J. B. Jeyaretnam

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (born 1926), usually J.B. Jeyaretnam and often abbreviated JBJ, is a Singaporean politician. A Tamil Christian, he was the leader of the Workers' Party of Singapore, challenging the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which had effectively ruled Singapore as a one-party state. He became Singapore's first opposition Member of Parliament since independence in 1963. Later, however, he was brought down by a series of politically motivated charges and fines in a successful effort to disbar and prevent him from taking part in future elections.

In 1981, representing the Workers' Party, JB Jeyaretnam became Singapore's first opposition MP since, defeating the People's Action Party's Pang Kim Him in the 1981 Anson by-election with 51.9% to 47.1% of the vote. He was re-elected from the same seat in 1984, one of only two opposition politicians to win.

Two months after his 1984 re-election, he was charged for allegedly falsely stating the party accounts. In 1986, a district count found him innocent of all charges but one; the prosecution appealed and the Chief Justice ordered a retrial in a district court. At the retrial he was declared guilty on all charges. The judge sentenced him to three months in jail, (later commuted to one month in jail) and fined him $5000 — sufficient to disqualify him from further elections for a period of five years. He was also disbarred.

Since the trial had been held in a district court, not the High Court, Jeyaretnam was only able to appeal his disbarment to Britain's Privy Council. The Council duly reversed the judgment. This what the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had to say on this episode when they delivered their judgment allowing J. B. Jeyaretnam's appeal against being struck off from the roll of Singapore lawyers:-

"Their Lordships have to record their deep disquiet that by a series of misjudgements the appellant and his co-accused Wong have suffered a grievous injustice. They have been fined, imprisoned and publicly disgraced for offences of which they are not guilty. The appellant, in addition, has been deprived of his seat in Parliament and disqualified for a year from practising his profession. Their Lordships order restores him to the roll of advocates and solicitors of the Supreme Court of Singapore, but, because of the course taken by the criminal proceedings, their Lordships have no power to right the other wrongs which the appellant and Wong have suffered. Their only prospect of redress, their Lordships understand, will be by way of petition for pardon to the President of the Republic of Singapore."

Following the decision of the Privy Council, the Secretary-General then wrote to the President to ask that the convictions be removed as a result of the Privy Council's decision. The President, on the advice of the cabinet, refused to remove the convictions and Jeyaretnam remained disqualified until 1991. Singapore judges also refused to reverse his convictions or reverse the fine, which prevented him from standing for office until 1997.

In the 1988 election, B. Jeyaretnam was barred from contesting due to his disqualification for 5 years. However he did attend election rallies to help out his fellow party members. At an election rally, he challenged the PAP's claim to being an open and transparent government, and asked whether any investigation had been conducted as to how the Minister for National Development, Teh Cheng Wan, had obtained the tablets with which he committed suicide in the midst of being investigated for corruption. The Secretary-General also asked whether the Prime Minister had replied to a letter written to him by Teh.

After the elections, Lee commenced proceedings against Jeyaretnam that the Secretary-General had slandered him as his words at the election rally were understood to mean that Lee had aided and abetted Teh Cheng Wan to commit suicide, which was a criminal offence, and had covered up corruption. The action was heard by Justice Lai Kew Chai who found a case against Jeyaretnam and ordered him to pay Lee damages of $260,000/- together with interest on the amount and costs.

Jeyaretnam lost the appeal from that judgement. He wanted to take an appeal from the Court of Appeal to the Privy Council but to do that, he had to get Lee's consent before the hearing by the Court of Appeal. This was because the law relating to appeals to the Privy Council had been changed after the Privy Council's judgement restoring Jeyaretnam to the roll of advocates and solicitors. Appeals to the Privy Council by lawyers from any order made by a court of three judges under the Legal Profession Act were abolished. In criminal cases, an appeal from the Court of Criminal Appeal to the Privy Council was also abolished. In civil cases, an appeal was allowed if the other party consented to an appeal before the hearing by the Court of Appeal. Lee did not give his consent.

In 1995, Jeyaretnam authored an article in The Hammer, the Workers' Party newspaper, that alleged that a number of those involved in an event called 'Tamil Language Week' were government "stooges". For this, he was sued twice for libel, resulting in total damages of S$465,000 and S$250,000 in court costs.

In 1997, Jeyaretnam was selected as a non-constituency MP. After the election, 11 defamation suits were laid against Jeyaretnam for the words "Mr Tang Liang Hong has just placed before me two reports he has made to police against, you know, Mr Goh Chok Tong and his people". Initially, he was convicted of the lesser charge of innuendo and fined only S$20000; on the prosecution's appeal, the damages of were raised to S$100,000 plus S$20000 court costs.

In 2001, one day late with a damages installment, Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt, disbarred and prevented from taking part in the 2001 elections. He resigned his leadership of the Workers' Party in October 2001 and now subsists by hawking copies of his books on the streets.He has also written and published a book 'Make it Right for Singapore' which mainly contains his parliamentary speeches between 1997 and 2000.He also authored another book titled "The Hachet Man of Singapore" in which it depicts his trials in court over the statement(see above) he made during an election rally in a stadium.

In 4 January 2002, Documentary about J.B. Jeyaretnam --A Vision of Persistence-- (which showed Jeyaretnam, a former MP and erstwhile leader of the opposition Workers' Party, selling his books in public places and meeting with his supporters) was withdrawn from Singapore International Film Festival here last year on fears it could have violated a law banning political films. The makers of the 15-minute documentary had submitted written apologies and withdrew it from being screened at the Singapore International Film Festival in April after they were told they could be charged in court. The film-makers, all lecturers at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, had said they just chanced upon a man selling books on a street and decided to make a documentary on him, unaware at first that he was an opposition figure. A little-known law called the Films Act bans the making, distribution and showing of films containing "wholly or partly either partisan or biased references to or comments on any political matter." The source, who was not named, said a government official went to the school and asked: "How can your staff do this sort of thing?" A person familiar with the case told the newspaper: "It's a sort of paranoia on the part of the authorities." Philip Cheah, director of the film festival, said he saw the documentary but declined to comment on its contents. "It should have been shown at the festival. Then people can decide," he said, adding that as far as he knows this was the first film considered political under the Films Act.

On 25 October 2004, JB Jeyaratnam appeals for early discharge from bankruptcy so that he can contest in the next election. He appeared before a three-judge Court of Appeal - Singapore's highest court - asking to be discharged as a bankrupt. But the official assignee has opposed this, saying Mr Jeyaratnam lied about his assets. Representing himself during the two-hour hearing, Mr Jeyaratnam appealed for an early discharge saying that he wanted another chance to contribute to society. As a bankrupt, the veteran opposition activist is not eligible to stand for election. He has offered to pay one-third of the more than $600,000 he still owes his claimants after losing a series of defamation suits. So far, Mr Jeyaratnam has paid up less than $30,000.

Mr Sarjit Singh, the official assignee, has opposed the opposition leader's early discharge from bankruptcy, saying that Mr Jeyaretnam is "the most dishonest bankrupt I have ever come across". He said this because Mr Jeyaratnam did not declare a property he had bought in Johor Baru - worth more than $350,000. At the same time, Mr Davinder Singh, who is the legal counsel acting for eight of the creditors, argued that this case throws up issues far wider than just Mr Jeyaratnam's appeal. He said if Mr Jeyaratnam is discharged as a bankrupt, it could set a dangerous precedent and the courts could be flooded with similar appeals from bankrupts seeking early discharge.

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Categories: 1926 births | Tamil people

J. B. Jeyaretnam

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