Jeyaretnam, the party’s secretary general, died on Saturday (July 18), his wife Amanda Jeyaretnam wrote in a Facebook post. 

“He died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family,” his wife wrote on Sunday, without providing further details on the cause of death.

Kenneth was the son of the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, the first opposition politician to win a seat against the ruling People’s Action Party in 1981. The elder Jeyaretnam died in 2008, and his son became the Reform Party’s chief the following year. 

He ran in general elections in 2011, 2015 and 2020, when he led a team to contest in a group representation constituency, or GRC. He also competed in a by-election in 2013. Jeyaretnam failed to win a Parliament seat in any of the contests. 

In July 2024, Jeyaretnam said he was in the UK and had been seriously ill with deep vein thrombosis, a bilateral pulmonary embolism and other health issues. He said the illnesses prevented him from making long-haul flights, which he cited as the reason he couldn’t return to Singapore to face questioning by authorities over his social media posts.

In April 2025, Jeyaretnam said he was unable to compete in elections the following month on the advice of his doctors due to health issues.

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