People of principal and persistence are hard to come by in today’s world. I never knew who Mr J.B Jeyaretnam till a cousin of mine from Singapore told me about him about 4-5years ago. I then toke a little effort to find out about the man who was in a nutshell the opposition to the PAP government who are like the Barisan Nasional government here in Malaysia. When governments rule countries for such long times they tend to develop arrogance and take the citizens for granted and that is pretty clear in both Malaysia & Singapore. Have a read at a letter that was sent to the family of JBJ by the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and you tell me what you think? Im glad that the tides are slowly changing in Malaysia and even though that may cause slight turbulence at first, the nation will benefit the ultimate goal of a well oiled 2 party system.

He was known famously as JBJ to Singaporeans ,he was the leader of the Workers’ Party and was the 1st opposition MP by winning the Anson seat when he defeated the People’s Action Party’s Pang Kim Him in the 1981 Anson by-election with 51.9% to 47.1%..

He was very vocal in his thoughts as a single voice and never shy-ed away from a fight. Jeyaretnam was brought down by a series of politically-motivated charges and fines in a successful effort to disbar him and prevent him from taking part in future elections. Two months after his 1984 re-election, he was charged for allegedly mis-stating his party accounts.

In 1986, a district court 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, Jeyaretnam was declared guilty on all charges. The judge sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment (later commuted to one month), and fined him SGD5,000, sufficient to disqualify him from standing for election for a period of five years. He was also disbarred.

Very familiar actions by a party that has monopolized a country since it was formed. In Malaysia these are familiar actions by the party that kills of any threat which they deem to be a threat to them and conveniently made a “national threat” as well.

I was told by friends that JBJ could be spotted selling books on the streets.The books were entitled Make it Right for Singapore, which mainly contains his parliamentary speeches between 1997 and 2000. He also authored another book, entitled, The Hatchet Man of Singapore, in which it depicts his trials in court over the statement he made during an election rally in a stadium. Hopefully i can get my hands on these books soon!

I always wanted to meet JBJ if i had the opportunity too just to tell him that his life is insprational and that he has got the support of many of us from across the causeway. Unfortunately i will not get that opportunity now however im inspired by his work of his life and this is a true example of how one should have solid principals and beleifs to fuel their lives.

May your soul Rest In Peace and Hopefully many more JBJ emerge out of Singapore and Malaysia!

Read some of the Tributes to JBJ HERE

I was searching for a speech from JBJ but didnt have much luck but i found the press conference of the launch of the Singapore’s Reform Party . Watch the forming of JBJ’s Reform Party Press Conference

Sources :  Wiki | TheOnlineCitizen |

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