Jeyaretnam said he remained optimistic he would contest the next general election due by August 2002, even though a fund-raising rally last weekend raised just S$19,000 (US$10,500) towards his debts of S$550,000.

But he was non-committal on whether he would remain with the Workers Party after stepping down as secretary general.

"You'll have to wait. At the moment I'm still a member of the Workers Party, so wait patiently until nomination day," he told AFP.

The 76-year-old bete noire of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), who has been subjected to lawsuits, fines and jail throughout his long career, has been declared bankrupt by the High Court after losing several civil suits filed by government figures.

If he cannot clear his debts, or reverse the ruling on appeal he will be automatically disqualified from politics.

Jeyaretnam stood by his previous explanation that he decided to step down as head of the Workers Party "to make way for new blood," and despite his lengthy experience he would have no say in the future running of the party.

"I'm not going to dictate to them anything. I think that would be wrong. If you say you're stepping down, you're stepping down and letting them run the party for a while.

"Otherwise they're never going to be able to run the party. I'm not going to be another Mr Lee Kuan Yew," he said in reference to Singapore's founding father who took the role of Senior Minister after stepping down as Prime Minister.

Jeyaretnam, a lawyer who has guided the Workers Party since 1971, was elected to parliament 10 years later, becoming the first person to break the PAP's monopoly since Singapore's independence in 1965.

He was re-elected in 1984, but two years later he was disqualified from parliament and barred from practising law after being convicted on criminal charges concerning alleged irregularities in the collection of party funds.

Jeyaretnam appealed to the Privy Council in London, then Singapore's court of final appeal, which ruled that he and a co-defendent had been "publicly disgraced for offences of which they were not guilty."

Although the Singapore Law Society reinstated Jeyaretnam as a lawyer, the government refused to remove the convictions as recommended by the Privy Council, and he remained barred for five years from standing for re-election.

The government also passed an Amendment Act that abolished appeals to the Privy Council for disciplinary matters.

Throughout his colourful career, Jeyaretnam has become renowned as a champion of the underdog, pressing issues such as the abolition of the Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial, and the promotion of human rights and democracy.