm Lee & Lee (run by Lee's wife
Kwa Geok Choo
Kwa Geok Choo (; 21 December 1920 – 2 October 2010) was a Singaporean lawyer. She was the wife of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the mother of current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. She was also the co-founder and partner of law ...
) and Lee's brother Lee Kim Yew (a director of Tat Lee Bank) had no influence on the MAS's decision to grant a banking licence to Tat Lee Bank. Mortimer, while defending Jeyaretnam, said that Jeyaretnam held no responsibility for all the insinuations inferred from his words.
In January 1979, Jeyaretnam lost the case and was ordered by
High Court judge
Frederick Arthur Chua to pay Lee S$130,000 in
damages and costs.
He appealed to the
Court Appeal and
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
but lost both appeals and incurred up to S$500,000 in damages and costs. As a result, he had to sell his bungalow to pay the damages and costs, and move into a rental apartment.
1983–1986: Convictions for making false statements
In December 1983, Jeyaretnam and
Workers' Party chairman
Wong Hong Toy were charged with falsely declaring the party's accounts. They were also accused of defrauding
Tay Boon Too
Tay may refer to:
People and languages
* Tay (name), including lists of people with the given name, surname and nickname
* Tay people, an ethnic group of Vietnam
** Tày language
*Atayal language, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan (ISO 639 ...
, a PAP Member of Parliament whom the Workers' Party had unsuccessfully sued for defamation in 1972; the suit had been dismissed by
High Court judge
Frederick Arthur Chua, who had ordered the Workers' Party to pay Tay's legal costs amounting to S$14,000.
In early 1984, senior district judge Michael Khoo found Jeyaretnam and Wong guilty of one of the four charges they faced but acquitted them of the other three. After both the defendants and the prosecution appealed against the judgement, the case was heard in May 1984 by Chief Justice
Wee Chong Jin. In April 1985, the Chief Justice found Jeyaretnam and Wong guilty of two of the three charges they had been acquitted of earlier, and fined them S$2,000 each. He also ordered a retrial for the offence of making a false declaration.
On 25 September 1985, Jeyaretnam and Wong were found guilty by a district court and each sentenced to three months' imprisonment, but they appealed against the judgement. In November 1986,
High Court judge
Lai Kew Chai
Lai Kew Chai (; 7 February 1941 – 27 February 2006) was a Malaysian-born Singaporean judge and the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court Bench, having served for almost 25 years as a Judge.
Biography Early life and education
Born in Ta ...
dismissed their appeals but reduced their sentences to one month's imprisonment and fined them S$5,000 each.
Under the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
, a Member of Parliament has to vacate his/her seat if he/she is fined S$2,000 or more, or sentenced to a jail term of 12 months or more, so on 10 December 1986, Jeyaretnam lost his parliamentary seat.
1987–1988: Disbarment and reversal
After Jeyaretnam completed serving his one-month jail term on 10 December 1986,
the
Law Society
A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...
, acting on a complaint by Attorney-General
Tan Boon Teik
Tan Boon Teik ( ; 17 January 1929 – 10 March 2012) was a Singaporean judge who served as the second attorney-general of Singapore between 1969 and 1992. At the age of 39, Tan was the youngest person to be appointed as attorney-general, ...
, commenced proceedings against him under the Legal Profession Act on the grounds that he was no longer fit to practise law because of his convictions. In October 1987, a panel of three judges, including Chief Justice
Wee Chong Jin, struck Jeyaretnam off the roll of
advocates and solicitors of the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, barring him from practising law.
In October 1988, following an appeal from Jeyaretnam, the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
(JCPC) reversed his
disbarment
Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct ...
,
noting in their judgement:
After the JCPC's judgement, Jeyaretnam requested President
Wee Kim Wee to remove his convictions. However, the President, constitutionally bound to act in accordance with the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
's advice, denied the request, so Jeyaretnam remained disqualified from participating in parliamentary elections until 1991.
1988–1990: Defamation suit from Lee Kuan Yew
Although Jeyaretnam was barred from contesting in the
1988 general election due to his convictions in 1986, he still participated in the
Workers' Party's rallies during the campaigning period. In one rally speech, he questioned if the
PAP government had carried out an inquiry into the death of former National Development Minister
Teh Cheang Wan
Teh Cheang Wan ( zh, s=郑章远, p=Zhèng Zhāngyuǎn; 3 March 1928 – 14 December 1986) was a Singaporean architect and politician who was a member of the governing People's Action Party. He was in charge of the Housing Development Board as m ...
, who had committed suicide in December 1986 by overdosing while he was being investigated for corruption. Jeyaretnam asked how Teh had obtained the tablets he used to commit suicide, and if Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew had responded to a letter from Teh written before his suicide.
After the election, Lee sued Jeyaretnam for
slander, alleging that Jeyaretnam implied that he had abetted Teh's suicide and covered up corruption. In August 1990,
High Court judge
Lai Kew Chai
Lai Kew Chai (; 7 February 1941 – 27 February 2006) was a Malaysian-born Singaporean judge and the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court Bench, having served for almost 25 years as a Judge.
Biography Early life and education
Born in Ta ...
ruled against Jeyaretnam and ordered him to pay Lee
damages of S$260,000 with interest on the amount and costs.
After Jeyaretnam lost his appeal to the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, he attempted to appeal to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
(JCPC) again. However, the law had been amended since the
1988 JCPC ruling in Jeyaretnam's favour. Under the new rules, for civil cases, an appeal to the JCPC would be allowed only if all parties involved consented to it. Lee did not give his consent so Jeyaretnam could not appeal to the JCPC.
All remaining appeals to the JCPC were eventually abolished from 8 April 1994 onwards.
1995–2001: Defamation suits from Tamil PAP MPs and others
In November 1995, Jeyaretnam and the Workers' Party's central executive committee faced two defamation suits. The first was from five
PAP Members of Parliament of
Tamil origin, including Foreign Affairs Minister
S. Jayakumar Jayakumar or Jeyakumar is a Sinhalese and Indian surname. It consists of two parts: ''jaya'', which means ''victory'' in Sinhalese and is also the name of a Hindu demigod, and ''kumar'', meaning ''child'', ''son'' or ''prince''. The name may refer t ...
.
The second was from Indra Krishnan and members of the organising committee of the Tamil Language Week. The lawsuits came after an article published in the Workers' Party's newsletter "The Hammer" implied that the plaintiffs' efforts to promote the
Tamil language
Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...
in Singapore had not been sincere enough.
In September 1997, Jeyaretnam and the Workers' Party agreed to pay S$200,000 in
damages and costs to the five PAP Members of Parliament by six instalments.
Three instalments amounting to S$100,000 were paid by February 1998.
On 30 November 1998, the
High Court ordered Jeyaretnam and the Workers' Party to pay S$265,000 in damages and costs to ten plaintiffs in the second lawsuit.
The Workers' Party appealed against the judgement but lost the appeal on 21 April 1999. At the time, the total sum had increased to almost S$500,000, including legal costs.
Eight of the plaintiffs initiated
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
proceedings against him and he was declared bankrupt in January 2001. In July 2001, Jeyaretnam appealed against his bankruptcy order and his case was heard in the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
on 23 July 2001.
1997–2001: Defamation suits from Goh Chok Tong and others
Following the
1997 general election, Jeyaretnam faced nine defamation suits from 11
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
ministers and Members of Parliament from the
PAP for speaking up in support of
Workers' Party candidate
Tang Liang Hong, who himself also faced 13 defamation suits. The plaintiffs included Senior Minister
Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong, and Deputy Prime Ministers
Lee Hsien Loong and
Tony Tan. The lawsuits came after Tang had accused the plaintiffs of lying when they labelled him as "anti-Christian" and "Chinese chauvinist" during the campaigning period. Jeyaretnam had also said during a rally speech,
During the trial, which started on 18 August 1997, both Jeyaretnam and Goh were represented by
Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...
s
George Carman
George Alfred Carman, QC (6 October 1929 – 2 January 2001) was an English leading barrister during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1979, he successfully defended the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe after he was charged with conspiracy to murder. ...
and Thomas Shields respectively.
On 20 August 1997, Carman accused Goh of lying and challenged his assertions that Singapore was a democracy.
During
cross-examination by Carman, Goh likened Jeyaretnam's statement to throwing a
Molotov cocktail. However, on further questioning, Goh also stated that "it has been a good year" for him and his standing as a leader had not been injured.
The trial generated much public interest, with representatives from the
International Commission of Jurists
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...
and
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
in attendance as observers.
High Court judge
S. Rajendran, who heard the case,
delivered his judgement on 29 September 1997. He found Jeyaretnam's words were non-intentional yet defamatory, but not to the extent which Goh claimed. The judge thus ordered Jeyaretnam to pay Goh
damages of S$20,000 (10% of what Goh claimed) and 60% of Goh's legal costs;
the judge also said Goh should pay 40% as the case was "overstated" and criticised the other plaintiffs' lawyers for not consolidating their lawsuits to reduce legal costs.
Goh appealed against the judgement and the damages were subsequently increased to S$100,000 plus legal costs.
The
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
representatives who observed the trials said that the lawsuits were politically motivated. Goh commenced
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
proceedings against Jeyaretnam after he failed to pay an instalment, but discontinued them later with S$31,000 still outstanding.
In December 2000,
Lee Kuan Yew and the other plaintiffs resumed the 1997 defamation suits against Jeyaretnam which had not been heard in court yet. Jeyaretnam attempted to have those lawsuits dismissed, but his application was turned down so he appealed to the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, which heard the case on 25 July 2001.
Leaking of the police reports to the press
On 25 April 2019, former
SPH journalist Bertha Henson revealed in a blog post that the police reports which
Tang Liang Hong made in 1997 had been unofficially forwarded by the
Singapore Police Force to ''
The New Paper
''The New Paper'' is a Singaporean newspaper in tabloid form. It was originally published as a "noon paper", but since 2016 has been published daily as a freesheet in the morning from 7 a.m. onwards.
History
First launched on 26 July 1988, ...
'', which published them. After Tang and Jeyaretnam were sued for defamation, Henson and ''The New Paper'' editor
P. N. Balji P. is an abbreviation or acronym that may refer to:
* Page (paper), where the abbreviation comes from Latin ''pagina''
* Paris Herbarium, at the ''Muséum national d'histoire naturelle''
* ''Pani'' (Polish), translating as Mrs.
* The ''Pacific Repo ...
realised that they had inadvertently spread the allegedly defamatory words to more people, meaning that the plaintiffs could have sought more
damages if they had won the lawsuits.
The following day,
Kenneth Jeyaretnam called Henson's confession "brave" and said that it "provided ''
prima facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...
'' evidence of corruption" in the 1997 lawsuits against his father. He also said that the unauthorised leaks had allowed the plaintiffs to claim aggravated damages, and that his father's lawyer
George Carman
George Alfred Carman, QC (6 October 1929 – 2 January 2001) was an English leading barrister during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1979, he successfully defended the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe after he was charged with conspiracy to murder. ...
could have used the unauthorised leaks in his defence.
2001–2007: Bankruptcy
On 23 and 25 July 2001, the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
dismissed two
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
appeals from Jeyaretnam after he failed to pay instalments on time for the damages arising from the earlier defamation lawsuits.
As undischarged bankrupts are barred from serving in Parliament, Jeyaretnam lost his seat as a
Non-constituency Member of Parliament on 25 July 2001. He was also
disbarred
Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct ...
.
To pay off his debts, Jeyaretnam went onto the streets to sell copies of two books he wrote: ''Make It Right for Singapore'' and ''The Hatchet Man of Singapore''. The first book contains the texts of some of his parliamentary speeches from 1997 to 1999, while the second describes his trials. In 2003, he told the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
that he had managed to sell as many as 10 copies of ''The Hatchet Man of Singapore'' each time he went out, and that the first 2,000 copies had been almost sold out.
In May 2007, Jeyaretnam was discharged from bankruptcy after he paid the remaining sum of S$233,255.78 owed to his creditors.
J B Jeyaretnam Foundation
On 5 January 2021, a charity tentatively named "J B Jeyaretnam Foundation" was set up to focus on poverty relief among marginalised groups.
Personal life
Jeyaretnam met his wife, Margaret Cynthia Walker, while they were both studying law in London. Walker joined Jeyaretnam in Singapore in 1956 and they married in February 1957.
She died of cancer in 1980.
They had two sons,
Kenneth Jeyaretnam and
Philip Jeyaretnam
Philip Antony Jeyaretnam (born 1964) is a Singaporean judge, lawyer and author who has been serving as a Judge of the High Court of Singapore since 1 November 2021, having been first appointed to the Bench as a Judicial Commissioner on 4 Januar ...
. Kenneth Jeyaretnam, a former
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
manager, has been the secretary-general of the
Reform Party since 2009. Philip Jeyaretnam, a
Senior Counsel, has been a judge of the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
since 2021 and was the president of the
Law Society
A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...
from 2004 to 2007.
Death
Jeyaretnam was rushed to
Tan Tock Seng Hospital in the early morning of 30 September 2008 after he complained that he had difficulties breathing. The doctors were unable to revive him
and he died of
heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
at the age of 82.
In media
In 2001, three lecturers from
Ngee Ann Polytechnic made a 15-minute documentary about Jeyaretnam after they met him while he was selling books on the streets. At the time, they did not know that he was a prominent opposition politician, and had not obtained official approval from Ngee Ann Polytechnic to make the documentary. The film was going to be screened at the
Singapore International Film Festival
The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore. Founded in 1987, the festival has a focus on showcasing international films and providing a global platform for ...
in April 2002. However, the documentary was in violation of the Films Act, which bans the making, distribution and showing of films containing "wholly or partly either partisan or biased references to or comments on any political matter." As a result, it was withdrawn from the film festival and the three lecturers apologised.
Bibliography
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References
External links
The Times: Joshua B. Jeyaretnam: Singapore opposition leaderReview of 'Lee's Law: How Singapore crushes dissent'Amnesty International- background of defamation cases
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeyaretnam, Joshua Benjamin
1926 births
2008 deaths
Members of the Parliament of Singapore
Singaporean Non-constituency Members of Parliament
Workers' Party (Singapore) politicians
Singaporean people of Indian descent
Reform Party (Singapore) politicians
Singaporean Tamil politicians
Singaporean people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent
Singaporean Anglicans
Saint Andrew's School, Singapore alumni
Alumni of University College London
Members of Gray's Inn
20th-century Singaporean lawyers