You lost 7 times, I won't give up: Reform Party's Kenneth Jeyaretnam evokes father JBJ's legacy in final GE2020 e-rally

Reform Party's (RP) secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam sent a message to "his father in heaven", the late JB Jeyaretnam, during a live Facebook rally today (July 8). 

"We have brought his legacy here again in 2020," said Jeyaretnam of his father, who founded RP in July 2008, three months before he passed on. Jeyaretnam has since taken over the leadership of the party. 

If he could "send a message to his father in heaven", Jeyaretnam would say: "Dad, I am here in Ang Mo Kio. You lost seven times before you got elected. I also will not give up.

"I will hold my head high as a Singaporean. All the injustices, the pockets of poverty, the lack of compassion – they are still the same today, and even worse than you have feared.

"But I will not give up, until I make a difference."

He added that the party was trying to make it right for his father's beloved Singapore.  

"Rest in peace, dad," he said.

Later, Noraini Yunus, who is contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC too, also shared about "a legacy behind her". 

She said that her father used to be a member of the now-defunct Barisan Sosialis, a left-wing political party formed in 1961 during Singapore's self-governance. 

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Citing how the People's Action Party has been the dominant party since then, she said: "Right now, [Parliament] is so lopsided even with the Workers' Party as Opposition MPs.

"They are not able to push through their arguments against policies."

Even as "unfair" as this election is because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the party will continue to push for their agenda, she said. 

The party is running in Ang Mo Kio GRC and Radin Mas SMC this general election.

yukiling@asiaone.com