The civil rights activist said he applied to the court for a hearing to be held Tuesday to pay off his debt of more than S$600,000 (US$367,049; €308,512), but added he had yet to raise the full amount.

"I don't have all of the money, but it's my hope that I will have everything by Tuesday," Jeyaretnam said in a telephone interview.

Jeyaretnam, 81, was declared bankrupt in January 2001 when he failed to pay damages owed to top government officials who won defamation lawsuits against him. Under Singapore law, bankrupt individuals cannot stand in elections.

The politician's creditors include former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, and current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Jeyaretnam was found guilty of defaming them at a 1997 election rally when he revealed that his colleague had filed a criminal complaint accusing the ruling party leaders of defamation. He also lost a 1995 lawsuit over remarks made in his then-party newsletter.

Singapore's leaders say they have a right to use lawsuits to defend their reputations, while critics say the fines are intended to silence the opposition. The ruling party holds 82 out of 84 elected seats in Parliament.

Prime Minister Lee is not required to call elections until mid-2007, but announcements by government leaders have indicated the vote will be called much sooner.

Jeyaretnam, whose bankruptcy also cost him his parliamentary seat in 2001, said he was confident of being supported if his bankruptcy was annulled and he ran in the next polls.

"I think that wherever I go I will have considerable support," he said.

Jeyaretnam won a hotly disputed by-election in 1981 to become the only opposition lawmaker at that time. In recent years, Jeyaretnam has often campaigned by selling books he has written about Singapore on street corners.

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