Politics is not politics if there are no spats. Reform Party's Kenneth Jeyaretnam was unhappy with local activist group Function 8 for organising a memorial service for his father without permission. Function 8 allegedly planned a 10th anniversary memorial for J B Jeyaretnam that was slated for 23 Sep 2018. Dr G Raman, Chee Soon Juan and Teo Soh Lung were supposed to speak at the event.
However, they eventually cancelled the event due to KJ's objection. In a Facebook post, KJ said that he is "very disappointed" that they used his father's name and images without his permission. He felt that Function 8 hijacked his father's reputation to achieve their political ends.
"[Function 8 is] not a political organisation. It's not a cause associated with JBJ. We have the right to protect JBJ's legacy and if we don't take these actions then every Tom, Dick and Harry will organise an event with the most tenuous link or no link at all to JBJ, in order to raise money for themselves or their pet cause".
According to KJ, this could all have been avoided if they bothered to contact him right from the start. He was still seething as he recalled how he had helped them in the past: "I instructed my party's activists to work with Chee [Soon Juan] when he fought the by-election. Please don't teach me about opposition unity. I've done more than anyone".
While some may think that KJ was being selfish, he definitely has the right to as it is something that dearly concerns him. Furthermore, neither he nor his family members were invited!
What an ugly turn of things. Way to remember somebody?
