In 1981, representing the Workers' Party, JB Jeyaretnam became Singapore's first opposition MP since independence in 1963, defeating the People's Action Party's Pang Kim Him in the 1981 Anson by-election with 51.9% to 47.1% of the vote. He was re-elected from the same seat in 1984, one of only two opposition politicians to win.
Two months after his 1984 re-election, he was charged for allegedly falsely stating the party accounts. In 1986, a district count found him innocent of all charges but one; the prosecution appealed and the Chief Justice ordered a retrial in a district court. At the retrial he was disbarred, fined and sentenced to three months in jail, a sentence commuted to one month in jail and a $5000 fine -- sufficient to disqualify him from further elections.
Since the trial had been held in a district court, not the High Court, Jeyaretnam was only able to appeal his disbarment to Britain's Privy Council. The Council duly reversed the judgment, called the previous proceedings "serious miscarriage of justice" and stated that he and a co-accused had been "fined, imprisoned, and publicly disgraced for offences for which they were not guilty". The government restated him as a lawyer, but refused to overturn the criminal convictions.
In 1995, Jeyaretnam authored an article in The Hammer, the Workers' Party newspaper, that alleged that a number of those involved in an event called 'Tamil Language Week' were government "stooges". For this, he was sued twice for libel, resulting in total damages of S$465,000 and S$250,000 in court costs.
In 1997, Jeyaretnam was selected the Workers' Party as a non-constituency MP. After the election 11 defamation suits were laid against Jeyaretnam for the words "Mr Tang Liang Hong has just placed before me two reports he has made to police against, you know, Mr Goh Chok Tong and his people". Initially, he was convicted of the lesser charge of innuendo and fined only S$20000; on the prosecution's appeal, the damages of were raised to S$100,000 plus S$20000 court costs.
In 2001, one day late with a damages installment, Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt, disbarred and prevented from taking part in the 2001 elections. He resigned his leadership of the Workers' Party in October 2001 and now subsists by hawking copies of his books on the streets.