J. B. Jeyaretnam

J. B. Jeyaretnam
Secretary-General of the Workers' Party
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam


In office	1971 – 2001
Member of Parliament for Anson SMC
In office	31 October 1981 – 10 November 1986
Personal details
Party	Workers' Party (1971–2001) Reform Party (2008)
Born	5 January 1926
Spouse	Margaret Cynthia Walker (m. 1957; d. 1980)
Alma mater	University College London (LLB)

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), commonly known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or JBJ, was a Singaporean lawyer and opposition politician. He was Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP) from 1971 to 2001 and the de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1981 and 1986. In the 1981 Anson by-election he became the first opposition politician elected to Parliament since Singapore's independence in 1965. He later founded the Reform Party in 2008, serving as its Secretary-General until his death later that year.

Early life and education

An Anglican Christian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, Jeyaretnam was born in the village of Chankanai in Jaffna, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), while his parents were on home leave from Malaya. His father, Victor Lord Joshua, worked with the Public Works Department in Malaya.

He began his schooling at a French convent in Muar and continued at the Government English School there, before enrolling at English College in Johor Bahru. His education was disrupted by the Japanese occupation of Malaya (1942–1945), during which he learned Japanese and worked in the census department and as an interpreter in the Japanese transport department. After the war he moved to Singapore and studied at St Andrew's School.

In 1948 he left for England to read law at University College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws with honours in 1951. He was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn on 27 November 1951. While studying in London he met Margaret Cynthia Walker, also a law student, whom he married in February 1957.

Legal career

Jeyaretnam joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1952, holding posts including magistrate, crown counsel, deputy public prosecutor and registrar of the Supreme Court. In 1963 he was appointed Singapore's first criminal district judge. Later that year he resigned to enter private practice, setting up his own law firm in 1968.

In February 1970, a month after the abolition of jury trials in Singapore, Jeyaretnam represented Teo Cheng Leong, who had been convicted of shooting at a police officer and was the first person sentenced to death by a non-jury court of two judges. Jeyaretnam unsuccessfully sought to have the case tried by jury on the basis that the offence had occurred before the abolition of jury trials. In 1983 he was among the counsel for Tan Mui Choo, one of the perpetrators of the Toa Payoh ritual murders.

His ability to practise law was suspended through his 1986 conviction and subsequent disbarment proceedings (see below), and again from 2001 during his bankruptcy. He resumed practice after his discharge in 2007.

Political career

Early elections (1971–1980)

Jeyaretnam joined the Workers' Party in June 1971 and was elected its Secretary-General, reviving a party that had been largely dormant since the departure of its founder David Marshall. He made his electoral debut at the 1972 general election, contesting Farrer Park SMC and losing to the PAP's Lee Chiaw Meng. He lost four further contests over the decade: Kampong Chai Chee SMC at the 1976 general election, the 1977 Radin Mas by-election, the 1979 Telok Blangah by-election, and Telok Blangah SMC at the 1980 general election, where he came within about six percentage points of the PAP candidate.

First opposition MP since 1965

At the 1981 Anson by-election, held on 31 October 1981, Jeyaretnam contested a three-cornered fight against the PAP's Pang Kim Hin and the United People's Front's Harbans Singh. He won with 51.93% of the vote, becoming the first opposition politician elected to Parliament since independence in 1965.

He was re-elected in Anson at the 1984 general election with 56.81% against the PAP's Ng Pock Too. He and Chiam See Tong, who won Potong Pasir, were the only two elected opposition members in that Parliament.

During the 1980s Jeyaretnam was twice referred to Parliament's Committee of Privileges, receiving reprimands and fines, including in connection with letters he sent to Anson residents about the committee's conduct.

Loss of parliamentary seat (1986)

In 1986, following convictions for making false statements about the Workers' Party's accounts, Jeyaretnam was fined and imprisoned. As a Member of Parliament must vacate the seat on a fine of S$2,000 or more or a jail term of twelve months or more, he lost his Anson seat on 10 November 1986 and was disqualified from standing for election until 1991.

Presidential election (1993)

In 1993 Jeyaretnam applied for a Certificate of Eligibility to contest the presidential election, but the application was rejected.

Cheng San GRC and NCMP (1997–2001)

At the 1997 general election, Jeyaretnam was part of a five-member Workers' Party team contesting Cheng San GRC against a PAP team led by Education Minister Lee Yock Suan. The WP team lost with 45.18% of the vote. As the best-performing losing opposition team in an election returning fewer than the guaranteed number of opposition members, the party was offered one Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat, and selected Jeyaretnam, who returned to Parliament for the first time since 1986. He lost the NCMP seat on 25 July 2001 after being declared bankrupt, as undischarged bankrupts are barred from sitting in Parliament.

Leaving the Workers' Party

In October 2001 Jeyaretnam left the Workers' Party, stating that he felt ostracised and that the party's leaders had not assisted him with his debts.

Reform Party (2008)

After his discharge from bankruptcy in May 2007, Jeyaretnam announced in April 2008 his intention to form a new party. The Registry of Societies approved the Reform Party on 17 June 2008, with Jeyaretnam as interim Secretary-General. He died later that year.

Legal proceedings

Defamation suit by Lee Kuan Yew (1976–1981)

After the 1976 general election, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew sued Jeyaretnam for defamation over remarks made in an election speech concerning Lee's family and the grant of a banking licence. A five-day trial took place in November 1978; Lee and Jeyaretnam were represented respectively by Queen's Counsel Robert Alexander and John Mortimer, the latter acting pro bono. In January 1979 the High Court found against Jeyaretnam and ordered him to pay S$130,000 in damages and costs. He lost appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, incurring substantial further costs and selling his home to meet them.

Convictions for false statements (1983–1986)

In December 1983 Jeyaretnam and Workers' Party chairman Wong Hong Toy were charged in connection with the declaration of the party's accounts. The litigation passed through several stages: a 1984 district court verdict acquitting them of most charges, appeals by both sides, a 1985 ruling by Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin convicting them on further charges and ordering a retrial, and a district court conviction in September 1985. In November 1986 the High Court reduced their sentences to one month's imprisonment and fines of S$5,000 each. The fine caused Jeyaretnam to lose his parliamentary seat on 10 November 1986.

Disbarment and Privy Council reversal (1987–1988)

In October 1987 the Law Society of Singapore, acting on a complaint by the Attorney-General, brought proceedings under the Legal Profession Act, and a panel including Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin struck Jeyaretnam off the roll, barring him from practising law.

In October 1988, on appeal, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council reversed the disbarment, recording its "deep disquiet" that, through a series of misjudgements, Jeyaretnam and Wong had "suffered a grievous injustice", having been "fined, imprisoned and publicly disgraced for offences of which they are not guilty". The Privy Council restored Jeyaretnam to the roll of advocates and solicitors but noted it had no power to reverse the other consequences, including the loss of his parliamentary seat; the only avenue of further redress, it observed, would be a petition for pardon to the President. Jeyaretnam petitioned President Wee Kim Wee for his convictions to be removed, but the request was declined, and he remained disqualified from standing for election until 1991.

Defamation suit by Lee Kuan Yew (1988–1990)

Though barred from contesting the 1988 general election, Jeyaretnam spoke at Workers' Party rallies, where he raised questions about the death of former National Development Minister Teh Cheang Wan. Lee Kuan Yew sued for slander; in August 1990 the High Court ordered Jeyaretnam to pay S$260,000 in damages with interest and costs. His appeal to the Court of Appeal failed, and a further appeal to the Privy Council was not possible after a change in the law required all parties' consent for such civil appeals.

Defamation suits arising from the 1990s

In November 1995 Jeyaretnam and the Workers' Party's central executive committee faced two defamation suits over an article in the party newsletter The Hammer concerning the promotion of the Tamil language: one brought by five PAP Members of Parliament of Tamil origin, including Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar, and one by members of a Tamil Language Week organising committee. The first was settled in 1997 for S$200,000 in damages and costs by instalments; in the second, the courts ordered payment of S$265,000, a figure that rose to nearly S$500,000 with costs after an unsuccessful appeal in 1999. Bankruptcy proceedings followed, and Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt in January 2001.

Following the 1997 general election, Jeyaretnam faced defamation suits from PAP ministers and Members of Parliament, including Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, and Deputy Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong and Tony Tan, over remarks supporting WP candidate Tang Liang Hong. In the suit brought by Goh, heard from August 1997 before High Court judge S. Rajendran, Jeyaretnam was represented by Queen's Counsel George Carman. The judgment of 29 September 1997 found Jeyaretnam's words defamatory though non-intentional and awarded Goh S$20,000 in damages with a portion of costs; on Goh's appeal the damages were increased to S$100,000 plus costs. The trial was observed by representatives of the International Commission of Jurists and Amnesty International.

Bankruptcy (2001–2007)

On 23 and 25 July 2001 the Court of Appeal dismissed Jeyaretnam's bankruptcy appeals after he failed to keep up instalment payments on the damages he owed. As an undischarged bankrupt he lost his NCMP seat on 25 July 2001 and was disbarred. To meet his debts he sold copies of two books he had written, Make It Right for Singapore and The Hatchet Man of Singapore, often outside MRT stations and shopping centres. He was discharged from bankruptcy in May 2007 after paying the outstanding S$233,255.78 to his creditors.

Personal life

Jeyaretnam married Margaret Cynthia Walker in February 1957; she died of cancer in 1980. They had two sons. Kenneth Jeyaretnam, a former hedge fund manager, became Secretary-General of the Reform Party in 2009. Philip Jeyaretnam, a Senior Counsel, was President of the Law Society from 2004 to 2007 and was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court in 2021.

Known for his oratory at rallies, which earned him the nickname "the Tiger", Jeyaretnam was the subject of numerous defamation suits brought by PAP leaders over his political career.

Death

Jeyaretnam was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in the early morning of 30 September 2008 after experiencing breathing difficulties, and died of heart failure at the age of 82. Over a thousand people attended his funeral service at St Andrew's Cathedral on 4 October 2008.

References