Referring to a published letter from a government spokesman to a foreign newspaper which paid tribute to Jeyaretnam, the veteran critic of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) said the "the letter abounds in half truth."

"But as I've said, it's typical of the Singapore government who's become past masters at half truths and concealing the essentials from the public," he said.

Jeyaretnam was officially deleted from the Singapore parliamentary roll on July 25 after being legally declared bankrupt. Under Singapore law, a bankrupt person is barred from parliament and standing in an election.

His removal reduces the opposition MPs to just two with 89 MPs for the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and two seats vacant.

Jeyaretnam, a 76-year-old lawyer, has been the bete noire of the PAP since 1981 when he broke its 16-year monopoly on power, and was in the present parliament as a non-constituency MP under a best loser provision after being narrowly defeated in the 1997 general elections.

The longtime foe of the city-state's founding father Lee Kuan Yew was declared bankrupt after being one day late with an installment under a deal to pay off S$265,000 (US$145,000) in damages to ruling-party politicians who had filed a defamation suit.

He alleged that the plaintiffs did not appear to be interested in receiving the money due them when he tried to send a cheque one day after the deadline, and added that "there was another purpose behind the bankruptcy proceedings."

He has been subjected to lawsuits, fines and jail throughout his political career and is estimated to have paid more than S$1.6 million in damages and costs so far.

The lawsuit that ended his career resulted from Jeyaretnam's criticism of leaders of the ethnic Indian community in Singapore, who filed and won a defamation suit.

Jeyaretnam called a press conference in response to a letter from Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's press secretary Ong Keng Yong to the Asian Wall Street Journal, which earlier put out an editorial lauding Jeyaretnam as a courageous politician for standing up to the PAP.

In the letter, the press secretary said Jeyaretnam was repeatedly sued because he "recklessly defamed" his opponents, adding that the opposition leader "would not have been destroyed had he not brought troubles upon himself."