Share your thoughts, give your tributes and post your messages on this Facebook group set up to honour the man who taught us tenacity, perseverance and compassion. Join the “In Memory Of JB Jeyaretnam” group.
Lawyer by training, he was a former district judge and graduated from the University College London with Bachelor of Laws. He was widowed when his wife Margaret Cynthia Walker passed away in 1980, and has two sons of which the elder, Kenneth, is a successful hedge fund manager who has worked in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong and recently returned to Singapore and the younger, Phillip, is a Senior Counsel, former President of the Law Society Singapore and author of various novels.
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A tribute from Malaysia. Respect & RIP JBJ
http://www.abinesh.com/delirium/posts/rip-mr-jb-jeyaretnam/
A true fighter that I respect. Singapore benefitted from his involvement in politics.
To a true blue Singaporean….RIP, you will be missed
I was shock & saddened to hear of the demise of a faithful “Son of S’pore”. I’ve always admired him for his perseverance & dogged tenacity to fight to the end. I’ve always been encouraged by his positive attitude of picking himself up after each fall – a lesson the young must emulate. I will miss his presence at Parliament. He truly lived up to 2 Tim 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.
May God’s peace & presence be with his children & grandchildren.
“faithful “Son of S’pore””
If he is the son of Singapore then who is the father of Singapore ? why is it that we to accept some dictator as official father of Singapore ? It is shameful to know that some dictator is abusing power and nation’s wealth and yet be recognized for his effort eternally ? This shameless dictator’s negative deed long negate any of his positive contributions earlier. A shameless guy that can even forget what he and his party stand for when they rose to power ?
A father should keep the son in check and ensure he do no wrong, and it is JBL who rose to MPs to keep the government in check and ensure that there is accountability. So didn’t JBJ deserves to be called father of Singapore ? The gov is just like a son that never learn to grow mature and need a father to keep in check.
What’s a shame.
JBJ has the courage and strength to speak to the devil. JBJ is not perfect, and he made sacrifices to shine for God.
I am one of those anonymous Singaporeans, who have no courage and strength. Even shaking hand with JBJ or buying his books from JBJ in the public places, I have fear of the authorities.
JBJ is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. JBJ lives on to eternity.
A true singapore hero,May God’s peace & presence be with his children & grandchildren and bless with many love.
I am deeply sad to learn that Mr Jeyaretnam’s passing. He is a very strong-willed person I ever see. A man that will inpired a lot of people and definitely remembered by the singaporean.
Let us not forget that citizens have a voice and power to change government or MPs, thru our votes! PAP Gov knew too well by introducing GRCs. Also gave a false fear that big bro is watching. Where is the secret police? ISD?
Farewell JBJ.. Rest assured you will always be with us in our hearts
Condolences to Keneth & Philip. You should feel proud of your father. He died with his head held high, a discharged bankrupt and a lawyer back again in the legal profession! They never got to him in the end. We shall always remember him as a true fighter.
JBJ, you have left an indelible mark in the conscience of the nation.
May others pick up from where you have left, all the bolder but “wiser”.
JBJ , iam saddened with his passing,met him few times selling his books at centerpoint and rafflesplace , admired his ‘never say die’ attitudes..singaporeans owed it to him for his contributions to the opposition causes..may your visions for a truely democratic singapore be realised not in your life time but it will and history will not forget you! rest in peace “FATHER OF SINGAPORE ‘S OPPOSITIONS” !
To:
Daniel #Post 5.
We can have good, filial, well behaving and dedicated sons and the Society will have drunkard, gambler and unreasonable fathers.
And the sons will be fathers one day.
patriot
I last saw you at a bus station, probably after selling your books, that evening when I was going home in a bus. I wanted to alight and offered a few words of support. But another thought flashed thru my mind – PAP. By the time I wanted to stand up, the bus moved. Pathetic Singaporean.
I salute you, sir, the brave fighter against the dynasty.
JBJ was indeed a brave man who wasn’t afraid to stand up against what he felt was wrong in his strive to make Singapore a true democratic city state. In the process he had to sacrifice so much and giving much of his life to the cause he believed in. I do not think there will be another JBJ as his shoes are too big for anyone to fit. Let us all remember him for what he stood for with the “never say die” attitude. He went out still trying.
The one and only father who fought all the way for human rights has left this sinful earth. He has lost everything for the people and still wanted to fight for justice at this age. I’ve never seen such a man in all these years. HATS OFF SIR. May God Bless Your Kind Soul. We Singaporeans must be proud to have a Father like him who didn’t give up till his last days. I hope the government will do something for the young generation and the upcoming generation to know who was JBJ. He was defeated but he is always Singapore’s number one HERO. And the best thing about him is, being nailed down so many times, he didn’t migrate or went low profile. He was still standing strong. Dear Sir, I’ll company you till the last rites.
I salute this true hero of Singapore. JBJ has almost single-handedly rekindled the life of opposition politics in Singapore against all sorts of obstacles, extreme sacrifice and untold hardship. History will remember him as the Father of Singapore Opposition. Without JBJ there would be no opposition today.
I WILL SURELY MISS HIM.GREAT HERO.
A truly HONOURABLE & UPRIGHT patriot who sacrificed himself for the good of the people of Singapore and of Singapore.
Though he died of a heart attack, he was nevertheless KILLED……………because of the GRIEVOUS INJUSTICE inflicted on him and the unwarranted persecution. (Repeat: NO FOUL PLAY)
May HISTORY put him in the proper place and in proper light.
RIP
It was raining for the past three days since our martyr JBJ passed away. For God had cried for such a big loss to Singaporeans.
I believe JBJ will rest in peace as so many of us still remember for what he had done for us. Young and old have sincerely mourn and paid tributes at his wake.
He was truly a man of courage. His sacrifices and contributions for the good of the people of Singapore that we could never repay him.
May I hope there will be a fine weather tomorrow for his well-wishers and supporters to attend the funeral.
We all miss our HERO ALWAYS !
RIP
Thank You Mr JBJ for speaking up for the people all your life. May you join your wife in the kingdom of gods. Your wish will come true one day. Our Great Hero Of Singapore, we will always miss you. Good-bye my Hero.
We are grateful to the honourable JBJ for standing up for our rights.
We are sorry for not having given him sufficient support.
May our collective memory of him and his fine example spur our spirit to further the ideals he lived by!
Love & Prayers from the closet admirers of Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam.
Dear Ken and Phil.
I was never an eloquent speaker or a profilic writer, never will be. ( true blue collar worker )
Let me speak in rough boxing language.
Your Dad fought a great fight, he takes as well as he gives.
He took all kinds of punches, left hooks, right cross, left jabs, right uppercuts,
even blows below the belt. BUT HE NEVER GIVE UP.
Sure he was knocked down, sure he took mandatory eight counts, sure he was
examined for cuts etc etc, but he NEVER QUITS.
He was down, many times, but he always beat the count.
Eventually he trumph by conquering bankruptcy, got back his law license, even set up a party and was on the verge of entering the ring one more time but alas
the fickle fingers of fate dealt him a fatal blow.
So Ken and Phil, be damn proud of your Dad, he is a great man.
To me, the true heavyweight champion of the world is not Wladimir Klitchsko,
not Vitaly KLitchsko not Samuel Peters, but my hero J. B. Jeyaretnam.
R.I.P. and many thanks for all that you have done for us.
Dear Kenneth and Philip, my wife Nicole and I would like to offer our sincere and deepest condolences on the passing of your father, Mr JB Jeyaretnam.
We have met him on a few ocassions either outside Centrepoint or raffles City and we are proud owners of several of his autographed books. We had attended most of his rallies during the elections in the 80s and 90s. It was always a spiritual experience as whenever he spoke, we had goosebumps all over !! He was a marvelous orator and touched many lives. My late father was a great fan of his and I remembered the day, when he broke down when Mr JBJ was taken to prison in 1986. And we all remembered vividly his inner strength as he served his time with dignity.
We can learn so much from your father, his perserverance, tenacity ,courage but most of all his sincere and genuine love for the common man in Singapore.
Mr JBJ was a true legend and he lived and died in great dignity.
Our only regret is that he never got to hear or experience this great outpouring of love and admiration during his lifetime. And if God choses to send us another JBJ, pl walk to him, shake his hand and affirm him.
My greatest regret was that I never had the opportunity to personally meet with you who had the greatest love for Singapore and its people.
I am sure many people have shed tears on your passing even though they have not met you before. It is our sadness of losing a great man of Singapore who truly stood up for the man in the street.
You have lost worldly treasures but you knew better and choose to gain something that could never be taken away from you. You have indeed given your life to the people of Singapore. Sadly that can not be said of so many “leaders” who are concerned about the “scarifices” they have to make so that they can “serve”.
Rest in Peace Mr Jayaretnam and allow me to borrow a line from Hollywood – “What you did in this life will echo in eternity.” The true test of a great man is what people will say about him when he is not around.
He cleared all his debts in this world before he was taken away. Such ia a great man with good karma.