Singapore Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam has died at the age of 67.
His wife, Amanda Jeyaretnam, announced his death in a Facebook post on Sunday, 19 July 2026.
She said that he had died the previous day, on Saturday, 18 July.
He Died Peacefully in His Sleep
In the post published on her husband’s Facebook page, Mrs Jeyaretnam said that he “died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family”.
She described him as her beloved husband and a loving and devoted father to their son, Jared.
The family is finalising arrangements for a small private service. A separate memorial celebrating his life will be organised at a later date.
As of 7.02pm on 19 July 2026, no cause of death had been made public.
Mr Jeyaretnam had previously disclosed that he was experiencing serious health problems.
In a Facebook post in July 2024, he said that he had been receiving medical treatment in London for deep vein thrombosis, bilateral pulmonary embolism and pneumonia.
Deep vein thrombosis occurs when a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. A pulmonary embolism occurs when a clot travels to the lungs and blocks blood flow.
However, the family has not connected those earlier conditions to his death.
He also sat out Singapore’s 2025 General Election after receiving medical advice over health issues.
At the time, he stressed that he was not retiring and hoped to contest another election in the future.
He Led the Party Founded by His Father
Mr Jeyaretnam was the elder son of veteran opposition politician Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, better known as J.B. Jeyaretnam or JBJ.
JBJ made Singapore political history in 1981 when he won the Anson by-election. He became the first opposition politician elected to Singapore’s post-independence Parliament.
After serving for decades as the Workers’ Party’s secretary-general, JBJ established the Reform Party in 2008.
He died in September that year, just months after the party was formed.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam subsequently became the Reform Party’s secretary-general in April 2009.
Before entering politics, he studied economics at the University of Cambridge and worked in the financial sector, including at banks and investment firms in London.
He Contested Four Elections
Mr Jeyaretnam contested three General Elections and one by-election during his political career.
He first stood in the 2011 General Election as part of the Reform Party team contesting West Coast GRC.
The team received 33.43 per cent of the valid votes, while the People’s Action Party team received 66.57 per cent.
In the 2013 Punggol East by-election, Mr Jeyaretnam received 1.20 per cent of the vote in a four-cornered contest won by the Workers’ Party’s Lee Li Lian.
He returned to West Coast GRC in the 2015 General Election, where his team received 21.43 per cent of the vote.
His final election was in 2020, when he led a five-member Reform Party team against the PAP team led by then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Ang Mo Kio GRC.
The Reform Party received 28.09 per cent of the vote, while the PAP received 71.91 per cent.
Although Mr Jeyaretnam was never elected to Parliament, he remained an outspoken opposition figure who regularly commented on government policies and political issues.
Mr Jeyaretnam is survived by his wife Amanda, their son Jared and his younger brother, High Court judge Philip Jeyaretnam.
