The Tales of two Jeyas

[A Shankar]

Mr JB Jeyaretnam produced two wonderful son and he should be a proud father, watching over them in Heaven.

Both of them are doing well in their own respective field, contributing to Singapore's success.


Book launched to mark 150 years of legal work

Fri, Jan 21, 2011
my paper
By Alexis Cai

LAW firm Rodyk & Davidson was one of the first companies to install a telephone when it first arrived in Singapore in 1879. One of its partners, Mr Charles Burton Buckley, also owned Singapore's first car, a battered second-hand Mercedes- Benz.

These are among the interesting anecdotes found in Rodyk 150 Years, a book that not only documents the ups and downs of Singapore's oldest law firm, but also reflects on the changes the nation has seen through the years.

Rodyk & Davidson yesterday launched the book in commemoration of 150 years of legal practice here. The book launch, held at Raffles Hotel, was graced by Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong.

The book chronicles the legal work the firm has undertaken in relation to various historic events, such as the inception of the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation in 1932, the Hotel New World collapse in 1986 as well as the SilkAir tragedy in 1997.

It was penned by The Straits Times journalist Cheong Suk-Wai and took over a year to be completed.

The firm, which began as Woods & Davidson in 1861 at Raffles Place, has maintained its presence there, dealing in litigation and arbitration. It was renamed Rodyk & Davidson in 1878.

The beginning of the book features Chief Justice Chan writing about how the firm's lustre began to fade in the 1980s through a lack of leadership and fresh legal talent amid dynamic changes, while the later chapters describes its rejuvenation after a merger with law firm HelenYeo & Partners in 2002.

Mrs Helen Yeo led the firm until the end of last year.

Managing partner Philip Jeyaretnam, who took over the reins on Jan 1, called the book "both a good story and also a real story".

He said: "For the general reader, it is interesting to see Singapore through the lenses of different historical characters."

The firm also shares some history with the book's publisher, Straits Times Press. A founding partner of the firm, Mr Robert Carr Woods, was the first editor of The Straits Times.

 

[Bryan T]

I thought one is a senior counsel, while the other is .... jobless.

 

[Dreamer1]

I thought one is a senior counsel, while the other is .... jobless.

One is a SC earning millions
One is an ex-fund manager who earned millions before

 

[cass888]

I thought one is a senior counsel, while the other is .... jobless.

The jobless one may be richer than the senior counsel.

 

[japarmy]

The Singapore Reform Party was founded by convicted terrorist, Baldev Naidu (imprisoned in the U.S.), and supposed hedge fund operator Kenneth Jeyaretnam.

The Reform Party is now imploding. (Baldev Naidu and Kenneth Jeyaretnam were first exposed on this website.)

Kenneth Jeyaretnam is the brother of Philip Jeyaretnam, the associate of Helen Yeo, the lady whose unsavory connections run from Myanmar to Afghanistan to Morocco. Helen Yeo's husband, disgraced Singapore cabinet minister Yeo Cheow Tong, now works for James Tjahaja Riady who paid record $8.6 million in criminal fines and plead guilty to a felony charge in the U.S.

Reform Party Chairman Mr. Tan Tee Seng resigned yesterday. His resignation comes just a day after at least 20 members, including key Reform Party appointment holders and potential candidates, left the Party. More resignations are expected in the coming weeks.

Mr. Tan is the third chairperson to leave the Reform Party since Kenneth Jeyaretnam took control of the Party as Secretary-General in April 2009.

The Reform Party's first chairperson, Ng Teck Siong, left the party in April 2009, criticizing Kenneth Jeyaretnam as "weak and infirm of purpose."

On February 23rd Kenneth Jeyaretnam released a statement calculated to cover up an alleged bribe made by the Reform Party.

According to Jeyaretnam, at the last Reform Party meeting, several members refused to attend, because "they had witnessed, whilst being kept waiting, two prospective candidates give packets of money to one of the CEC," one of the party's Central Executive Committee.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam continued, "Subsequently the SG [Kenneth Jeyaretnam, himself] was made aware of the letter of complaint and spoke to the recipient who admitted to receiving $400 from the candidates." The recipient of the alleged bribe was a Muslim member of the Reform Party, Mohd Affendy bin Abdul Rahim.

Even though Kenneth Jeyaretnam, head of the Reform Party "recommended that the Party deal with the complaint and answer the questions raised," the party refused.

Obviously, Kenneth Jeyaretnam has lost the respect and control of his party.

 

[Darth Maul]

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

 

[japarmy]

Here is a comment we received regarding J. B. Jeyaretnam, and son, Kenneth. Neither one of them look too honest. JBJ assisted terrorist Balraj Naidu to have his name changed to Balldev - thereby assisting the terrorist in hiding his true identity. Looks like JBJ, like his son, Kenneth, was on the side of the terrorists.

A thorough research into the Reform Party's development since its birth on 11/7/2008 will reveal his [Naidu's] contrasting relationships with the Jeyaretnams, first the late J. B. Jeyaretnam and later Kenneth Jeyaretnam that would be of interest to readers here. He was a 'still water runs deep' kind of a fellow that had a chilling twist about it.

Soon after the Reform Party become a registered political society, he applied for a Deed Poll with J. B. Jeyaretnam to get his first name 'Balraj' changed to 'Balldev' without being able to offer a compelling reason. He was a client of J. B. Jeyaretnam in a cheating case and frequently visited the latter's office at 18A Smith Street, which later became the Reform Party's HQ. On one such visit he slipped a signed cash cheque for S$340K unnoticed in his case file and claimed later that it was inadvertently done. J. B. Jeyaretnam wondered if it was a test or an enticement. There were numerous other instances that led J. B. Jeyaretnam to suspect Balraj Naidu was up to something amiss. I understand that had J. B. Jeyaretnam not expired on 30/9/08 Balraj Naidu would have been removed from the party's Central Executive Committee.

Balraj Naidu's partnership with Kenneth Jeyaretnam was even more eventful. You may have read a letter in the Today Newspaper on 19/4/2010 from the ex-Chairman and Vice-Chairman, two co-founders of the Reform Party, its surviving leaders in the wake of J. B. Jeyaretnam's departure, refuting Kenneth Jeyaretnam's allegation in an exclusive interview that was published in the Today Newspaper on 8/4/2010 about their "poor management" before he "took over." To date, Kenneth Jeyaretnam has never responded to the points they raised, obviously fearing there would be a disastrous backlash. One of those unequivocally referred to foul play at the Reform Party's HQ on 26/4/2009 that saw Kenneth Jeyaretnam 'become' its Secretary-General. Incidentally, both of them, along with another CEC member, stepped aside instead of fighting back that would have spilled out to the public to dissolve the party prematurely.

A 'Gang of 4' spearheaded by this scoundrel Balraj Naidu executed a rowdy coup d'état that saw Kenneth Jeyaretnam seize the post of party Secretary-General that day. The other 3 who formed the gang were Edmund Ng who was awarded the post of Chairman, despite his total absence from the RP's caucus since J. B. Jeyaretnam departed, till he resigned last week. There was also the landlord of Reform Party's HQ James Teo who broke the door-lock securing the office in the absence of a tenancy agreement with the Reform Party. For this, Kenneth Jeyaretnam gave him the Treasurer's post. The 3rd one was another misfit, co-founder of Reform Party and its initial treasurer, Ms Amy Liu who had resigned from the party 6½ months earlier after failing to put the Reform Party in quandary with the law by deliberately mishandling its funds. It is interesting to note that all these 3 including Balraj Naidu were legal clients of J. B. Jeyaretnam seconded to make the numbers to form the Reform Party. It seems Balraj Naidu had revealed in the raucous of 26/4/2009 that he had sold a 'property' to finance Kenneth Jeyaretnam so he had the right to make him Secretary-General. I wonder whether this is why Kenneth Jeyaretnam publicly pleaded after Balraj Naidu's arrest that he is an innocent family man, a loyal confidant of his late father and that the whole of Reform Party would stand firmly behind him.

So, we have BALRAJ NAIDU, the common factor in two causes - killing two birds with one stone as it were - trying to defeat a sovereign Government by providing arms to its enemy, an outlawed terrorist group and partaking in the overthrow of a legally elected management team of a Registered Singaporean Political Society by unconstitutional means. He was found guilty by the Baltimore Court and has been sentenced to a 5 year prison term in the first instance. The irony is that, in the second instance, Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the Reform Party would be incriminated, not him!

 

[myo539]

"The Singapore Reform Party was founded by convicted terrorist, Baldev Naidu (imprisoned in the U.S.), and supposed hedge fund operator Kenneth Jeyaretnam.

The Reform Party is now imploding. (Baldev Naidu and Kenneth Jeyaretnam were first exposed on this website.)"


If it is true, then 36,395 or 34.4% of Singaporeans living in West Coast Constituency must be desperate enough in a moment of frenzy to vote for RP or such a person ! All the worse if this story has been circulating days before Voting Day itself - and these people voted with their eyes wide open!

The clean and incorruptible reputation that Singapore is known throughout the world would have gone down the drain damn fast! These 36,000 people are traitors to the nation! Fortunately the 60% of the citizens are rational and level-headed enough to think for their future and their country.

Can we expect the PAP West Coast team to look after these 36,000 people who wanted to ruin Singapore and our future? Singaporeans better watch out for the other opposition members in parliament!

 

[sirus]

"The Singapore Reform Party was founded by convicted terrorist, Baldev Naidu (imprisoned in the U.S.), and supposed hedge fund operator Kenneth Jeyaretnam.

The Reform Party is now imploding. (Baldev Naidu and Kenneth Jeyaretnam were first exposed on this website.)"


If it is true, then 36,395 or 34.4% of Singaporeans living in West Coast Constituency must be desperate enough in a moment of frenzy to vote for RP or such a person ! All the worse if this story has been circulating days before Voting Day itself - and these people voted with their eyes wide open!

The clean and incorruptible reputation that Singapore is known throughout the world would have gone down the drain damn fast! These 36,000 people are traitors to the nation! Fortunately the 60% of the citizens are rational and level-headed enough to think for their future and their country.

Can we expect the PAP West Coast team to look after these 36,000 people who wanted to ruin Singapore and our future? Singaporeans better watch out for the other opposition members in parliament!

Fuck you Lah,
You mean to say those voting oppo are evil. You forget white can be evil also. Good and evil is no discrimination for any color.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

To mr john hardy wow if this is true then we this is definitely another facade of mr jaya most ppl do not know of.

 

[japarmy]

On 12 Dec 2010, I reported on JohnHarding.com as follows:

Forty-eight-year-old Singapore citizen Balraj Naidu was sentenced on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Naidu was convicted in October of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Naidu has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his terrorist activities.

Federal prosecutors say Naidu was part of a conspiracy to buy weapons for a terrorist organization in 1997.

The prosecutors say Naidu attempted to purchase grenade launchers, sniper rifles, machine guns, and other state of the art firearms worth US$ 900,000.

Naidu was charged following an undercover operation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations jointly with Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Baltimore Police.

A second Singaporean, Eric Pala, was granted immunity to testify at Naidu’s trial. This would imply that there are other known terrorist elements residing in Singapore.

Naidu, is the co-founder of Singapore’s Reform Party along with Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the party’s Secretary General. Kenneth Jeyaretnam is the brother of Philip Jeyaretnam of Singapore law firm Rodyk and Davidson.

THIS IS SOMETHING THAT SINGAPOREANS SHOULD KNOW AS IT IS NOT REPORTED ON IN THE SINGAPORE PRESS.