JOSHUA BENJAMIN JEYARETNAM (5 Jan 1926 - 30 Sep 2008), J. B. Jeyaretnam or affectionately known as "JBJ", was a veteran Singapore opposition stalwart, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Anson (1981 - 1986) and former Non-Constituency MP (1997 - 2001).

An Anglican Christian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, he is a lawyer by training and a former district judge. He attended Saint Andrew's School and graduated from the University College London with Bachelor of Laws.

JBJ entered politics in 1971 and formed the National Party of Singapore before joining and reviving the comatose Workers' Party (WP). He was the party's secretary-general for 30 years until 2001.

From 1972, after contesting 3 general elections (GEs) and 2 by-elections unsuccessfully, he won the seat of Anson in the 1981 by-election, becoming the first opposition MP in 15 years since the Barisan Sosialis boycott of Parliament in 1967 and smashing the PAP's monopoly of all seats. A year before this historic moment, in 1980, he was widowed when his wife, Margaret Cynthia Walker, passed away from lung cancer and could not share in his joy. He retained his seat in the 1984 GE with an increased margin.

However, 2 months later, he faced charges for allegedly mis-stating WP accounts. In 1986, a district court found him innocent of all but one charge. He appealed and the Chief Justice ordered a retrial in a district court. There, he became guilty of all charges and was sentenced him to imprisonment of 3 months (later commuted to 1 month) and fined $5,000. This led to his disqualification from Parliament and standing for elections for 5 years until 1991, just missing the GE in the same year. He was also disbarred from legal practice.

As the trial was denied to the High Court, JBJ could appeal to the Privy Council in Britain and did so. The latter reversed the judgement, slamming the Singapore judiciary in the process, but only had the power to reinstate his legal practice status (the following year, the right of appeal to the Privy Council was restricted by a change in the law).

Following that, JBJ wrote to the President of Singapore to request for the removal of his convictions as a result of the Privy Council's decision but the latter, at the Singapore government's advice, quashed the appeal. Owing to this, JBJ could not contest the 1988 and 1991 GEs but continued to help out WP candidates. He was unable to contest a by-election in 1992 due to technicalities.

In the 1997 GE, he returned to the polls and obtained the highest votes in Cheng San GRC among defeated opposition candidates. He became NCMP until another bankruptcy lawsuit by PAP leaders resulted in another disqualification of his NCMP seat just before the 2001 GE.

In 2007, JBJ, finally discharged from bankruptcy, was reintstated as a lawyer and established the new Reform Party (RP), which was registered on 19 June 2008. He became the RP's inaugural secretary-general. The RP held an inauguration dinner on 11 July 2008 with him as the main host and star of the show.

Unfortunately, it was a short time before JBJ passed away due to heart ailments at the age of 82.

JBJ leaves behind 2 sons. The elder, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, is a successful hedge fund manager who has worked in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. He recently returned to Singapore and joined the RP in March 2009 as one of its CEC member, effectively following his father's footsteps in opposition politics. The younger, Philip Antony Jeyaretnam, is a Senior Counsel, former President of the Law Society Singapore and author of various novels.

JBJ Election Results:

1972 General Election: His debut
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1972-ge/farrer-park.html

1976 GE: Best-performing defeated opposition candidate (he would be NCMP had it been there) and increased margin by nearly 20%
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1976-ge/kampong-chai-chee.html

1977 By-Election
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1977-be1/radin-mas.html

1979 By-Election
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1979-be/telok-blangah.html

1980 GE: Best-performing opposition again, increased votes by nearly 10% in the same ward and only 3% away from winning
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1980-ge/telok-blangah.html

1981 By-Election: VICTORY!
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1981-be/anson.html

1984 GE: Retained seat!
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1984-ge/anson.html

1997 GE: A close fight, and he became NCMP
http://www.singapore-elections.com/parl-1997-ge/cheng-san-grc.html

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OTHER FACEBOOK GROUPS:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28630567420
(by Arif Khan, in case some search under "Jeyaratnam")
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2466335840

UNOFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joshua-Benjamin-Jeyaratnam/28303567718

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UNOFFICIAL WEBSITES ON JBJ:
http://www.jbjeya.org/
http://blog.jbjeya.org/
http://jbjmemorial.wordpress.com/

PLEASE SIGN ONLINE OBITUARY:
http://www.obituaries.com.sg/index.php?option=com_obituaries&Itemid=27&task=details&obituaries_id=5 (read less)

JOSHUA BENJAMIN JEYARETNAM (5 Jan 1926 - 30 Sep 2008), J. B. Jeyaretnam or affectionately known as "JBJ", was a veteran Singapore opposition stalwart, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Anson (1981 - 1986) and former Non-Constituency MP (1997 - 2001).

An Anglican Christian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, he is a lawyer by training and a former district judge. He attended Saint Andrew's School and graduated from the University College London with Bachelor of Laws.

JBJ entered politics in 1971... (read more)