Reform Party chief and blogger Kenneth Jeyaretnam announced on Tuesday (5 January) that a new charity, the J B Jeyaretnam Foundation, is set to be launched today for the relief of poverty in Singapore.
In his blog, Mr Jeyaretnam said that the foundation was launched in honour of the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam’s birthday, the first opposition politician to be elected in Parliament in 1965.
The late J B Jeyaretnam, who once led The Workers’ Party, was born on 5 January 1926. He passed away on 30 September 2008 due to heart failure.
“Though he can no longer be with us his legacy lives on to be preserved for future generations,” said Mr Jeyaretnam, who is one of the late J B Jeyaretnam’s sons.
He added that the foundation focuses on “the pockets of poverty amongst marginalized groups that were dear to JBJ’s heart”.
“Some of you may know that we held a dinner to raise funds for this project a couple of years ago,” said the politician.
Mr Jeyaretnam also noted that human rights lawyer M Ravi has agreed to take up the legal work for setting up the J B Jeyaretnam Foundation “at a generously reduced rate”.
“We are delighted that JBJ’s protégé, M Ravi, has kindly agreed to do the legal work for setting up the charity at a generously reduced rate, to match the funds we have already raised. Therefore we will not be requesting donations at this stage,” he stated.
For those who have more enquiries or future donations on the charity are encouraged to contact via WhatsApp +65 91064376 or send an email to [email protected].