"I must give the people the chance to protest against the proposed increase in the goods and services tax," Jeyaretnam said, without detailing alternative plans if permission for the march is refused.

Protests of any kind are rare in strictly-controlled Singapore, and Jeyaretnam said he was not aware of the government ever approving a march opposing a government policy.

But he said there was "great unhappiness" over the GST rising from three to five percent and people needed to express their opposition.

The government has acknowledged the impact of the economic downturn and dropped plans to impose the tax hike in full on January 1 as planned. Instead it will rise to four percent first, and to the full five percent a year later.

"What the government seems to forget is that this hurts the poor people far, far more than it hurts anybody else and that's why I say it's a gross violation of their human rights," Jeyaretnam said.

The colourful politician, who entered parliament in 1981 as the first non-People's Action Party (PAP) MP since since independence in 1965, was a champion of human rights in his turbulent career.

He was eventually expelled from parliament last year when declared bankrupt after he was unable to pay massive damages awarded to PAP members in a series of defamation suits.

Although protest marches against the government have not been approved before, Singapore's first legally-sanctioned demonstration was held last year when a civil rights group staged a fund-raising rally to help Jeyaretnam pay his debts.

Another opposition leader, Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party, was jailed this year for organising a May Day rally without a permit.

Jeyaretnam said he had applied to the police Tuesday to hold a short anti-GST march on January 5, his 77th birthday, and assured them it would be non-violent.

"No one will be carrying any sticks or shouting anything, except perhaps the slogan 'Say No to GST'," he said.

"We want to call for the total suspension of GST, not just the increase but the GST itself. And if that is not possible... total exemption of GST on basic necessities -- food, clothing, medicines, healthcare, educational books."

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