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20/05/2007
Singapore opposition veteran to form new party
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Sun May 20, 2007 3:02 PM IST
By Sebastian Tong
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's veteran opposition politician J.B. Jeyaretnam said on Sunday he plans to form a new political party to push for reform of the city-state's authoritarian political system.
Jeyaretnam, who led the opposition Workers' Party until 2001, was discharged from bankruptcy earlier this month after paying off damages in defamation suits brought by government leaders.
He was declared bankrupt in 2001 after failing to pay S$265,000 ($173,900) in defamation damages to plaintiffs that included then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and then Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar.
Jeyaretnam told a press briefing that he and a handful of supporters had begun work to register the new party and would try to attract support from Singaporeans eager for political reform.
"(This is) a party which will have as its main objective a complete and thorough change in the way this country is run -- no tinkering," Jeyaretnam, 81, said.
"Reform will be the main plank -- reform the system of government, all sectors of society," he said, adding that the group could be named 'The Reform Party'.
Jeyaretnam, who had to have reporters' questions repeated to him because of his poor hearing, said the new party would seek to contest in the next general poll, scheduled in 2011.
"I don't see why not -- unless the government moves against me again. I would like to be there," he said.
Jeyaretnam was the first opposition politician to win a seat in parliament in 1981. An acerbic critic and fiery speaker, he has long been a thorn in the side of the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled uninterrupted since Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965 and dominates the country's parliament.
The PAP, which has never lost more than four seats in any poll since 1965, won 82 out of the 84 seats in the last general election in May 2006. As in several previous elections, many of the wards were walkovers for the PAP because Singapore's tiny opposition parties did not manage to field candidates.
PAP leaders have brought defamation lawsuits against Jeyaretnam and several other opposition figures. After losing numerous libel lawsuits, Jeyaretnam was bankrupted, which prevented him from running for election and from practising as a lawyer.
Rights groups such as Amnesty International say the lawsuits are designed to stifle dissent, but PAP leaders say they are necessary to safeguard their reputation.
10:16 Posted by soci | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this | Tags: Singapore, The Reform Party
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JBJ forms new party to reform Singapore - 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJCpCzgbdk8
JBJ forms new party to reform Singapore - 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7RKQzxFQGw
Posted by: watchtowerv | 20/05/2007
A new dawn in Singapore politics is here.
Posted by: LEC | 21/05/2007
that sounds optimistic; I have a neutral account here
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Like the similarly familiar figure Francis Seow, JB Jeyaretnam started his career within the Singapore government system:
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam: Date of Birth: January 5, 1926 Served as a judge in Singapore District Court (1952-1957) Attorney Generals' Chamber (1957-1961) Registrar Of Singapore Supreme Court, District Judge and Head of Subordinate Judiciary (1961-1963)
I am not familiar with why he left the judiciary to start his own practice - it appears the firm did OK but he was not particularly well off - nor with why he decided to enter politics. He was very much "under the radar" till 1981 when he stood for a by-election in Anson. Again, I am not sure anyone still remembers why there was so much voter discontent in that area, only that he won over some well qualified technocrat (whom, I guess, the PAP would prefer to forget). The one story I do remember was that whereas the PAP candidate spent little time campaigning in Anson, other than attending a couple of rallies (it was said he drove there in his BMW, during the days when BMWs were still rare in Singapore), JB diligently canvassed for votes from door to door. However, since PAP has been winning all the seats in general elections that way for many years, there must have been some particular factors in that by-election causing their accustomed methods to fail.
In the 1984 general election, PAP put up Ng Pock Too, considered one of their strongest candidates, against JBJ in the hope of recovering Anson. In the same way they put up Mah Mow Tan against Chiam See Tong, leader of the newly formed Singapore Democratic Party. Both electorates went against the PAP, and they had to wait for another 4 years before entering parliament. Mah joined the cabinet soon after, while Ng rose in the business world to head Sembawang Corp (till Philip Yeo took charge there some time before the 1997 asian financial crisis - Ng, however, lost in the 1991 general election and exitted politics).
In the cut-and-thrust of parliamentary debates and election hustles, JBJ remains the most effective of all the Singapore opposition figures I have seen, (Low Thia Kiang too can speak well, in Tewchiu) but he had limited chances to use his abilities as he was repeatedly disqualified because of various legal issues that arose. Forced out of parliament in 1986, he came back as a non-electoral member of parliament (for exlanation see sgsociety.com asiaval.com - singapore needs a senate ) in 1997 but soon got disqualified again. This part of the history is well covered by journalists so I wont repeat it here.
JBJ has just settled his debts and exitted from his status of bankrupcy, and is again able to stand for parliament. As the Workers' Party, of which he was founder and leader, had since then moved on without him, he will form a new party.
I actually saw him in person once: taking the escalator up from City Hall MRT station to go into Raffles City, I found him at the MRT entrance lobby just outside the shopping centre giving a speech on government persecution. No one stopped to listen, but he continued undeterred. I guess that will be his description till nature stops him.
His son Philip Jeyaretnam, a graduate of NUS and Harvard, is a major figure in Singapore legal circles, but has no involvement in politics. His view about dad's activities is not publicly available. It is also unknown what part he may have played in helping JBJ to be discharged from bankrupcy.
Posted by: sgsociety.com | 21/05/2007
I agree with "reforming the government", provided it encompasses REDUCING the intervention of the state.
However "reforming all sectors" of society sounds decidedly STATIST to me. What ti means, at a cursory glance, is that the Reform Party will use POLITICAL MEANS (rule of the mob-majority) to force change to occur, instead of allowing people to change voluntarily (if they so choose).
JBJ use to have quotes from John Locke at his bookstands. Locke's view of the functions of the state are open to doubt these days because they conflict with his (excellent) views on PRIVATE property and self-ownership.
In my mind, what I can gather from the agenda of The Reform Party is that they are attempting to reconcile impossible contradictions — democracy without well defined individual and private property rights — to protect the INDIVIDUAL and his PROPERTY.
No, they haven't won me over, but then again neither has the PAP (or any big group with a "mission" for that matter). ;-)
Posted by: Matilah_Singapura | 22/05/2007