JBJ's Reform Party registered

June 19, 2008
JBJ's Reform Party registered
By Jeremy Au Yong
THE Reform Party, veteran politician J.B. Jeyaretnam's comeback vehicle, has been registered. The 82-year-old, who received word of its approval from the Registry of Societies on Tuesday, will hold an inauguration dinner on July 11. A happy Mr Jeyaretnam said yesterday that the party has started planning for the dinner, its first formal event. It will be held at the Fortunate Restaurant in Toa Payoh Central - the venue of many annual dinners organised by the Workers' Party (WP), starting back in the 1980s when Mr Jeyaretnam was at its helm. He left the party in 2001 and was succeeded by Mr Low Thia Khiang, who is now MP for Hougang. Leaders from other political parties will be invited to the dinner, said Mr Jeyaretnam, the pro-tem secretary-general. Tickets will also be sold to the public. He and other members were sketchy on details of the party, but said more would be revealed at next month's dinner and a press conference next week. But the man who was known by some as 'The Tiger' when he first entered Parliament in 1981, repeated his earlier mission statement for the party: to 'empower and energise' people to 'do something for themselves'. Mr Jeyaretnam had been barred from contesting in elections since 2001, when he was made a bankrupt for failing to pay some $600,000 in damages from defamation suits. He discharged himself from bankruptcy last year and restarted his law practice. He also intends to contest the next general election, due in 2011. The Reform Party is the newest of about 20 registered parties here. Only seven contested in the 2006 election - four under the Singapore Democratic Alliance banner. Apart from Mr Jeyaretnam, other members of the new party include Mr Ng Teck Siong, 68; Mr Teo Kian Chye, 49; and Mr Gopal Prabhakaran, 55. All are former WP members. Another member, Mr Edmund Ng, 35, was formerly with the National Solidarity Party. Political observers welcomed news of the new party, but said it was too early to comment on what it would bring to the political scene. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies fellow Terence Chong expects the party to be all about 'politics of change, of starting afresh'. 'This message will appeal to the marginalised and disenfranchised, but not the elite or beneficiaries of the system. It would also seem that the Reform Party is going to be personality-driven and will leverage on JBJ's charisma.' People's Action Party (PAP) MP Charles Chong applauded Mr Jeyaretnam's determination and hoped the party would offer something new: 'If the Reform Party is just going to act very much like the other opposition parties - who do not seek to form a viable alternative to the PAP, but only to serve as a check and balance to the Government - then some Singaporeans would be rather disappointed.'