Death of a warrior in Singapore.

JB Jeyaretnam fondly known as JBJ died suddenly today of heart failure at the age of 82. A warrior has fallen in his fight for civil rights in a PAP run Singapore. The ruling party impoverished the man by using a law for slander which put a heavy financial burden on JBJ, ruined him, but never extinguished his flame nor his passion for justice. For those outside the Merlion City with longer memories, they many remember him as the 'man from Anson' who upset Lee Kwong Yew's tightly run election, who won a seat in the parliament. JBJ so frightened then prime minister LKY that knowing the measure of his 'enemy' had to shed his high tone of 'impartiality' by descending into the well of parliament to debate sharp tongued JBJ who could with a razor sharp phrase cut through the wooden language of the PAP younger guard who grew up in a city state run by one party. Not happy to parry and thrust with JBJ, LKY & his minions sought the courts to slander the man. They succeed, challenged, too, his credentials at the bar, and brought the mighty warrior to the point of ruin, but they never humbled nor defeated the man, only death could. The LKY's party the PAP were so frightened of JBJ's success at the polls, they re drew electoral circumscriptions and the rebellious Anson was incorporated, defanged, and turned into a PAP safe seat. JBJ represented, in spite of oft time fraction behaviour with smaller parties, a voice that spoke truth to power, and one man did make power fret, sweat, worry, and lose many a night's sleep. For those who saw the man at the exit of the MRT at City Hall, hawking a book of his speeches, can never forget this elder statesman, and who 'in petto' thanks the lucky stars, that he was there to defend civil society and civil rights in Singapore. The old warrior is now gone, but let's hope his spirit lives and has inspired younger and yes older Singaporeans to carry on the fight for truth and justice and a more open society. Fair thee well, oh warrior!