- Joined
- Oct 8, 2008
- Messages
- 533
- Points
- 18
KJ wrote to WSJ, could not get even basic fact rights, intentionally or otherwise, and was rebutted by the MICA press secretary.
Judge for yourself:
KJ:"...my father, Reform Party founder Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, was sued numerous times for defamation, culminating in being bankrupted over a few words in an article published in the Workers' Party newspaper that he did not write and in a language (Tamil) whose written form he did not understand. This resulted in him losing his seat in Parliament and not being able to stand again before he died, which was of course the key objective."[1]
MICA:"The article that (KJ) referred to was published in the August 1995 issue of the Workers' Party publication The Hammer. J.B. Jeyaretnam was then the secretary-general of the party.
The author of the article, the editor of The Hammer, and the Executive Council of the Workers' Party (of which J.B. Jeyaretnam was a member) acknowledged that the article was "completely false and baseless" and accepted responsibility for it. They published an unqualified apology in The Straits Times on Nov. 23, 1995 and agreed to pay costs and damages.
Contrary to Mr. Kenneth Jeyaratnam's claim, this episode did not cause J.B. Jeyaretnam to lose his seat in parliament—he was not even a member of parliament at that time. Nor did it prevent J.B. Jeyaretnam from contesting the subsequent general elections in 1997, and being selected as a non-constituency member of parliament."[2]
Reference:
[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203458604577264532773291426.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304537904577277244119659820.html
Judge for yourself:
KJ:"...my father, Reform Party founder Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, was sued numerous times for defamation, culminating in being bankrupted over a few words in an article published in the Workers' Party newspaper that he did not write and in a language (Tamil) whose written form he did not understand. This resulted in him losing his seat in Parliament and not being able to stand again before he died, which was of course the key objective."[1]
MICA:"The article that (KJ) referred to was published in the August 1995 issue of the Workers' Party publication The Hammer. J.B. Jeyaretnam was then the secretary-general of the party.
The author of the article, the editor of The Hammer, and the Executive Council of the Workers' Party (of which J.B. Jeyaretnam was a member) acknowledged that the article was "completely false and baseless" and accepted responsibility for it. They published an unqualified apology in The Straits Times on Nov. 23, 1995 and agreed to pay costs and damages.
Contrary to Mr. Kenneth Jeyaratnam's claim, this episode did not cause J.B. Jeyaretnam to lose his seat in parliament—he was not even a member of parliament at that time. Nor did it prevent J.B. Jeyaretnam from contesting the subsequent general elections in 1997, and being selected as a non-constituency member of parliament."[2]
Reference:
[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203458604577264532773291426.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304537904577277244119659820.html