Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam (born 7 March 1959) is a Singaporean politician and hedge fund manager who has been appointed as the Secretary-General of the opposition Reform Party since 2009. He is the elder son of

J. B. Jeyaretnam Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician and lawyer who served as secretary-general of the opposition Workers' Party from 1971 to ...

, a prominent opposition politician in Singapore who founded the Reform Party in 2008. Jeyaretnam received a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a Grading in education, grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and Master's degree#Integrated Masters Degree, integrated master's degrees in the United Kingd ...

in economics from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, and started his career in the financial sector. He worked at Wardley, Continental Bank,

Banque Indosuez Banque Indosuez was a French bank, the product of the 1975 merger of Banque de l'Indochine and Banque de Suez et de l'Union des mines. It was purchased by Crédit Agricole in 1996, and formed the core of what is now Crédit Agricole Corporate ...

and Nomura International before becoming a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

manager. He took up a more active role in politics after his father's death in 2008 and started leading the RP. Since then, he has contested in the 2011 general election, 2013 by-elections,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and 2020 general election, but lost all of them.

Background

Jeyaretnam's parents,

Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician and lawyer who served as secretary-general of the opposition Workers' Party from 1971 to ...

and Margaret Cynthia Walker, were both lawyers by profession. His father was a prominent opposition politician in Singapore and the first elected opposition Member of Parliament since Singapore gained independence in 1965. Jeyaretnam was educated at St. Andrew's School and the

United World College of South East Asia The United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) is an independent international school in Singapore. It is a member of the United World College (UWC) movement, which includes 18 schools worldwide. UWCSEA provides a K–12 education consi ...

in Singapore before he attended

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

in England from 1975 to 1977. Between 1977 and 1980, he returned to Singapore for

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, and then went on to study economics at

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the River Cam with the Mathematical Bridge an ...

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, from which he graduated with double first class honours in 1983. He also studied at the

Amsterdam Institute of Finance Amsterdam Institute of Finance (AIF), is a Dutch financial training institute for international finance specialists and other professionals. It is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and offers more than 20 open enrollment training programs for p ...

. After graduating from Cambridge in 1983, Jeyaretnam applied to work at the

Monetary Authority of Singapore The Monetary Authority of Singapore or (MAS), is the central bank and financial regulatory authority of Singapore. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as ...

and other financial institutions and banks, but his applications were turned down. Nevertheless, he managed to start a career in the financial sector as an assistant manager in the Lending Department of Wardley, the merchant banking arm of

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. He worked at Continental Bank,

and Nomura International before he became a

manager focusing on event-driven investing. From 2004 to 2008, he established and managed his own funds. When he was working in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he was a committee member of the Singapore UK Association.

Political career

Following his father's death in September 2008, Jeyaretnam took up a more active role in politics. In April 2009, he became the Secretary-General of the opposition Reform Party (RP), founded by his father in 2008 months before his death.

2011 general election

Jeyaretnam first stood for elections in the 2011 general election when he led a five-member RP team to contest in

West Coast GRC The West Coast Group Representation Constituency was a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the western and central areas of Singapore. The five divisions consisted of: Ayer Rajah-Gek Poh, West Coast, Boon Lay, Nanyang ...

against a five-member team from the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

(PAP) led by Trade and Industry Minister

Lim Hng Kiang Lim Hng Kiang ( zh, s=林勋强, p=Lín Xūnqiáng, poj=Lîm Hng-kiâng, first=poj; born 9 April 1954) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Minister for Trade and Industry between 2004 and 2018, Minister in the Prime Minister's Off ...

. The RP team lost after garnering 33.43% of the vote against the PAP team's 66.57%.

2013 by-election

In 2013, after PAP Member of Parliament Michael Palmer resigned from the PAP and gave up his parliamentary seat in Punggol East SMC, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was held on 26 January 2013. Jeyaretnam contested the by-election, which turned out to be a four-cornered fight pitting him against three other candidates: Koh Poh Koon of the PAP;

Lee Li Lian Lee Li Lian (; born 19 July 1978) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), she was the Member of Parliament for Punggol East SMC between 2013 and 2015. Lee made her political debut in the 2011 general elect ...

of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

; and Desmond Lim of the

Singapore Democratic Alliance The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) is a political coalition between the Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS), and Singapore Justice Party (SJP). The SDA was formed in 2001 and initially consisted of four political parties, PKMS, S ...

. The by-election concluded with a victory for Lee, who won with 54.5% of the vote against Koh's 43.73%, Jeyaretnam's 1.2%, and Lim's 0.57%. Since he got lower than 12.5% of the vote, Jeyaretnam forfeited his

election deposit In an electoral system, a deposit is the sum of money that a candidate for an elected office, such as a seat in a legislature, is required to pay to an electoral authority before they are permitted to stand for election. Typically, the deposit co ...

of S$14,500 under Singapore's electoral rules. After his candidacy was first announced, Jeyaretnam and his family in London received multiple death threats, including threats to castrate his son. He made a police report and the police arrested a 23-year-old man working as a clerk in

Singapore Press Holdings Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) was one of Singapore's two state media companies, which published ''The Straits Times'', numerous other newspapers and operated radio, television and digital media. In 2021, the media division was spun ...

's classified ads department.

2015 general election

Jeyaretnam led a four-member RP team to contest in

again during the 2015 general election against a four-member PAP team led by Trade and Industry Minister

. The RP lost with 21.43% of the vote against the PAP team's 78.57%.

2020 general election

During the 2020 general election, Jeyaretnam switched to leading a five-member RP team to contest in

Ang Mo Kio GRC The Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the North-East Region, Singapore, North-East Region of Singapore. It has 5 wards: Teck Ghee, Buangkok–Fernvale South, Seletar–Ser ...

against a five-member PAP team led by Prime Minister

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former military officer who served as the third Prime Minister of Singapore, prime minister of Singapore from 2004 to 2024, thereafter serving as a Senior Minister of S ...

. The RP team lost after garnering 28.09% of the vote against the PAP team's 71.91%.

Personal life

Jeyaretnam and his wife, Amanda Jeyaretnam, have a son, Jared Jeyaretnam. His younger brother, Philip Jeyaretnam, has been a judge of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

since 2021 and was one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed Senior Counsel in 2003 at the age of 38.

References

External links

The Reform Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeyaretnam, Kenneth 1959 births Living people Singaporean Anglicans Saint Andrew's School, Singapore alumni People educated at Charterhouse School Singaporean politicians of Indian descent Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Singaporean people of English descent Singaporean people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Reform Party (Singapore) politicians People educated at a United World College