Today, marks the passing of a Singaporean icon. Today, Mr JB Jeyaretnam, long time opposition politician, former minister of parliment and ex-leader of the Worker's Party died. What is it about Mr Jeyaretnam that makes a normal joe like me remember him? Was it his fiery speeches as leader of the Worker's Party? Was it his stint as MP in parliment? Was it the misfortune of lawsuits and bankruptcy that plagued him up to the end of his life? Truth be told, I have only seen the man in person just one time in my life.
It was a rather dreary afternoon somewhere outside Centrepoint. Amidst the continuous shuffle of the crowd, I heard a voice ringing out clearly in the sweltering humidity.
"Know the truth!" this voice cried. I turned to see a tall Chinese man with a book in his hand encouraging passabys to pick up a copy. It was pretty obvious who he represented based on the subject matter of the book. However, my attention was soon diverted to the man standing beside him.
I was pretty shocked to see Mr Jeyaretnam standing silently by, old, quiet and broken... the fire all gone out of him. It was some time after the defamation lawsuits. This was not the man I remembered as a child watching on television making speeches with a strong and fierce demeanour. As I passed by, there was a small twinge of sadness in my heart when I saw his tired face, as well as fear that Big Brother might be watching if I expressed interest or sympathy in his cause. In the end, he became as the image of the "poor downtrodden worker" he tried to fight for.
That image is something I cannot forget.
I don't know what he looked like in the months and days before his death. I would like to think that he managed to pick himself out of dispair. Certainly according to the following article, he seems revved up to try and re-enter parliment at the age of 82.
Article: Singapore veteran opposition politician dies-radio
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080929/tap-singapore-politician-c3bb44c.html
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080929/tap-singapore-politician-c3bb44c.html
So what is it that makes this man so iconic?
In the timeless sphere of myth and legend, JB Jeyaretnam stands as a figure of misfortune. A symbol of what happens when a mortal tries to take on the powers that be and meets with ill luck. In a sense he is a modern Prometheus, who in the attempt to seize fire from heaven from Olympian gods, ends up being chained to a rock where an eagle pecks at his liver daily. But unlike the titian, there is no Heracles to save him.
Unlike so many broken and beaten figures of misfortune, he has chosen a different response to his calamity. Despite being only an ordinary man has decided to fight back with whatever he has. And in doing so transcends his dip into the dark valley and rises as a heroic symbol of the defiant mortal who beats the walls of Olympus with his bare hands and refuses to turn away despite the advise of "wiser" men. Indeed, I am sure I am not the only Singaporean who stands amazed upon hearing that as soon as he was discharged from bankruptcy, he formed a new political party and put himself on the road to re-enter parliment.
I guess for some men, dreams never die.
But perhaps there is some wisdom in chasing down a dream to the end, no matter how impossible it might seem... a quote from a holy book sums it up nicely...
"Without Hope, how can a man live."
Article: Former opposition MP JB Jeyaretnam dies of heart failure
Posts
