Condolences: JB Jeyaretnam's family, associates and friends.
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Former opposition MP JB Jeyaretnam dies of heart failure
By Lee Foong Ming, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 30 September 2008 0814 hrsSINGAPORE: Former opposition MP and former Secretary-General of the Workers' Party, Mr JB Jeyaretnam died early Tuesday morning due to heart failure.
He was 82.
His son Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam told Channel NewsAsia that Mr Jeyaretnam, who had a pre-existing heart condition, had complained of breathing difficulties at about 1.30am.
He was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital but doctors were unable to revive him.
He passed away with his family by his side.
A lawyer, Mr Jeyaretnam was the first opposition member to win a Parliamentary seat in 15 years when he defeated the People's Action Party's Pang Kim Hin and the United People's Front's Harbans Singh in the Anson By-Election in 1981.
He left the Workers' Party in 2001, and in July this year, had launched a new party called the Reform Party.
Mr Jeyaretnam leaves behind two sons.
- CNA/ybhttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/379303/1/.html
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Now he can haunt his tormentor every night, something that all his gurkha bodyguards can't prevent.
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He has lived an honorable long life... unlike some person that continues to live a dishonorable existence.
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...he is truly a great man. a true opposition.... unlike the wannabees nowadays.
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Originally posted by maurizio13:
Now he can haunt his tormentor every night, something that all his gurkha bodyguards can't prevent.
Mr Jeyaretnam fought a good fight, stood his cause, did what he could...he will be remembered as one of the pioneers in Singapore history, a true Singaporean politician, a great oppositioin. His only regret is probably that he had few credible successors. Can't imagine they even expect him to work from the grave...babies who never grow, fruits that never ripe, ...dead wood that can't be used for any damn thing....anyway, You have done your part, JB, rest in peace.
My condolence to his family.
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Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
He has lived an honorable long life... unlike some person that continues to live a dishonorable existence.
Well fucking said.
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For a man who believed in himself and his principle. you are indeed a honourable man. Your time may be up but history shall always be reminded of your exisitance
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condolences..
the passing of a great man...
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Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
He has lived an honorable long life... unlike some person that continues to live a dishonorable existence.
Damn, and LKY still alive... -
When i was a young mei mei, I met him once at centre point at orchard Rd, he gave me a piece of kitkat chocolate and smile, i asked him what is the WP logo on his shirt mean??, he told me that is the future logo of Singapore. Then he gave my Dad a newspaper to read, my Dad never really read it, so i read it in our car while munching on kitkat, and from then on that changed my political view of Singapore. And also i started eating kitkat.
Angel
Former PAP kindergarden student
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Well today we are one man down.. He too have contribute alot to singapore in the past. Put him in the history book of ours. We will miss the man who stand at centrepoint and few mrt selling his book.
May god bless u.
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Very sad.
Where is his wake, I am going down to pay my respects.
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when is LKY turn?
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Rest in peace.
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I respect this man and I am very sorry he couldnt outlive his nemesis.
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He dedicated more than a third of his life fighting for what he believes. Finally, he can rest in peace.
I can see that he is a great father. At least, he is able to segregrate his political fight away from his family.
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JBJ.. rest in peace...
which you could not find here..
you stuck to your guns.. to the end.. got to respect that even when i could not share your beliefs..
RIP..
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Remember the Bon Jovi song 'Dead or Alive' that should be his theme song
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Originally posted by Chin Eng:
...he is truly a great man. a true opposition.... unlike the wannabees nowadays.
i'm not into politics, but what do you say that?
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Originally posted by dumbdumb!:
i'm not into politics, but what do you say that?
He is comparing JBJ to Dr Chee perhaps. -
Despite LKY's best efforts, JBJ was unbowed till the end. Helluva guy.
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Interview of JB Jeyaretnam @ 3:53 mins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xqYINCiD5c
"He intended to make JB Jeyaretnam crawl to him in bended knees"
I guess old man Lee will have to join him in the afterlife to make him do that now.
Please take old man Lee with you.
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Requiem for an unbending Singaporean
Singapore's former president, C. V. Devan Nair, writes about opposition leader J. B. Jeyaretnam and his political party: the Workers' Party.
A SERIOUS threat of closure faces the Workers' Party led by Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam because of failure to pay the forbidding damages awarded against the Party by a court in Singapore. One hopes against hope that this might be avoided at the last minute. It is a slim hope.
The world has come to assume, rightly or wrongly, that the political tactics used by the governing PAP against opposition politicians have for some time come to include suing their pants off, forcing them into bankruptcy and losing their seats in parliament as a result. Now the same device is resorted to against opposition political parties themselves, as registered institutions. The onus of proof is on the government of Singapore - not on global public opinion.
Nothing that smacks of opposition seems safe in Singapore any longer. Singaporeans must sooner or later come to realise the harsh truth that nobody in Singapore is truly saved unless ALL are SEEN to be saved. The post of no return has long passed for Singaporeans, and one fears they will perforce learn this lesson the hard way. In the ultimate analysis, this is probably best.The more painful the price paid to learn basic human lessons, the more firmly might they become embedded in the national fibre. A free Singapore will arise and justify the sacrifices and efforts of undaunted Singaporeans, now including the courageous Chee Soon Juan, who had immolated themselves on the altar of freedom. Phoenix-like, their dreams will rise once again from their ashes. Were this process not true, the world would have come to an end long ago.
It is just as well that I release this requiem now. If not timely yet, it will be soon enough. Here goes, for good or ill to myself:
Some months after I was kicked upstairs to the presidency of the republic of Singapore in October 1981, there was a by-election in the parliamentary constituency of Anson, which I had held prior to my ill-fated elevation.I had won that seat with a comfortable majority of some 80 percent of the votes cast. The PAP's candidate in the by-election was a relative unknown, while the Workers Party put up J.B Jeyaretnam. To the consternation of the PAP, Jeyaretnam won.
The day after the by-election verdict was declared, I had lunch with the Prime Minister. I was amazed at how he fretted and fumed like a caged fury. As I saw it, Jeyaretnam constituted no threat at all to the PAP whether in parliament or outside it.For one thing, despite Jeyas courage, he displayed a woeful lack of economics. He clearly never knew at any point of time how Singapore clicked economically. And it was as plain as a pikestaff to me that in five years of free performance in 'parliament against the likes of Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr Lim Kim San et al, he would stand exposed in public for his abysmal ignorance of economics.
In truth, if I had to cope with J.B Jeyaretnam as a hostile delegate at regular National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) Delegates Conferences, I would have given him all the rope and more he wanted to hang himself with. And after free and open arguments over three days of conferencing, I would have beaten him hands down at the ballot box.I knew this, as did the workers. For they knew that in the colonial days, Jeyaretnam had never stood on a picket line. I had, not once but several times, not only stood on picket lines, but also bedded down for the night on the gravel with the workers whom I led.
I told all this to Kuan Yew. Nothing I said sank in. He fretted about a potential critical percentage drop in PAP votes across all the constituencies that could eventually bring the PAP government down, and he wouldn't stand for it.Only later did I realise that this was the moment that started his formidable brain box ticking away furiously at the fecund gerrymandering schemes he was to introduce later to ensure that all opposition parties would be put in a Gordion bind that would make it impossible for them to ever achieve control of parliament, unless an Alexander came along.
Such a possibility appears impossible now, unless it takes the awesome shape of shattering geo-political circumstances already building up around Singapore.
Immediately, however, Kuan Yew's attention was concentrated on how he would deal with J.B Jeyaretnam in parliament. I was quite alarmed at some of the things he told me at that lunch. "Look," he said, "Jeyaretnam cant win the infighting. I'll tell you why. WE are in charge. Every government ministry and department is under our control. And in the infighting, he will go down for the count every time." And I will never forget his last words. "I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy."
Jeyaretnam was made of sterner stuff. To his eternal credit he never did crawl on bended knees, or ever begged for mercy.And it is to Lee Kuan Yew's eternal shame that Jeyaretnam will leave the political scene with his head held high, enjoying a martyrdom conferred on him by Lee. Lest I be misunderstood, let me state that Jeya more than deserves the crown of the martyr for his indomitable courage and dignity in the face of the vilest persecution.
Even greater human spirits than Jeyaretnam had refused to bend their knees to Lee Kuan Yew. It is my considered view that the greatest human being living in Singapore today is one who declined to surrender to the intimidation of prolonged incarceration and restrictions imposed on him without trial for a total period which exceeds that suffered by Nelson Mandela.And here was the mark of true greatness. He emerged from the experience like a god unembittered. His name is Chia Thye Poh. And it is Lee Kuan Yew who emerged from the episode as the knave and fool of his own mindless vindictiveness, while the real conqueror smiles benignly - unnoted, of course, by the local media. For only sound waves from the Istana Annexe are picked up and regurgitated by His Master¹s Voice.
There is no political justification for obliging the Workers' Party to close down. And not a shred of moral justification. What lies behind the move is among the most brazen vindictiveness ever shown in the political life of Singapore.It merely adds one more nail in the coffin of the PAP's reputation when the true history of the party will be exposed to the world, as it surely will be one day in the coming decades of the third millennium.
As mankind accelerates to the abyss, the shining memories of the past will certainly not include Lee Kuan Yew and the department store dummies he boasts today as his acolytes. He clearly does not possess the foresight to avoid such a fate.
I gladly salute J.B. Jeyaretnam and the Worker's Party at this highly deserved requiem, even if I never once had shared their platform.C. V. Devan Nair.
Former President
Republic of Singapore.
March 26, 1999 -
Rest In Peace JBJ.......
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