J. B. Jeyaretnam

J. B. Jeyaretnam
ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்
Jeyaretnam in 2005
5th Leader of the Opposition
In office 22 December 1981 – 10 November 1986
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Preceded by	Chia Thye Poh
Succeeded by	Chiam See Tong
7th Secretary-General of the Workers' Party
In office July 1971 – 27 May 2001
Preceded by	Sum Choon Heng
Succeeded by	Low Thia Khiang
Non-Constituency Member of the 9th Parliament of Singapore
In office 14 January 1997 – 23 July 2001
Preceded by	Vacant
Succeeded by	Steve Chia (SDA)
1st Secretary-General of the Reform Party
In office 18 June 2008 – 30 September 2008
Chairman	Ng Teck Siong
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Kenneth Jeyaretnam
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Anson SMC
In office 31 October 1981 – 10 November 1986
Preceded by	Devan Nair
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Majority	2,376 (13.6%)
Personal details
Born	Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (1926-01-05)5 January 1926 Jaffna, British Ceylon
Died	30 September 2008(2008-09-30) (aged 82) Singapore
Cause of death	Heart failure
Political party	Reform Party
Other political affiliations	Workers' Party (1971–2001)
Spouse	Margaret Cynthia Walker ​ ​ (m. 1957; died 1980)​
Children	Kenneth Jeyaretnam (son) Philip Jeyaretnam (son)
Alma mater	University College London (LLB)
Profession	Politician lawyer
Nickname	"Tiger of Anson"

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (Tamil: ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008),^[1] better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ,^[2] was a Singaporean politician and lawyer. A former member of the opposition Workers' Party, he served as the party's secretary-general between 1971 and 2001. He was also the de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1981 and 1986 when he won a by-election in Anson SMC and served as a Member of Parliament between 1981 and 1986. He was also a Non-constituency Member of Parliament between 1997 and 2001.

Born in Jaffna in 1926, Jeyaretnam grew up in Malaya and Singapore before he read law in London and qualified as a barrister in 1951. Upon returning to Singapore, he worked in the legal service from 1952 to 1963 before setting up his own law firm in 1968. He entered politics in 1971 and became the secretary-general of the opposition Workers' Party. Thereafter, he contested in the 1972, 1976, 1980 general election, 1977 and 1979 by-elections, but lost to the governing People's Action Party (PAP) in all of them.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Jeyaretnam had his first electoral victory in the 1981 by-election in Anson SMC when he won 51.93% of the vote against the PAP's Pang Kim Hin and United People's Front's Harbans Singh,^[8] becoming the first opposition politician to be elected into Parliament since Singapore gained independence in 1965.^[2] He contested in the 1984 general election in Anson SMC again and won with 56.81% of the vote against the PAP's Ng Pock Too.^[9]

In 1986, following convictions for making false statements about the Workers' Party's accounts, Jeyaretnam was not only fined and imprisoned for a month, but also lost his parliamentary seat. After he was disqualified from practising law in 1987, he appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which reversed his disbarment in 1988 and called his conviction "a grievous injustice". Jeyaretnam appealed to Wee Kim Wee, the President of Singapore, for his convictions to be removed so that he could return to Parliament, but was denied.^[10]

During the 1997 general election, Jeyaretnam joined a five-member Workers' Party team to contest in Cheng San GRC, but they lost 45.18% of the vote against the PAP team.^[11] Since the Workers' Party team in Cheng San GRC were the "best losers" in an election in which there were fewer than six elected opposition Members of Parliament, they were offered one parliamentary seat as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), which Jeyaretnam took up. However, Jeyaretnam lost his NCMP seat and left the Workers' Party in 2001 when he was declared bankrupt after failing to keep up with damages from a series of defamation suits against him.^[12]

After his discharge from bankruptcy in 2007, Jeyaretnam founded the Reform Party in June 2008.^[13][14] He died of heart failure on 30 September that year.^[15][16]