his second political life could be better as he is more
experienced and the public at large more matured and
receptive.
JBJ
Return of the warrior
By 2011, JBJ will be 85: Will age stop him from contesting? His
best ally: public unhappiness.
By Seah Chiang Nee, littlespeck.com
May 19, 2007
HOPE to see him fight again, says one writer; another believes his
election chances are better now because the Cabinet pay issue is a
powerful ammunition.
The him is Singapores old political warrior, J.B. Jeyaretnam,
who has just emerged from six years of bankruptcy after paying off
the final S$233,000 fine for defaming government leaders.
He can resume his profession as a lawyer, travel abroad without
permission and contest the next election in Singapore due in
2011.
Singaporeans including some of Jeyaretnam's critics have
greeted the news by paying tribute to his dogged battle despite
huge losses against a powerful force for 30 years.
The 81-year-old JBJ, as he is widely known, has signalled that he
will continue his opposition role.
How he will do it whether by seeking a seat in Parliament is
not known. Given his urgency to pay off his bankruptcy, he probably
will find a way, health allowing.
Jeyaretnam and Lee Kuan Yew, both in their 80s, are the only
remnants of the pre-independence generation of politicians.
They are passionate politicians who had fought many fierce verbal
battles in and out of Parliament.
Lee, two years older at 83, went on to help create todays
Singapore while JBJ moved to the other end of the political
spectrum. He led the opposition Workers Party until 2001 when he
was bankrupted in a S$600,000 government defamation suit.
Taking on Lee had cost the outspoken lawyer dearly all these years,
dragging him down with defamation fines of S$2m, instead of
enjoying hard-earned money.
His rehabilitation has stirred excitement in Singapores placid
political waters, with some people predicting he will take on Lee
himself in four years time.
The mainstream media has generally played down the story. As a
result, Singaporeans posted their comments, mostly welcoming his
return, on the Internet.
A few, however, said that in age and in ideology the former
magistrate is past his time to serve as a new force.
Some die-hard fans are hopeful rather prematurely to see him
back in Parliament to debate Lee again. Major obstacles will have
to be overcome.
First, when election rolls around, he will be 85 years old and Lee,
87, and the prospect of seeing one or both contesting in an
election is not a certainty.
Second, Jeyaretnam belongs to no party and his return to his old
one is slim. This means that his best chance is to stand as an
independent in a singles constituency.
Another big if is, of course, winning against an entrenched
incumbent.
As Workers Party leader, the leftist politician had campaigned to
tear down the system built by the PAP, but found little enthusiasm
for it among the middle-class, which had benefited from it.
A strategic error or was it his own ideological leaning had
cost him and his party dearly in the 80s and 90s.
Even as Singapore was prospering, Jeyaretnam stuck to the poorer
non-English educated base, his declining support base, and
abandoning the broad middle class to the ruling party.
JBJ also failed to attract young leaders into his fold; the result
was a party dominated by one man. His successors are today still
putting right his mistakes.
But few politicians today, next to Lee, can match Jeyaretnams
passion, determination and debating skill. PM Lee Hsien Loong once
praised him as a loyal Singaporean.
For six years, JBJ had struggled to pay off his debt a forgotten
man. No thanks to a media blackout, Singapores apathetic
generation has only scant knowledge of him or his past role.
Often the white-haired man would be seen selling his books at busy
shopping centres to raise funds, sometimes to the derision of young
spectators. One person called him a dishevelled, wild-looking
man.
But his return to politics could not have come at a better time, at
least for himself.
The lingering public unhappiness over the Cabinet pay increase and
other policies has propelled JBJ into the limelight, making him
more important than otherwise.
The pay controversy may, in fact, have helped him raise the final
S$233,255 payment faster than it would normally have.
At this moment of change, Jeyaretnams hard-hitting rhetoric could
liven up the political scene in Singapore. The younger PAP MPs will
likely find it hard to match his experience and speaking
ability.
The ripples may also be felt in the opposition camp, especially his
former Workers Party.
JBJs hard-hitting style could influence or inspire some of its
newer recruits, who had been growing impatient with what they saw
was their leaders lack of fire in opposing authoritarian rule, a
view Jeyaretnam shared.
I don't believe that confrontational politics is wrong, which is
what the PAP would seem to imply. They talk about constructive
criticism ... (that is) within the parameters they've laid down,
he said in an interview a year ago.
With age, however, he seemed to have become more circumspect about
his struggle.
He told TODAY he believes democratic ideals are on the rise among
young Singaporeans.
But, I've also noticed (that) ... once they leave university,
either their energies or their enthusiasm are sapped as a result,
I suppose, of the seen and unseen pressures of society.
It's when you have people who are prepared to stand up, march
through the streets of Singapore, hold a public rally, then can
they say 'we are no longer afraid', he added.
That appears totally out of fashion with youths today or in the
foreseeable future.
