REFORM PARTY RUDDERLESS WITHOUT JEYARETNAM STAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001322

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SN
SUBJECT: REFORM PARTY RUDDERLESS WITHOUT JEYARETNAM STAR
POWER

REF: SINGAPORE 1067

Classified By: Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold for reason 1.4(d).


1. (C) Summary. Iconic opposition leader and lawyer J.B.
Jeyaretnam (JBJ) emerged from government-imposed bankruptcy
earlier this year and co-founded the Reform Party. The press
and public greeted the event as a dramatic comeback by a
political figure long known for his defiance of the ruling
People's Action Party (PAP). When JBJ died unexpectedly on
September 30 (see reftel),the movement fell into disarray.
Since then, the Reform Party's co-founders have run into
problems in recruitment, fundraising, and public relations.
Leaders say the party hopes to compete in the 2011
parliamentary elections, but acknowledge that it will have to
rely heavily on the late JBJ's image. End summary.


2. (C) Comment. Singapore's newest political party may well
be its weakest. JBJ commanded the respect of ordinary
Singaporeans as no other opposition politician; he won
elections without kowtowing to the PAP; and he achieved
martyr status by weathering PAP persecution without
discrediting himself. More than anyone else, JBJ presented
Singaporeans with a political alternative that they could
take seriously. But less than a year after the Reform
Party's founding, JBJ is dead, the media ignore the party,
its Internet buzz has vanished, and it seems unable to
communicate its ideas to the public.


3. (C) Comment continued. Party chairman Ng Teck Siong
speaks optimistically about the future and appears to think
that the power of the JBJ "brand" alone will carry the party
to electoral success. Yet the party lacks both members and
money, as well as any strategy for obtaining them. Without
JBJ's charisma or the managerial skills to make up for his
absence, the Reform Party seems to have lost any chance of
becoming a force in Singapore politics. JBJ's long-term
popularity showed that there is a potential constituency for
an opposition voice Singaporeans feel they can respect, but
neither the decapitated Reform Party nor the rest of
Singapore's limp opposition appears capable of rousing
Singaporeans from their political slumbers. End comment.

JBJ Earned Singapore's Respect Over Years of Struggle
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4. (SBU) JBJ won a parliamentary by-election in 1981,
jolting Singapore politics by becoming the first non-PAP
member elected to Parliament since 1968. He won reelection
in 1984, but Parliament expelled him and the courts disbarred
him from law practice on apparently politically-motivated
charges in 1986. (Note: The authorities charged JBJ with
misappropriating party funds. On appeal of his convictions,
the Privy Council of the U.K. House of Lords strongly
condemned the judicial proceedings in Singapore and reversed
as much as it could. Singapore promptly abolished appeals to
the Privy Council. End note.) After regaining his law
license, JBJ mounted his first political comeback in 1997,
winning a non-constituency seat in Parliament (awarded to the
opposition candidates with the highest vote totals). Lee
Kuan Yew and other PAP figures immediately sued him for
defamation based on statements he had made during the
election campaign. They hounded JBJ into bankruptcy,
parliamentary expulsion, and disbarment once more by 2001,
exiling him to hawk his self-published books on the street to
make ends meet. It took him until 2008 to discharge his
bankruptcy.

April 2008: Reform Party Bursts Onto Scene as JBJ Comeback
-------------- --------------


5. (U) Local media lavished coverage on JBJ in April 2008
when he announced a new party intended to advocate a fairer
distribution of Singapore's new-found wealth. Along with his
emergence from bankruptcy and reinstatement to the bar,
reporters highlighted the veteran campaigner's return to
politics after his years-long absence. Further coverage
followed in June, when the Reform Party obtained its formal
registration, and again in July, when JBJ united the leaders
of Singapore's main opposition parties at an inaugural
dinner. A sitting PAP member of Parliament died in office in
July 2008, and JBJ called for an immediate by-election to
fill the seat. When the GOS declined to call the
by-election, JBJ took the issue to court. Before the court
heard argument, however, JBJ died suddenly on September 30
(see reftel).

October 2008: JBJ's Death Leaves Party Rudderless
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SINGAPORE 00001322 002 OF 002




6. (C) The Reform Party has struggled with both recruitment
and fundraising since JBJ's death, chairman Ng Teck Siong
told Poloff recently. Poloff called on Ng at party
headquarters, located in JBJ's final law office, a windowless
and sparsely-furnished suite above a row of restaurants in
Chinatown. According to Ng, the party has "just over 30"
members (up from ten at the time of founding) and no active
recruitment efforts. Two of the ten founding members have
resigned. The party has not replaced JBJ as secretary
general, so Ng plays that role on an acting basis. The only
current source of funding is JBJ's two books, "Make It Right
for Singapore" and "The Hatchet Man of Singapore," which Ng
and other party members sell on the street as few booksellers
in Singapore are willing to stock them. (Note: Ng, a
retired printer, had also helped peddle these books during
JBJ's long bankruptcy. End note.) The party has also
abandoned its campaign for a by-election, and the
parliamentary seat remains vacant. Ng said he could not find
an attorney willing to take over the case.

December 2008: What Ever Happened to the Reform Party?
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Since JBJ's death, the Reform Party has all but
disappeared from view. Though the media eulogized JBJ
himself, there has been almost no subsequent coverage of the
party. Even Singapore's lively on-line civil society rarely
mentions the Reform Party now. Ng Teck Siong told Poloff
that the party has no effective means of communicating with
the public. The party took down its first attempt at a web
site, but its planned replacement has yet to appear. Ng said
the party hopes to print a newspaper and sell it on the
street, but it has not yet obtained the necessary permit.
Even the party constitution and platform remain unpublished.
Ng has tried without success to place press releases in the
pro-government Straits Times newspaper. Only a few bloggers
have been willing to publish Reform Party press releases on
the Internet. According to Ng, the Reform Party's natural
constituency is the 40% of Singapore's population whom he
classifies as "poor" (those living on a monthly income of
S$2,000 or less),but the party has conducted no outreach to
these "heartland" voters.

Ng Teck Siong's High Hopes
--------------


8. (C) Ng outlined ambitious goals to Poloff. He said he
foresees several more months of party-building, focused on
adding members and establishing ways to communicate with the
public. However, Ng did not articulate any clear
party-building strategy. Instead, he expressed the belief
that Singaporeans will respond to the memory of JBJ by either
joining the Reform Party or voting for its candidates. When
pressed for details of the party's plans to elicit such a
reaction, Ng offered none. Nevertheless, Ng said he wants to
field a larger slate of parliamentary candidates than any
other opposition party in the next elections, expected in

2011. (Note: Ng said he does not believe the GOS will call
early elections, because it fears the adverse electoral
impact of the economic downturn. End note.) He was unable
to say where the party would find enough members willing to
stand, given its small size. He added that the Reform Party
cannot plan for specific constituencies because the GOS could
redraw the electoral map shortly before the election.

Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm
HERBOLD