Singapore Politician Ends Legal Battle By Making Apology

Posted by under News on 2 April 2002

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Veteran Singapore opposition politician J.B. Jeyaretnam on Tuesday ended a series of defamation suits brought against him by members of the ruling party by publicly apologising in the High Court.

In a surprise move at a Monday court hearing, the prosecution had offered to drop all the suits in return for the apology.

"I admit and acknowledge that I had no basis for the meanings as found by the Court of Appeal, and that they are false and untrue," Jeyaretnam said in the apology.

Jeyaretnam has been sued repeatedly over the years by ruling party officials, resulting in him being forced to give up his parliamentary seat and being barred from running in elections after losing an appeal against a bankruptcy ruling last year.

Many of Singapore's best known opposition leaders have faced legal action brought by the government or members of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) in the city state.

The lawyer for Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Davinder Singh, speaking for all the plaintiffs, said the offer was a gesture of the group's "magnanimity" as it was unlikely Jeyaretnam could pay any damages that might have been awarded.

But the feisty former leader of the Workers' Party described the reason for the withdrawal as "laughable".

"The time to show any magnanimity has long past. Even after I've been made a bankrupt, they applied to the court for leave to continue with these proceedings," said Jeyaretnam, who had planned to defend himself on grounds of political motivation.

"It's clear that they do not want any further embarrassment. They decided they did not want any more criticism and they were also worried about the Singapore electorate," Jeyaretnam told reporters outside the court.

The plaintiffs and their lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

"I apologised because I didn't intend the meanings found by the Court of Appeal," the 77-year-old Jeyaretnam told reporters after he read out an amended apology.

"I'm relieved that I can put this behind (me). I can now turn my attention to my real objective and goal, which I haven't abandoned, and that is to get back into parliament."

The suits arose from remarks Jeyaretnam made during the 1997 general election campaign. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong was the first to take action against him for the comments and was awarded S$100,000 (US$54,290) in damages in 1998.

The remaining seven suits -- brought by government members including Lee Kuan Yew, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Defence Minister Tony Tan -- were initiated in early 1997 but not acted upon until late 2000.

Jeyaretnam appealed last year for the suits to be dismissed after more than three years of inaction, but the courts rejected that appeal and ordered them to be heard on Monday.

Members of the long-ruling PAP say they have to defend themselves when unfairly attacked.

Jeyaretnam was the first opposition politician to break the PAP's parliamentary monopoly in 1981 and was famed for his verbal jousting with then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt after defaulting on an instalment from a previous defamation suit brought about by the organisers of a Tamil publication, which included some members of the PAP.


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