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35-578: The party was formed out of former members of the Reform Party in the aftermath of the 2020 Singaporean general election . Its secretary-general is Andy Zhu, formerly chairman of the Reform Party. Following the 2020 general election, the Reform Party announced that its chairman Andy Zhu and treasurer Noraini Yunus had stepped down from the central executive committee. Reform Party secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam alleged that Zhu had modified

70-673: A by-election was scheduled to be held on 26 January 2013. Jeyaretnam contested in the by-election, which turned out to be a four-cornered fight pitting him against three other candidates: Koh Poh Koon of the PAP; Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party ; and Desmond Lim of the Singapore Democratic Alliance . The by-election concluded with a victory for Lee, who won with 54.5% of the vote against Koh's 43.73%, Jeyaretnam's 1.2%, and Lim's 0.57%. Since he got lower than 12.5% of

105-681: A hedge fund manager focusing on event-driven investing. From 2004 to 2008, he established and managed his own funds. When he was working in London , he was a committee member of the Singapore UK Association. Following his father's death in September 2008, Jeyaretnam took up a more active role in politics. In April 2009, he became the secretary-general of the opposition Reform Party , founded by his father in 2008 months before his death. Jeyaretnam first stood for elections in

140-470: A hedge fund manager. He took up a more active role in politics after his father's death in 2008 and started leading the Reform Party. Since then, he has contested in the 2011 general election , 2013 by-elections , 2015 and 2020 general election , but lost all of them. Jeyaretnam's parents, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam and Margaret Cynthia Walker, were both lawyers by profession. His father

175-469: A five-member PAP team led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong . The Reform Party team lost after garnering 28.09% of the vote against the PAP team's 71.91%. Jeyaretnam and his wife, Amanda Jeyaretnam, have a son, Jared Jeyaretnam. His younger brother, Philip Jeyaretnam , has been a judge of the Supreme Court since 2021 and was one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed Senior Counsel in 2003 at

210-530: A four-member Reform Party team to contest in West Coast GRC again during the 2015 general election against a four-member PAP team led by Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang . The Reform Party lost with 21.43% of the vote against the PAP team's 78.57%. During the 2020 general election , Jeyaretnam switched to leading a five-member Reform Party team to contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC against

245-402: A fully elected and sovereign parliament; to ensure that every member of society is entitled to political, social and economic rights; and to eliminate poverty by enforcing a fairer and just distribution of wealth. In its National Day Message 2015 published on 9 August 2015, the party stated, "We need to secure for Singaporeans a fairer distribution of the national wealth by redistributing some of

280-580: A heart attack, and over a thousand people attended his funeral. J.B. Jeyaretnam's son, Kenneth Jeyaretnam , who at the time resided with his British family in the United Kingdom and had previously never participated in politics directly, took over as secretary-general in April 2009. On 8 May 2010, the party announced its six candidates well in advance of the upcoming General Election , which also include Kenneth. However, several members who also joined

315-555: Is a Singaporean politician and hedge fund manager who has been appointed as the secretary-general of the opposition Reform Party since 2009. He is the elder son of J. B. Jeyaretnam , a prominent opposition politician in Singapore who founded the Reform Party in 2008. Jeyaretnam received a double first in economics from Cambridge , and started his career in the financial sector. He worked at Wardley , Continental Bank, Banque Indosuez and Nomura International before becoming

350-529: The 2011 general election when he led a five-member Reform Party team to contest in West Coast GRC against a five-member team from the governing People's Action Party (PAP) led by Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang . The Reform Party team lost after garnering 33.43% of the vote against the PAP team's 66.57%. In 2013, after PAP Member of Parliament Michael Palmer resigned from the PAP and gave up his parliamentary seat in Punggol East SMC ,

385-700: The Amsterdam Institute of Finance . After graduating from Cambridge in 1983, Jeyaretnam applied to work at the Monetary Authority of Singapore and other financial institutions and banks, but his applications were turned down. Nevertheless, he managed to start a career in the financial sector as an assistant manager in the Lending Department of Wardley , the merchant banking arm of HSBC . He worked at Continental Bank, Banque Indosuez and Nomura International before he became

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420-452: The 2013 by-election and 2015 general elections neither see improvement in the party, as the party lost contests to the WP and PAP, respectively, by large margins. In 2018, they were among the seven other opposition parties (the other were People's Power Party , Singaporeans First , Singapore Democratic Party , Democratic Progressive Party , National Solidarity Party , and People's Voice Party,

455-525: The CEC members of the alliance denied their request. The party fielded two teams to contest in West Coast GRC and Ang Mo Kio GRC , which were respectively led by then- Minister of Trade & Industry Lim Hng Kiang and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong , both by People's Action Party (PAP). In his first campaign speech on late April 2011, Kenneth said that competition in politics would lead to better and more intelligent policies for Singapore. He also noted that

490-583: The Singapore United Party's central executive committee. This article about a Singaporean political party is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Reform Party (Singapore) The Reform Party ( abbreviation : RP ) is an opposition political party in Singapore . The Reform Party is a liberal - democratic party. According to the party's constitution, it seeks to promote "political, social and economic reform;

525-478: The books Make it Right for Singapore and The Hatchet Man of Singapore and was often seen promoting his books outside Centrepoint, a shopping centre on Orchard Road. In May 2007, Jeyaretnam was discharged from bankrupt and eventually reinstated in the bar later September, in which he would go on to register and form Reform Party on 3 July 2008, where he became the pro-tem Secretary-General. On 30 September, around three months after founding, Jeyaretnam died following

560-454: The campaigning nor turn up for televised broadcasts as he was serving a mandatory 14-day Stay Home Notice after a visit to United Kingdom . On 10 July, the party won neither constituencies, with vote shares of 28.09% and 25.97% respectively. Though the party improved their party's vote share by 27.84% from the last election, their overall popular vote fell to 2.19%. Kenneth Jeyaretnam Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam (born 1959)

595-437: The debut of activists Roy Ngerng and M Ravi . In their nomination speech for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Ravi's speech was made semi-viral after he accidentally chanted out PAP before quickly correcting to RP while persuading the voters to vote for their party. On 7 September, they subsequently released their manifesto. On 11 September, their electoral performance dwindled down compared to the last election as they garnered only 20.60% of

630-448: The latter formed by former NSP chief Lim Tean) present in a meeting led by former PAP MP Tan Cheng Bock , in their discussion of a possibility of forming a collation for the next election. On 5 August 2020, chairman Andy Zhu and treasurer Noraini Yunus were removed by Jeyaretnam from the CEC with, CEC member Charles Yeo and deputy treasurer Mahaboob Batcha, taking their places as chairman and treasurer respectively. Several members left

665-477: The massive wealth hoarded by the PAP Government." It proposed to do this "without adopting a high tax regime which might damage Singapore's competitiveness", given the healthy state of Singapore's national finances. On nomination day for the 2015 General Elections (1 September), the party proposed a S$ 500 monthly allowance to Singaporean citizens aged 65 years and above. The Reform Party is unique among

700-600: The new party Progress Singapore Party led by former MP Tan Cheng Bock . Ahead of the elections, the party had accused the Progress Singapore Party for not living up to an agreement so that they could avoid a three way fight with the PAP in Yio Chu Kang SMC. In response, the PSP argued that no such agreement existed. During the campaigning period, secretary-general Kenneth did not participate in

735-425: The party and followed Zhu and Noraini to form the Singapore United Party. The slogan on the Reform Party's website states "Transparency, Accountability and Inclusion: A democratic Singapore for Singaporeans." In the 2015 elections, the party slogan was "A Brighter Future Tomorrow, Today". The main objectives of the party stated in its constitution are: to maintain and promote an independently appointed judiciary and

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770-599: The party resigned to join other parties, such as Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss , Tony Tan Lay Thiam and his wife Hazel Poa , Nicole Seah , James Teo, J. Sivalingam; Justin Ong, Samantha De Silva, Gan Theng Wei and Tan Tee Seng. Earlier on, the party was initially invited by the Singapore Democratic Alliance (a collation formed by then-opposition MP Chiam See Tong of the Singapore People's Party , along with Justice Party and Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura ), but

805-404: The party was not a breakaway faction of his former party; analysts have noted that the party at its founding consists of a large proportion of former members of the Reform Party. As the party is still new to the electoral landscape of Singapore, it lacks a distinct manifesto or ideology, though it has pledged to work on "bread-and-butter issues" and women's rights. The following members are part of

840-493: The party's payment policy without prior approval and the pair had been voted out unanimously. Zhu declined the allegations and claimed that he had been ousted via "undemocratic” means, while also contesting Jeyaretnam's statement that the vote had been unanimous. On 24 December 2020, the Singapore United Party was registered at the Registry of Societies, with Zhu becoming the party's secretary-general. Zhu sought to emphasise that

875-688: The political parties in Singapore, both government and opposition, in that its party structure does not follow a cadre based system of political organisation. The party constitution states that the Party Conference is the supreme governing authority. In their inaugural election, the party garnered 31.8% of the votes contested in Ang Mo Kio and West Coast GRCs. Their overall popular vote was 4.3%. A by-election in Punggol East Single Member Constituency

910-428: The restoration of full human rights; a fairer and just distribution of wealth with the elimination of poverty; an independently appointed judiciary and a fully elected and sovereign parliament". Its stated philosophy is "That every member of the society is born with fundamental rights which cannot be abrogated... and that it is the paramount duty of the society to promote the human dignity of its every single member." It

945-424: The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) would likely open the floodgates to more foreigners to enter Singapore again once they formed the next government. However, their electoral debut was unable to bear fruit, as both contests were lost to the PAP with a combined vote share of under 35% from the two constituencies that it contested. Some members subsequently left the party afterwards. Their subsequent contests for

980-478: The threshold of retaining the deposit is 12.5%, or one-eighth, of the valid votes cast for the constituency). Their second general election (and third overall) also fielded 11 candidates contested in three contested constituencies, with the addition of Radin Mas SMC , a ward part of the Jeyaretnam's former Anson constituency, and the two previously contested GRCs, Ang Mo Kio and West Coast. The election also marked

1015-544: The vote, Jeyaretnam forfeited his election deposit of S$ 14,500 under Singapore's electoral rules. After his candidacy was first announced, Jeyaretnam and his family in London received multiple death threats, including threats to castrate his son. He made a police report and the police arrested a 23-year-old man working as a clerk in Singapore Press Holdings 's classified ads department. Jeyaretnam led

1050-453: The votes on the three constituencies contested, or 2.63% of the overall popular vote, which was mostly attributed to the large swing towards the ruling party, where they attained large winning margins. The party fielded only six candidates and contested two constituencies, Ang Mo Kio GRC and Radin Mas; in a breaking tradition, the party chose not to contest West Coast GRC, which was reserved by

1085-702: Was a prominent opposition politician in Singapore and the first elected opposition Member of Parliament since Singapore gained independence in 1965. Jeyaretnam was educated at St. Andrew's School and the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore before he attended Charterhouse School in England from 1975 to 1977. Between 1977 and 1980, he returned to Singapore for National Service , and then went on to read economics at Queens' College , University of Cambridge , from which he graduated with double first class honours in 1983. He also studied at

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1120-488: Was founded by lawyer and veteran politician J.B. Jeyaretnam, notable as the first opposition candidate to be elected Member of Parliament under the Workers' Party of Singapore banner after a period of about 16 years when not a single opposition candidate in Singapore won a seat, as well as the secretary-general of the Workers’ Party from 1971 to 2001. At the time, Jeyaretnam (then a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament )

1155-409: Was founded by opposition veteran and lawyer J. B. Jeyaretnam , notable as the former Secretary-General of the Workers' Party of Singapore and the first opposition candidate in post-independence Singapore, on 3 July 2008. Around three months after the party's foundation, founder Jeyaretnam died on 30 September, and the leadership has since taken over by his son, Kenneth Jeyaretnam . The Reform Party

1190-439: Was held on 26 January 2013 after the resignation of former parliamentary speaker Michael Palmer on 12 December 2012. Secretary-general Kenneth participated in the by-election, but was defeated to WP's Lee Li Lian in a rare four-cornered contest. Additionally, due to a vote split towards the major parties, Kenneth had forfeited his S$ 14,500 election deposit as he garnered only 1.2% of the valid votes cast (per electoral rules,

1225-552: Was sued by then- Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then- Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong over defamation at the total damages amounting S$ 565,000 including court costs of S$ 270,000, and was declared bankrupt (which also barred the right from standing in elections) after failing to follow up his payment. He subsequently resigned from his leadership post and party later, citing that the party (notably then-Secretary General Low Thia Khiang ) did not receive due support to help him repay his payments. Since his resignation, Jeyaretnam authored

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