Reform Party

The Reform Party is a liberal democratic political party in the Republic of Singapore that seeks to establish and maintain a fully democratic government. According to the party's constitution, it seeks to promote "political, social and economic reform; the restoration of full human rights; a fairer and just distribution of wealth with the elimination of poverty; an independently appointed judiciary and a fully elected and sovereign parliament". Its stated philosophy is "That every member of the society is born with fundamental rights which cannot be abrogated... and that it is the paramount duty of the society to promote the human dignity of its every single member."

It was founded by opposition veteran Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam and officially registered on 3 July 2008. JBJ, as he is popularly known, died three months later on 7 September 2008.

History and political development

The Reform Party was founded by lawyer and veteran politician Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam. J.B. Jeyaretnam was the first opposition candidate to be elected Member of Parliament under the Workers' Party of Singapore banner after a period of about 16 years when not a single opposition candidate in Singapore won a seat. J.B. Jeyaretnam was formerly the secretary-general of the Workers’ Party from 1971 to 2001.

In 2001, J.B. Jeyaretnam was successfully sued for libel by Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong and was made to pay total damages of S$565,000 and court costs of S$270,000. After missing a damages payment by one day, he was declared bankrupt, disbarred and barred from participating in elections. He resigned from the Workers' Party of Singapore because he perceived that he was not receiving due support from his party colleagues. He had been its long-time secretary-general. He authored the books Make it Right for Singapore and The Hatchet Man of Singapore and was often seen promoting his books outside Centrepoint, a shopping centre on Orchard Road. He was discharged from bankruptcy in 2007.

The Reform Party was officially registered on 3 July 2008. J.B. Jeyaretnam was its first, pro-tem Secretary-General. On 30 September 2008, he died following a heart attack. Over a thousand mourners attended his funeral service. J.B. Jeyaretnam's son, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, who lived in UK with his British family and had previously never participated in politics directly, took over as secretary-general in April 2009.

On 8 May 2010, breaking tradition in Singapore politics where election candidates are generally only announced near the nomination date and after the electoral boundaries are confirmed, the Reform Party announced its six candidates well in advance of the coming general election. The candidates included Kenneth Jeyaretnam. However several members of the Reform Party switched camps in early 2011. They included James Teo, J. Sivalingam; Justin Ong, Jeannette Aruldoss and Tony Tan, who had been slated to be candidates. Others who left included Hazel Poa, Samantha De Silva, Gan Theng Wei, Nicole Seah and Tan Tee Seng.

The 2011 Singapore General Election was the party's first election. The party fielded two teams to contest in West Coast GRC and Ang Mo Kio GRC. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is one of the MPs of Ang Mo Kio GRC. Both teams lost to the People’s Action Party (PAP). The Reform Party earned ~35% of the vote in the two constituencies that it contested.

In his first campaign speech in late April 2011, Kenneth Jeyaretnam said that competition in politics would lead to better and more intelligent policies for Singapore. He also noted that the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) would likely open the floodgates to more foreigners to enter Singapore again once they formed the next government.

"Already you can see that. The Reform Party was the first to talk about how the government's track record was hollow. They always talk about the high rate of economic growth, but the economic growth is created just by bringing in cheap foreign labour. It is not created by raising the incomes of Singaporeans", he said. Kenneth Jeyaretnam also criticised the People’s Action Party (PAP) for failing to improve the lives of ordinary Singaporeans as their median incomes had remained stagnant for years.

Objectives and policies

The slogan on the Reform Party's website states "Transparency, Accountability and Inclusion: A democratic Singapore for Singaporeans."

The main objectives of The Reform Party as spelt out in its constitution are: to maintain and promote an independently appointed judiciary and a fully elected and sovereign parliament; to ensure that every member of society is entitled to political, social and economic rights; and to eliminate poverty by enforcing a fairer and just distribution of wealth.

In its National Day Message 2015 published on 9 August 2015, the party stated, "We need to secure for Singaporeans a fairer distribution of the national wealth by redistributing some of the massive wealth hoarded by the PAP Government." It proposed to do this "without adopting a high tax regime which might damage Singapore’s competitiveness", given the healthy state of Singapore's national finances.

On nomination day for GE2015, the Reform Party proposed a S$500.00 monthly allowance to Singaporean citizens aged 65 years and above.

Organization and structure

The Reform Party is unique among Singaporean political parties, both government and opposition, in that its party structure does not follow a cadre based system of political organisation. The party constitution states that the Party Conference is the supreme governing authority. The first full Conference was in 2012, where the pro-tem CEC were ratified. Andy Zhu Laicheng was voted chairman and Kenneth Jeyaretnam was voted Secretary General.

Leadership

Kenneth Jeyaretnam has led the party as its secretary-general since 2009. Under his leadership, that party saw significant exodus of members, especially before GE 2011.

Electoral performance

General Election 2011

The 2011 Singapore General Election was the first election for the Reform Party, contesting two GRCs.

West Coast GRC

• Kenneth Jeyaretnam (Former Hedge Fund Manager with no formal permanent employment)
• Andy Zhu Lai Cheng (Property Manager)
• Kumar Appavoo (Company Director)
• Frankie Low Chiak Huan (Businessman)
• Haren Hu (Scholar and Researcher)

Ang Mo Kio GRC

• Alex Tan Zhixiang (Financial Adviser)
• Arthero Lim Tung Hee (Film Producer)
• Vignes Ramachandran (Educator)
• Lim Zi Rui (Undergraduate)
• Mohamed Mansor bin Abdul Rahman (Unionist)
• Osman bin Sulaiman (Human Resource Supervisor)

By-election 2013

A by-election in Punggol East Single Member Constituency was held on 26 January 2013 after the resignation of former parliamentary speaker Michael Palmer from the People's Action Party on 12 December 2012. The Reform Party fielded Secretary General Kenneth Jeyaretnam to contest the vacated seat, but he obtained only 1.2% of the valid votes in a rare 4-cornered fight. His election deposit was forfeited. The victory went to Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party.

General Election 2015

11 candidates of the Reform Party, including Kenneth Jeyaretnam, will contest West Coast Group Representation Constituency, Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency and Radin Mas SMC in the 2015 Singapore General Election. Radin Mas SMC contains part of the defunct Anson constituency, J.B. Jeyaretnam's former constituency.

Roy Ngerng and M Ravi were fielded in Ang Mo Kio GRC in their first appearance in politics. The former had been notably sued for defamation for one year between May 2014 and July 2015, and the latter was Ngerng's defence lawyer in the incident