Jeyaretnam -- one of only three opposition MPs in Singapore's 93-seat parliament -- was declared bankrupt last month after missing by one day the deadline for a S$23,450 (US$13,480 US) payment.

As a bankrupt he is effectively disqualified from politics, and Jeyaretnam said he was unsure if he would continue the appeal process.

"I have to consider where I go from here, whether I should appeal the decision or take any other proceedings," he said after the High Court judgment.

"I have a month within which to apeal from the judge to the Court of Appeal."

If elections were held now "I shall be barred from taking part," he said, adding that bankruptcy proceedings have been described in English courts as "a potent instrument of oppression."

The opposition leader, who broke a 16-year monopoly by the ruling People's Action Party's when he was first elected to parliament in 1981, owes $235,000 (US$135,800) from a defamation claim against a Workers Party newsletter.

The eight claimants, members of the organising committee of Tamil Language Week, were defamed in a 1995 article about an Indian community event they organised.

In May last year, Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt by the High Court after failing to settle defamation payments to lawyers R. Kalamohan and R. Ravindran over the same article.

The ruling was set aside a few days later when he paid the outstanding amount of $12,092.