Veteran Singaporean opposition politician dies of pneumonia

SINGAPORE: Veteran opposition politician Harbans Singh, who once used to enthral and entertain thousands at election rallies with his verbal barbs and fiery rhetoric, died on Saturday at the age of 78. 

A diabetic, he had been plagued with ill health in recent years, and was admitted to the National University Hospital on Friday morning with a high fever. 

He died of pneumonia on Saturday about 8pm, his niece, Anna Kaur, told The Sunday Times. 

Harbans leaves behind his wife of more than 50 years, Harjit Kaur, 72, five children and three grandsons. 

The general-secretary of the United People’s Front (UPF) party had been living in a nursing home for about four years, and was bedridden. 

He lost his eyesight to diabetes, and his right leg had to be amputated. He also had high blood pressure and suffered several minor strokes. 

Six months ago, he moved in with his youngest daughter, Ranjit Kaur, 37, a housewife, and her family in their flat at Jurong West. The family wanted to give him more attention and care. By then, the once flamboyant public speaker could no longer recognise his family or speak coherently, said his niece. 

His body was to be cremated yesterday.  

Harbans, a teacher-turned-lawyer, formed the UPF in 1974. In his heyday, he battled the big guns of the People’s Action Party (PAP), and once ran against then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in Tanjong Pagar. 

Harban's penchant for name-calling also landed him in jail for six months for criminal defamation, after referring to Lee with words like “gangster” at a rally in 1972. 

MP Seng Han Thong, who had covered Harban's rallies as a reporter for Nanyang Siang Pau in the 1970s, remembers him as “a politician who was very forceful and very focused in attacking PAP leaders, especially Lee Kuan Yew”. 

“He also made news in unusual ways. For example, in the 1970s, he declared a shadow Cabinet and made himself the prime minister.” – The Straits Times/ANN