AFTER decades of libel defeats in Singapore's courts, veteran opposition leader Joshua Jeyaretnam has finally been declared bankrupt. The court order, if upheld, means he will be ejected from Parliament.
His lawyers yesterday began taking steps to appeal.
Mr Jeyaretnam, 74, has paid libel damages of more than S$780,000 (HK$3.5 million) to former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew over the years.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and numerous cabinet ministers, including Mr Lee's eldest son, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, have also won substantial awards against him.
But his final day of reckoning behind closed doors in the High Court on Friday stemmed from his failure to pay S$7,387 for defamation to lawyer R. Kalamohan.
Socialist Mr Jeyaretnam, leader of the Workers' Party, had been paying Mr Kalamohan by instalments, but recently defaulted. 'I was unable to pay practically the last-but-one instalment,' Mr Jeyaretnam said. 'I wanted a bit more time.' Opponents and Western countries have long criticised members of Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) for using the courts, and particularly defamation suits, against political foes.
