The legendary Singapore opposition icon, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, better known as JBJ (photo credit: Wikipedia), passed away early this morning of heart failure.
After having left the Workers Party, he had just formed the Reform Party to mount a new challenge to PAP dominance. He was the interim secretary general of the party.
He was Singapore’s Mr Opposition, having broken the PAP’s 15-year monopoly in Parliament in the Anson by-election in 1981, winning 52 per cent of the votes to become Singapore’s first opposition MP.
He suffered much personal hardship after being at the losing end of a string of defamation and libel law suits and was forced to pay substantial damages, which eventually left him bankrupt for a number of years.
The first time I met him was some years ago in Johor, where I was speaking at an inter-faith conference and JBJ, an Anglican Christian, was in the audience. Apparently, he was spending a lot of time in Johor back then due to some of his ‘problems’ in Singapore.
During the break, he came up and had some encouraging words for me. And that made a deep impression on me – to actually meet the legend in person.
All through the long, dark years of persecution, he kept the flame burning. For many, his perseverance with what sometimes appeared like a lost cause was an inspiration.
Today, Singapore’s opposition politics is here to stay. In the last general election in Singapore, for instance, huge crowds – usually not shown over the mainstream media – attended the Workers Party’s election rallies.
For his heroic role in keeping the flame of democracy blazing, Singaporeans owe a debt of gratitude to the solitary figure who was often seen in the past at street corners, selling his Workers Party publication, The Hammer, during all those lonely years of struggle. ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven!’ Matthew 5:10.
Rest in peace, JBJ. You have fought the good fight; you have completed the race.
Here is a selection of your tributes:
Says blog reader Richy:
I did not meet him personally. But somehow just as you, he too created an impression on me. His speeches, writings and interviews were very impressive. His last interview with The Star made my heart moved for him. I would like to quote those words of his during the interview:
“At times I feel tired and say to myself: “Don’t you think you should give up now?” But that is only momentary. It is followed by the thought that if I have started on a job and as long as I have the health and strength, I will have to go on with it. And there are people who look to you especially when you walk the streets of Singapore. It is just my conviction that when things are wrong, and if there is anything I can do to put them right, then I should do that. I think every citizen should feel like that. It is a citizen’s duty.
“I did not have many properties but I had to sell a bungalow in a very fashionable area in Singapore to pay the judgment obtained by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Having sold that, three years later I bought a small apartment, and then I had to sell that too. All in, I had easily about 12 to 13 suits to pay off. Some people say I was a fool. All I can say is I do not regret it because, to me, life is not all about making money and acquiring wealth. Life is doing something for the people around you.”
JBJ had lived his purpose. He had no material wealth but his human values would be hard to earn even with millions of dollars.
Peace be upon your soul, JBJ!
Adds Antony G:
JBJ was indeed a giant among men. He will be remembered as one of the few truly great Singaporeans. I hope that the powers-that-be who hounded him during his life time will now take a minute to stop and think of what JBJ stood for and his contribution in moulding Singapore to what it is today. Without JBJ things would certainly have been different.
I did not have the opportunity to meet this great soul but I have seen him many a time in some Indian Restaurant in Johore Baru all alone over his dosai and sambar.
You have indeed fought the good fight.
Parli-Man pays tribute to JBJ’s fighting spirit:
JBJ will definitely go down in my books as a heroes’ hero. What a man! – who bravely stood up against the system. No matter how many times LKY tried to bring him down, JBJ got back up. He is the true ‘Rocky’ (politically, that is) of our era.
Long live JBJ in our thoughts and in our minds.
May you rest in peace.
JMD says there is a lesson for us all:
Despite all the materialism around him it would have been so easy (for him) to give up, join the crowd, make money and live a luxurious life. What is important is for all (here and in Singapore) to appreciate and understand the why. Why did he continue when it would have been so easy to do otherwise?
There is a lesson in that for all of us, since we (Malaysians and Singaporeans) are cut from the same cloth: The price of democracy and liberty is not cheap. It is innately human to want to be free, to think freely, to act freely and not to be coerced by the State.
RIP JBJ. Gone but not forgotten.
And he was an eloquent speaker, recalls Shyam:
What a lion of a man! It’s a pity that the Singapore of today will not produce anymore like him. It stifles dissent. But where will your creativity come from if you only want to be surrounded by yes men?
I used to enjoy watching Singapore’s parliamentary sessions when JBJ was in Parliament. What a great speaker. The whole bunch of MPs were no match for him. It needed LKY to attend Parliament often to fend off the attacks from JBJ.
To JBJ’s family, he was indeed a man who was greatly respected on both sides of the causeway!
What a great loss for Singapore and the region. Pay your tribute in the comments below.
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sadly, the political scenario in Singapore has more or less ensured that the majority of the youth in Singapore (and MOST Singaporeans) haven’t a clue who the late-JBJ is or what he stood for.. some prolly think he’s a fool.. they can’t be blamed.
its due to the powers-that-be writing history from their perception..
much like how chin peng has been demonised..
perhaps LKY is getting just desserts after all.. suffering in his old age whilst the good man, JBJ, died a peaceful death.
…
After the famous Anson victory, a cartoonist vividly portrayed him as David hammering the toe the Goliath (PAP).
Despite my admiration for PAP governance, I must say it was terribly to mistreat JBJ who steadfastness in fighting for justice will make LKY’s Father of the nation status pale by comparison.
I had the honour to have once bought a copy of Hammer from him at one hawker center. The very image of the determined “Lion of Singapore” peddling party paper amongst the masses will surely be missed by Singaporeans.
JBJ, you derserve a rest and in great peace you will forever!
Our deepest heartfelt condolences to the bereaving family of the true lion of Singapore.
The death of conscience in Singapore. So what’s left?
In life, the majority robably would not be caught pausing to take not of him, lest Singapore’s infamous Special Branch take note.
Now in death, will Singaporeans mourn the passing of conscience?
The few times he has come to Kuala Lumpur in the last few years, he has attended the Sunday service at my church, an Anglican Tamil Church. No pomp or pagentry. Indeed, the last time, hardly anyone realised it was him.
May JBJ rest in peace.
JB Jeyaratnam left a legacy and wisdom that mankind can be proud on.
My condolences to his family.
JBJ,he has fought a great battle but could not win.
History will remember him, I feel Singapore government should recognise his efforts.
May he rest Peace………
I have met him many times at the Kerala Reastaurant,Jalan Ibrahim JB and chatted with him about his WP.
He was a man worth his salt.His steadfastness and righteousness was there for all to see.It is a shame that we do not have anyone,and I repeat anyone, on both sides of the border to match him.
He was a very approachable person and talks to anyone who acknowledges him.A simple man, with his trade mark side-burns, collared T shirts and short pants and sandals…..pops into JB very often for his thosai and air suam.
My first encounter wih him was in the late 80’s at the Kerala outlet and I was sort of mesmerized to start a conversation with him.However, the many repeated encounters somewhat thawed my anxiety and thereafter we were familiar to each other.He will always address me as “Hello young man” and I will call him “Sir” and our conversation will usually centre on the political happenings of our countries.Can I equate him with Karpal ? No, he was a few notches above him.Can I equate him with D.R.Seenivasagam ? Yes, he was as fearless as DRS, a fighter at that. I also had the misfortune to meet up with him after the demise of his wife….and that was the only time he was at his lowest……his eyes welled with tears as he spoke to me of his only love.He really felt bad for her and regretted that he did not do enough for her.It was a moment that has stood memorably for me thus far.
He advised me repeatedly to stop my smoking habit.He told me that LKY was an incorrigible smoker during the 60’s and eventually become a non smoker.I will never forget his fatherly advise tho’ I still puff away.
I feel privileged to have befriended a LEGEND who was a simpleton fighting for the masses.And he never expected any returns.
May his soul rest in peace.
BR
RastamanJB
I’m Singaporean and I’m really ashamed that I didn’t really know the guy who got bankrupt, disgraced and left on the streets to sell books for fighting for the rights of the people, like me, who are too damn scared to speak up. But you can’t blame me for not really knowing him cuz i was brought up in a society where everything is basically controlled. Thus compliments to the governing party for a job well done.
Those who call Jeyaretnam a fool for going through the things he went through doesn’t know how much fuller life is when you have the freedom to choose. Let alone understand what freedom means. The life path of a Singaporean is laid out the day he/she was born.
People in Singapore aren’t happy. They don’t speak it aloud but in whispers. Atleast we are whispering about it now cuz it used to be totally TABOO! However I do think there is hope for us because how much longer can you hold down a society that is learning and understanding more about the freedom to choose.
A tip: Make a documentary about this man. Just don’t air it in Singapore without checking the millions of rules or regulations. Everybody loved Ghandi. I bet if more people knew about Jeyaretnam in Singapore and abroad, then they’d love him too. He was and can continue to be a great role model.
Just in case i’m gonna get labelled as the ungrateful Singaporean, I would like to thank the goverment for the clean streets, wel-lined trees, starbucks, F1 and the childhood that I had that wil haunt me forever because of the fear of failure.
Thanx Jeyaretnam. I’m so sorry you went through so much crap for us. But you are a great inspiration for me and when people learn more about you, u’ll surely be an inspiration for them too.
Sincerely,
A Singaporean living life the way she wants it, in another country.
(Obviously i’m not leaving my name cuz unike Jeyaretnam, my books aren’t gonna sell as well if i’m gonna be sued to bankruptcy)
I remember during the height of the I.S.A. detentions in Singapore, in the 1980’s, there was a public forum in Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The speakers were Param Cumaraswamy, Gurmit Singh and Dr.Chandra Muzaffar.
Dr.Chandra Muzaffar said that the democracy in Singapore was growing and the people realized that their great “God” LKY had “feet of clay” when they saw on televised parliamentary debates how he was challenged by J.B.Jeyaretnam. Dr.Chandra also stated that many Singaporeans didn’t like the way LKY dealt with him….”the way he was smashed to smithereens”.
J.B.J. Journey well and May God Bless Your Great Soul.
Jeyaratnam stood taller than Harry Lee.
It is unfortunate that a respected statesman the calibre of Lee Kuan Yew would use brute power to deny a gentleman Jeyaratnam the right to even practise the freedom of speech, let alone other things.
The late Jeyaratnam was the Hero, the other person ….no comment less I get sued left right top and bottom.
May the Honourable Jeyaratnam Rest In Peace, and may he forgive those who had wronged him.
Thanks, Anil, for this posting. It is truly a sad occasion to face the passing of such a gentle soul with an unshakable sense of justice and a mighty heart. But it is just as heartening to know that everyone who has written here has only kind words for JBJ. He deserves them all. Whether the PAP government and LKY appreciate him or not speaks of their humanity. For JBJ did his best and gave his all. He should be resting well in peace now.
My dear Anil
Here are three comments from the Malaysian Bar website for your website:
SALUTE TO A COURAGEOUS SOUL
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Tuesday, Sept 30 2008 11:30 am
Man’s inhumanity to man is a blindness of the sentiment. It dehumanises the predator more than as it does the prey. Even spectators are dehumanised.
This inhumanity was what the French Revolution of July 14, 1789, tried unsuccessfully to address through its third cry of “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.”
Jaye fell prey to his detractors who threw him into the deep end of the law of defamation. Nevertheless, despite the treatment of the Blindfolded Lady, Jaye displayed the fortitude of a Lear that a saint would have envied.
Measured by any yardstick, Singapore is all the poorer without this courageous and outspoken soul. Jaye dared to speak out where others either hid or apologised for their very mortal existence.
I leave you with this poem from Robert Burns (1759-96) entitled Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge, 1785:
‘Many and sharp the num’rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And Man, whose heav’n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, –
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!”
May the Lord grant him eternal rest.
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng
HEART-FELT CONDOLENCES
written by Ding Chu Teck, Tuesday, Sept 30 2008 11:46 am
With greatest respect, may I convey my humble and heart-felt condolences to the family of the late Mr Jeyaretnam.
His passing away is indeed a great loss to the politics in the region.
Ding Chu Teck
Farewell, J.B. You will be missed.
written by Pierre Lim Vey Yeow, Tuesday, Sept 30 2008 01:14 pm
You fought the good fight and you represented the marginalised. Rest in peace, old warrior.
Pierre Lim Vey Yeow
Dear Anil
Here’s another one for your record:
THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM ANYMORE LIKE HIM …
written by Dipendra A/L Harshad Rai, Tuesday, September 30 2008 02:44 pm
Say what you wish about this man, he stood up for what he truly believed in. He was willing to be bankrupted and humiliated for standing up to his belief. Ultimately defeated by a slew of defamation and bankruptcy petitions, he still doggedly fought and fought. You cant say that he had no supporters. When he could stand for elections, some 40% of the voters beleived in him.
JB possessed an extremely rare trait in today’s politicians and leaders who are often lacking in ideas, honest pride and conviction. Even at death, the ertswhile Singapore Straits Times could not even muster a decent and objective obituary for this man.
Ah well, to each his own I suppose. I am reminded of what Bono once sang “Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride”. So, JB, you fought a good fight. Its over. Rest in peace.
Dipendra A/L Harshad Rai
By “Li Xie” (ex- 933 DJ)
Translation into English by Fang Zhi Yuan
Dear JBJ,
How are you now ?
I do not know where you have gone to.
Because I do not believe there is a Heaven.
Wish you left in peace.
Though your wish, with your departure, become unfulfiled.
You used your entire life, having experienced bankruptcy and slander.
Working hard to preserve and protect your dream.
Who is going to continue it ?
I do not know.
Don’t know who will be as tenacious as you.
Though somebody said, that is naivety.
30 September 2008
Is a sad day
It should also be a sad day for Singapore.
Though there are people who think otherwise.
But I think, for these nonchalant people,
are also the Singaporeans you are concerned about when you are alive.
On the way home in the afternoon, I received news of your demise.
I was in a taxi then.
And just like that, I broke out into tears.
The taxi-driver got into a fright.
I said: “there is no more, no more again”.
He said, he respected you too.
He said, if not for you, the lives of many people will not be changed for the better.
I was very quiet all along,
but tears kept flowing down.
Till now as I was typing this, my eyes are still teary.
Why am I so sad?
I do not know too.
I felt I lost something.
And this loss made me feel forlorn.
For the entire afternoon, I was sweeping the floor madly.
My brother felt strange.
I just cannot stop it.
Once I stop, I will light up a cigarette and I will feel miserable till I want to cry.
So, I continue to sweep madly.
I took little fat dog for a walk in the evening.
I stood besides a road which was well-paved by the government.
Listening to dial-ins to the radio station,
everybody is praising F1,
everybody is proud of Singapore,
everybody said that Singapore has been placed on the world map.
But all these can’t sweep away the sorrow of today,
because you have passed away.
I remembered you always made me cry.
The first time I saw you lost the election at Cheng San GRC.
That night, I was so infuriated that I cannot sleep.
I really hate Singaporeans.
Why are they so b***-less ?
I had never been so hurt over a General Election before.
As I watched the results being announced on television, my heart stopped beating,
dead.
like it can never be resurrected.
That kind of heart-break is similar to today’s.
The second time, I saw you at the MRT.
You were reading a book.
A foldable table and an assistant.
There was no tentage or entourage.
A boisterous Raffles City packed with people.
You kept shouting “make it right ! make it right for Singapore !”
Nobody takes notice of you.
Because the things you are selling isn’t worth the money.
I walked forward to buy a book from you, my heart felt sad for you.
You helped me signed your autograph and shook hands with me later.
To you, I am a citizen whom you used your entire life to fight for.
To me, you always make me hurt, a warrior slowly forgotten by Singaporeans.
Who will be as silly as you to end up as a bankrupt,
and still has no regrets.
Such a simple dream,
why was it always being demonized and turned into a political joke?
I held your hand and whispered gently: “you must be strong, don’t give up.”
You laughed together with me.
I didn’t reciprocate for I can’t laugh.
The third time, I was in Little India doing a recording
I saw you walked past again.
I saw you are still healthy and I heave a sigh of relief.
The fourth time, I was waiting for somebody at Orchard Road.
I saw you selling books again.
I bought the same book from you again, hoping you can be discharged from bankruptcy.
Then, I stood from afar to watch you.
You have grown old and haggard too.
You kept selling your books to those busy shoppers walking past,
but few people take notice of you.
As I was watching you, I thought: “why haven’t you given up yet?”
Be a lawyer for the elites, toy with words, filled your stomach and lined your pockets, isn’t that great?
You look at people like us, is it worth it?
Who really cares about you?
They may be sneering: you are a confrontational and radical old oppositionist.
The young people may even mistook you as a foreign worker plying his trade for a living.
I felt a tinge of regret that I asked you not to stop.
At that instant, I wish you stop suffering for
Singaporeans who are amnesic, selfish and pragmatic.
You are facing a draconian regime which will not hestitate to trample you to death like a cockroach.
Nobody will collect your body even when you are dead.
Looking at you as I was standing in the midst of a busy Orchard Road,
tears started flowing down from my eyes again.
Yes, you see ! I cannot qualify to be an opposition politician,
for my heart is not hard enough, how can I challenge tyranny?
But I guess, your heart is equally as soft.
That’s why after falling down time and time again, you bear the pain to stand up.
I believe one day Singaporeans will understand
Your pristine
dream to “serve the people”
I didn’t meet you again after that,
till you are discharged from bankruptcy and found a new political party.
I read it on the papers, your self-assuring smile without any regrets.
I think, there will be still be many hapless Singaporeans with a heart
who are willing to lend you their support.
You may have forgotten me, but I kept waiting,
and also willing to be
a member of your fan club.
30 September,
I saw you yet again.
Today, as the taxi drove pass every flat,
every road,
every old tree,
every bridge,
every hobbling old lady,
every old man working for a living,
every student in a neighborhood school.
The dream you are fighting for Singapore,
will live on in the hearts of every Singaporean who cares for you.
Some people knew, some people will never know.
Dear JBJ,
it is raining tonight.
I held a state funeral for you silently in the recesses of my heart.
Let us go and shoulder the future of Singapore.
Enjoy a safe passage, do not turn back.
http://wayangparty.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/mourning-930/
I had the honour of meeting with the late JB Jeyaretnam in the 70s while I was working in Singapore. He was a great legend of a man and was a lawyer by profession. May his soul rest in peace.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
Mahatma Gandhi
[...] Source: anilnetto [...]
Sorry, accidentaly press the button. Please delete my mail
To be frank and fair to Singapore government, however unfair those charges were against JBJ. He got a fair trial. Well Malaysian oppositionists got to eat “kali fan” in Kamunting.
To be fair and fair to Singapore government, his sons Kenneth and Philips were not and are not discriminated.
Kenneth is a hedge fund manager whose salary is 100x higher than I am. Philips is the President of the Singapore Law Society. However bad you guys wanna protray about Singapore as well as LKY, they still at least nail that person and not his offsprings.
In Malaysia, that’s never been the case. That’s the difference
To add on further, Chiam See Tong, another “great” opposition in Singapore sued PAP and won IN 1980s. So, the court there is still fair
Appeal to the Privy Council
Since the trial had been held in a district court, and not the High Court, Jeyaretnam was able to appeal against his disbarment to the Privy Council in Britain. The Council duly reversed the judgment. This was what the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had to say on this episode when they delivered their judgment, allowing Jeyaretnam’s appeal against being struck off from the roll of Singapore lawyers:
“Their Lordships have to record their deep disquiet that by a series of misjudgements, the appellant and his co-accused Wong, have suffered a grievous injustice. They have been fined, imprisoned and publicly disgraced for offences of which they are not guilty. The appellant, in addition, has been deprived of his seat in Parliament and disqualified for a year from practising his profession. Their Lordships order restores him to the roll of advocates and solicitors of the Supreme Court of Singapore, but, because of the course taken by the criminal proceedings, their Lordships have no power to right the other wrongs which the appellant and Wong have suffered. Their only prospect of redress, their Lordships understand, will be by way of petition for pardon to the President of the Republic of Singapore.” [1]
The right of appeal to the Privy Council was severely restricted by a change in the law the following year.
Singapore’s gentle revolutionary
South China Morning Post. Nov 30, 1998.
BY Barry Porter
CHIA Thye Poh, a willowy, softly spoken, 57-year-old bachelor, leads a quiet, simple life these days in a spartan third-storey flat on one of Singapore’s sprawling suburban public housing estates, dutifully looking after his elderly parents, both in their 80s.
He rarely goes out or sees anyone. He is poor-sighted, suffers from prostate and lung problems, a weak bladder and earns a meagre living of just a few hundred Singapore dollars a week working as a freelance translator from home.
Yet, for the past three decades, this very same man has been branded by the government a violent communist revolutionary and a threat to national security. On Friday, after 32 years of stubbornly protesting his innocence, Mr Chia was finally restored his full rights as a Singapore citizen.
Mr Chia spent 22 years, six months, two weeks and four days in jail, mostly in solitary confinement, until 1989 – becoming the world’s second longest serving prisoner-of-conscience after South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. The 9 1/2 years after his release were spent under severe restrictions.
“The best years of my life were taken away just like that without a charge or trial,” says Mr Chia, having had his right to talk to the press finally restored. Tears swell in his eyes as he contemplates his lost chance of marrying and raising a family. “I’m getting old.”
Mr Chia was detained on October 29, 1966 under Singapore’s Internal Security Act (ISA), the same draconian law remnant from British colonial days in Malaya, used recently in Malaysia to controversially detain former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
For 19 years, the government gave no explanation for Mr Chia’s detention. When one finally came in 1985, Mr Chia was accused of having led a call for the revival of armed struggle.
At the time of his detention, Mr Chia had been a raw and ready 25-year-old novice member of parliament for the Barisan Sosialia (Socialist Front) opposition party. He entered full-time politics almost by default.
Having graduated in physics, he worked for a short time as a secondary school teacher, before returning to Nanyang University as a graduate assistant. His ambition was to travel abroad to study a masters in physics.
February 2, 1963, was the day that changed his life. The Singapore government, headed by a then more youthful Lee Kwan Yew, carried out the arrest of about 100 political activists fearful of a communist insurgency.
Elections were due to be held in September that year, so Mr Chia became one of a number of socialist-minded graduates who came forward to replace those arrested as candidates. Mr Chia insists his views were not communist, but anti-colonialist. He wanted to fight for a “fair, just independence” from Britain.
However, he shot to fame when banned permanently from entering Malaysia after allegedly making a speech at a conference held by the pro-communist Perak division of the Labour Party of Malaysia on April 24, 1966.
Shortly before his arrest later that year, Mr Chia and other Barisan MPs quit the Singapore parliament to allegedly organise street demonstrations, strikes and protest meetings in the republic, seen as further evidence of his alleged communist tendencies.
Mr Chia recalls things differently. He claims he ran into trouble with the authorities after Singapore’s then Prime Minister Mr Lee and his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) suddenly announced Singapore’s split from the Malaya Federation in 1965. “The separation was never discussed in parliament. There was no referendum. We protested and asked for a convening of parliament,” Mr Chia recalls.
To drive their point home, Mr Chia says he and a small number of other like-minded MP’s staged a boycott. At the same time, the Vietnam War was raging and Mr Chia says he was among the peace campaigners calling for an end to the heavy American bombing of Indo-China. “We wanted peace. If the war escalated, it probably would have spilled over to the rest of the region.” He insists to this day he was a peace campaigner, not an insurgent for the Vietnamese communists or Red China.
When Nelson Mandela was finally released from jail in 1989 after much international outcry, the world spotlight turned temporarily on Mr Chia, who until then had been comparatively a forgotten man. After several months of foreign pressure, the Singapore authorities part-relented.
But rather than granting his freedom like Mr Mandela, he was placed under internal exile on Sentosa Island where he spent the next 3.5 years leading a Kafka-esque lifestyle. He was forced to live in a one-room former guardhouse on the small island just south of the city and placed under severe restrictions. He was made to pay rent and buy and prepare his own food in the pretence that he was a free man. He had no money, so the government offered him a job as assistant curator of Sentosa Fort, a position he turned down because as a grade two civil servant he would not have been able to talk to the media without official approval. “It would have been another muzzle,” Mr Chia says.
Instead, he negotiated a position as a freelance translator for the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), a position he still holds. “At that time, Sentosa was not inhabited,” Mr Chia recalls. “There were only some youth hostels. There were no hotels.”
While Mr Chia sat in his one-room guardhouse the SDC built a giant Disney-style theme park around him. He was allowed to move freely within the island and receive visitors, but millions of day-trippers came-and-went over the years unaware they were missing out on the star attraction.
In 1990 and 1992, his restrictions were gradually relaxed to allow him to visit the Singapore mainland daily and subsequently reside with his parents. He believes intervention by former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt may have helped.
In November last year, his restrictions were relaxed further to allow him to travel abroad, change his address or look for a new job without prior written permission from the director of the Internal Security Department.
He subsequently left for a year in Germany with Singapore government approval on the invitation of the Hamburg Foundation for Persons Persecuted for Political Reasons, where he studied democratic politics and German.
He returned to Singapore in August this year to undergo a prostate operation. But until last Friday, he still needed written approval to make public statements, address public meetings or take part in any political activity, at home or overseas. Of course, if he had applied, this would have been automatically refused.
He could not make contact with any political activists or former political detainees. He could not even belong to any organisation, not even a chess club.
Chandra Muzaffar, a political science professor at the University of Malaya, says: “It is a damning indictment on the Singapore Government to have held a chap for all those years and then when finally releasing him issue all those restrictions. It was such an inhuman thing to do to incarcerate him for so long.”
Mr Chia resents comparisons to Nelson Mandela. He points out that Mr Mandela, who became South Africa’s president, had belonged to a banned party, had mass following, was charged in court and given a life sentence. “He got out of prison and became a free man straight away,” he says. “I should have been set free long, long ago. From the very beginning if they had found I had done anything wrong they should have charged me in court and offered me a chance to defend myself.”
The Singapore government has justified its marathon stranglehold on Mr Chia with his refusal to renounce violence. Asked why he never took this option, Mr Chia says: “To renounce violence is to imply you advocated violence before. If I had signed that statement I would not have lived in peace.”
At the same time, while in jail, Mr Chia bizarrely never sought to appear before the advisory board set up under the ISA to challenge the reasons for his detention.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng explained to parliament in July that trials of Communist Party members used to be impossible because the party intimidated and liquidated witnesses who gave evidence in court.
While in detention, his captors are said to have taunted Mr Chia by driving him around the city-state showing him how fast Singapore was developing. Just sign this little piece of paper, they said, and you can be part of these exciting new developments. When he refused, Mr Chia claims he was told he could rot in jail.
“I told them, ‘yeah it is clean and green,’ but they should let me out so I can talk to people to ask them what they thought first and let them comment.”
It is unclear what triggered the sudden lifting of Mr Chia’s restraining orders last week. The sceptics suggest it could be because Singapore is due to host a human rights convention in a month’s time when Mr Chia’s plight was due to be raised.
Bruce Gale, Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc) manager for Southeast Asia, has another theory.
“Malaysia and Indonesia are not on best of terms with Singapore. So Singapore has to rely more and more on the United States [for military protection]. The US is being very vocal in Malaysia [about human rights and the ISA]. What the Singaporeans are effectively saying is we are not like that. We do not detain people without trial anymore. This is a gesture of goodwill. Not that the Americans asked for it.”
Mr Chia insists no deal was struck. In fact, he says he informed the Internal Security Department officer who notified him of the lifting of his restriction orders he was still interested in politics.
The government responded by issuing a statement on Friday warning that if Mr Chia should engage in activities prejudicial to Singapore’s security he would be dealt with firmly under the law.
While keen to re-involve himself in politics, Mr Chia says he needs time to re-familiarise himself with life, people and issues.
“Things will have to go on slowly,” he says. “After 32 years in prison and under detention, things have changed. I have to see what I can contribute after so many years.”
He accepts he has to cope with premature old age and sees himself more as a follower than leader of any political party. “I am not an ambitious man. I live a very simple life. You get used to it after so many years.”
His eyesight is impaired from many years in a darkened cell. His lung problem, now stabilised, stems from the same time. As we chat, he frequently gets muddled, referring to recent events as having taken place in 1966, the year he was detained.
Joshua Jeyaretnam, leader of Singapore’s small parliamentary opposition movement, says: “He is hardly a violent revolutionary. He is a soft-spoken man and doesn’t look like a fighter.”
Mr Chia’s Barisan party merged with Mr Jeyaretnam’s Workers’ Party in the early 90s. Perc’s Mr Gale says: “I don’t think the Singaporeans are risking very much. He could join an opposition political party. He has said he is still interested in politics. But opposition in Singapore has been rather muted since the last [general] elections.”
Mr Chia is not sure whether he will join the Workers’ Party. However, asked what his political beliefs are today, he is unrelenting. “I feel there should be a fair, just, democratic society. Down-trodden people, low-income people should be helped.”
His first action after restrictions were lifted on Friday was to issue a stern public statement condemning the ISA and demanding its repeal.
Asked whether he holds any grudges against Singapore’s Senior Minister and former veteran prime minister Mr Lee and his People’s Action Party which has held an iron grip on power in Singapore since independence in 1957, Mr Chia said: “I have no personal grudge against anybody.
“My main concern is the policy [of detention without trial], because if the policy is not fair, many people will suffer.”
http://www.singapore-window.org/81130sc.htm
[...] Anil Netto -J B Jeyaretnam 1926-2008: Passing of a legend [...]
He was a man who believed in himself and his mission. A man who trod on a road most dare not take. A man who carried the heaviest load that he could bear without faltering and stumbling. I salute your resoluteness and your bravery. You have left a deep imprint in the memories of others like myself in not giving up for what you believe in.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”–Dr. Suess
Good- bye Mr Jeyaratnam, rest in peace for now you have seen His Face. Every time I sing this hymn, I will think of you.
Thank you, Lord,
for the trials that come my way.
In that way I can grow each day
as I let you lead,
And thank you, Lord,
for the patience those trials bring.
In that process of growing,
I can learn to care.
But it goes against the way
I am to put my human nature down
and let the Spirit take control of all I do.
‘Cause when those trials come,
my human nature shouts the thing to do;
and God’s soft prompting
can be easily ignored.
I thank you, Lord,
with each trial I feel inside,
that you’re there to help,
lead and guide me away from wrong.
‘Cause you promised, Lord,
that with every testing,
that your way of escaping is easier to bear.
I thank you, Lord,
for the victory that growing brings.
In surrender of everything
life is so worth while.
And I thank you, Lord,
that when everything’s put in place,
out in front I can see your face,
and it’s there you belong.
A man who could not be bought – when as a gifted, connected lawyer it would have been so easy to succumb to the low road – who was willing to take on the yoke of ridicule and destitution for what he believed in. Nerves of steel, an unflinching eye on what he thought to be true … you didn’t have to agree with him, but the sheer strength and integrity of the man….
uncle jeya,RIP.
[...] Anil Netto – J B Jeyaretnam 1926-2008: Passing of a legend [...]
A man other men can only hope to imitate