8 Mar 2006

A political comeback for opposition politician in Singapore

A veteran opposition figure in Singapore says he will continue to fight the system put in place by the ruling People's Action Party if he returns to Parliament.

J. B. Jeyarentam has announced he plans contest upcoming elections in the city-state if his bid to get out of bankruptcy succeeds.

The former leader of the Workers' Party says he can now pay off his debts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, incurred after he was sued for defaming leaders of Singapore's ruling party.

But he says if the bankruptcy is anulled, other opposition groups may not share his approach.

"Ever since I went into parliament I've been talking about the system. And the others, even my own party, the present leadership, and even when I was there the leaders under me, they seemed quite happy with the system. The Singapore Democratic Party, they don't make too much complaints about the system, they're quite happy to work within the system that the PAP have put in place, but I am not" he said.

ABC Asia Pacific TV / Radio Australia

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

the bankrupcy issue can drag on till after the election; I think his attempt is moot

rench00 said...

on the contrary, from what i gather from an insider (i.e. one of the lawyers involved in the case) i think he has a fighting chance... simply cos he has already raised the money... it's all now almost just procedural...

Anonymous said...

strange to underestimate PAP