Mr Jeyaretnam, who had a pre-existing heart condition was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital at about 1.30am but doctors were unable to revive him.
Mr Jeyaretnam was the first opposition member to win a Parliamentary seat in 15 years when he won 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.
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Singapore Veteran Opposition Leader Jeyaretnam Dead At 82
29 September 2008
SINGAPORE (AFP) - The grand old man of Singapore’s tiny political opposition, Joshua “J.B.” Jeyaretnam, died early Tuesday just days before a constitutional challenge he hoped would propel him back into parliament, his family said.
Jeyaretnam, 82, died from a heart attack at his son’s home in Singapore, a relative told Agence France-Presse from the family home in the neighboring Malaysian state of Johor Bahru.
Singapore’s pro-government media flashed news of the veteran politician’s death. There was no immediate reaction from government leaders.
Jeyaretnam, one of the rare few to publicly criticize the ruling People’s Action Party, PAP, made political history in 1981 when he became the first opposition politician elected to parliament, dominated by the PAP since 1959.
He was declared bankrupt in 2001 after failing to pay libel damages to members of the PAP, including a former prime minister.
Last year, Jeyaretnam, a lawyer, cleared the bankruptcy status which had prevented him from running for political office, and then formed the new Reform Party, saying Singapore had been “enslaved” by its rulers.
The opposition plays only a marginal role in Singapore, where it complains of limited access to the pro-government mainstream media and restrictions on public assemblies.
Leaders repeatedly sued him for defamation, eventually leaving him bankrupt - a status that barred him from running for office for several years near the end of his life.
Early Tuesday morning Jeyaretnam complained of breathing difficulties and was rushed to a hospital, local TV station Channel NewsAsia cited his son, Kenneth, as saying.
Doctors were unable to revive him and he died with family members at his side, the station said. He is survived by two sons.
Jeyaretnam was to appear in the High Court on October 15 to seek an order that a by-election be held for a seat that is currently vacant.
G. K. Pamela, another of Jeyaretnam’s relatives, said the court challenge was related to Jeyaretnam’s desire to enter parliament again.
Opposition politician dies
Veteran opposition politician, Mr J.B. Jeyaretam, died of heart failure early on Tuesday morning. He was 82.
The pugnacious former head of the Workers' Party, who recently formed the Reform Party, died at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said his close friend and chairman of Mr Jeyaretnam's new political party.
He leaves behind two sons, Kenneth and Philip.
He was the first opposition member to break the ruling People's action Party's grip on parliament 27 years ago.
He was unable to contest the 2006 general election after he was made bankrupt in 2001 for failing to pay $265,000 in defamation damages to then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
He was discharged from bankruptcy in May last year.
Mr Jeyaretnam made his final political comeback earlier this year.
He left the Workers' Party after years at its helm and was succeeded by Mr Low Thia Khiang, who is now MP for Hougang.
When he broke the PAP's 15-year monopoly of the Parliament in 1981, most of today's young Singaporeans were not even born yet.
After losing his parliamentary seat in 1986 for making a false declaration of the WP accounts and being jailed for a month and fined $5,000, he spent most of the last two decades battling outside the legislature.
Of the five General Elections since then, he has contested only once, in 1997.
He finished as top loser through the bruising Cheng San GRC bout, earning a 45.2 per cent of the valid votes.
That brought him back into the House as a Non-Constituency MP, a brief tenure that ended in 2001, when he was declared a bankrupt for failing to pay after losing a defamation suit against five Indian PAP MPs, among others.
When he left his 30-year-long WP vehicle in that same year, after accusing his successor Low of not helping him clear his debts, he was effectively banished to the margins of the opposition scene here.
Yet, the old warhorse refuses to believe that he is irrelevant to Singaporeans.
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