ArielGrace8803: Created some biography from scratch

2026-04-16T20:43:00Z

Created some biography from scratch

New page

{{Short description|Fijian politician (1931–2006)}}
{{About|the politician|the golfer|Vijay Singh|the writer and filmmaker|Vijay Singh (writer and filmmaker)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
|name = Sir Vijay Raghubar Singh
|honorific_suffix = [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire|KBE]]
|alt =
|caption =

|order = 22nd
|office = Attorney General of Fiji
|monarch = [[Elizabeth II]]
|governor_general = [[George Cakobau|Ratu Sir George Cakobau]]
|prime_minister = [[Kamisese Mara|Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara]]
|term_start = 1977
|term_end = 1979
|predecessor = [[John Falvey]]
|successor = [[Andrew Deoki]]

|order1 =
|office1 = [[Cabinet of Fiji|Cabinet Minister]] (Various portfolios)
|monarch1 = [[Elizabeth II]]
|governor1 = [[Robert Sidney Foster|Sir Robert Foster]] Until 10 October 1970
|1blankname1 = Chief Minister |1namedata1 = [[Kamisese Mara|Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara]] Until 10 October 1970
|governor_general1 = [[Robert Sidney Foster|Sir Robert Foster]] [[George Cakobau|Ratu Sir George Cakobau]]
|prime_minister1 = [[Kamisese Mara|Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara]]
|term_start1 = 20 September 1967
|term_end1 = 1976
|predecessor1 =
|successor1 =

|office2 = [[Speaker of the House of Representatives of Fiji]]
|monarch2 = [[Elizabeth II]]
|governor_general2 = [[George Cakobau|Ratu Sir George Cakobau]]
|prime_minister2 = [[Kamisese Mara|Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara]]
|term_start2 = 1976
|term_end2 = 1977
|predecessor2 = [[R. D. Patel]]
|successor2 = [[Mosese Qionibaravi]]

|order3 =
|office3 = [[Executive Council of Fiji|Member for Social Services]]
|monarch3 = [[Elizabeth II]]
|governor3 = [[Robert Sidney Foster|Sir Robert Foster]] Until 10 October 1970
|term_start3 = 1966
|term_end3 = 1967
|predecessor3 = [[A. D. Patel]]
|successor3 = Himself As Minister for Social Services

|order4 =
|office4 = [[Legislative Council of Fiji|Member of the Legislative Council of Fiji]]
|monarch4 =
|governor4 =
|term_start4 = 1966
|term_end4 = 1972
|predecessor4 =
|successor4 =

|order5 =
|office5 = [[House of Representatives of Fiji|Member, House of Representatives of Fiji]]
|1blankname5 = Speaker |1namedata5 = [[R. D. Patel]] (1972-1976) Himself (1976-1977)
|governor_general5 =
|term_start5 = 1972
|term_end5 = 1977
|predecessor5 =
|successor5 =

|order6 =
|office6 = [[Senate of Fiji|Senator of Fiji]]
|appointer6 = [[Prime Minister of Fiji]]
|1blankname6 = President of the Senate |1namedata6 = [[Robert Munro (Fiji politician)|Sir Robert Munro]]
|governor_general6 =
|term_start6 = 1977
|term_end6 = 1979
|predecessor6 =
|successor6 =

|order7 =
|office7 = [[House of Representatives of Fiji|Member, House of Representatives of Fiji]]
|1blankname7 = Speaker |1namedata7 = [[Tomasi Vakatora]]
|governor7 =
|term_start7 = 1982
|term_end7 = 1985
|predecessor7 =
|successor7 =
|birth_date = 13 July 1931
|birth_place = [[Yalalevu]], [[Ba Province]], [[Colony of Fiji]], British Empire
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2006|09|25|1931|07|13}}
|death_place = [[Brisbane]], [[Queensland]], [[Australia]]
|party = [[Alliance Party (Fiji)|Alliance Party]] (1965-1979) [[National Federation Party]] (1979-1985)
|other_party = 
|spouse = Lady Maya Singh
|partner = 
|relations =
|children = 1 son, 1 daughter
|alma_mater =
|occupation =
|profession = [[Lawyer]], [[Trade union]]ist
|cabinet =
|committees =
|portfolio =
|signature =
|signature_alt =
|website =
|footnotes = From 1985 to 1987 he was Chief Executive of Fiji Sugar Cane Growers Council

|nickname =
|allegiance =
|branch =
|rank =
|unit =
|commands =
|battles =
|awards =
}}

'''Sir Vijay Raghubar Singh''', [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire|KBE]] (13 July 1931 – 25 September 2006) was an [[Indians in Fiji|Indo-Fijian]] lawyer and politician who held [[Cabinet of Fiji|Cabinet]] office in the 1960s and 1970s. Vijay Singh served in [[Prime Minister of Fiji|Prime Minister]] [[Kamisese Mara|Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's]] government in a variety of positions, including [[Attorney General of Fiji|Attorney-General]], and was president of the [[Indian Alliance]], a division of the ruling [[Alliance Party (Fiji)|Alliance Party]]. He quit the party in 1979 following disagreement with Alliance leadership and later joined the opposition [[National Federation Party]]. Vijay Singh was involved in the restructure of the Fiji sugar industry and was a leading member of the [[Jaycees]] movement in Fiji.

== Early life ==

Vijay Singh was born in [[Yalalevu]], [[Ba District, Fiji|Ba]], [[Fiji]] and was the eldest of 14 children. He came from a prominent [[Arya Samaj in Fiji|Arya Samaj]] family in [[Ba (town)|Ba]]. He attended the local Arya Samaj school for primary education and obtained his secondary education at Marist Brothers High School in [[Suva]]. With no tertiary education available in Fiji, and not able to afford to travel overseas for further education, he took up employment in his uncle, Hari Shankars', accountancy and import business. Seeing his determination to pursue further studies, his uncle offered to finance him to study law. He began legal studies at [[Lincoln's Inn]] in [[London]] in 1951. He graduated with a [[LLB|Law]] degree from the [[University of London]]<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Sir Vijay Singh dies |url=http://pub30.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=2554844873&frmid=1642&msgid=983976&cmd=show |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001031122/http://pub30.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=2554844873&frmid=1642&msgid=983976&cmd=show |archive-date=2015-10-01 |access-date=29 September 2015 |website=Kulacoco New Fiji Goodchat}}</ref> in 1953 after only two years, the shortest period of study permissible to sit the final examination. He became a [[barrister]] of the High Courts of [[England]], Australia, and Fiji.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Singh |first1=Sir Vijay R. |title=A DIMINISHED JUDICIARY |url=http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/journal_splaw/Special_Interest/Fiji_2000/Fiji_Singh1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001112454/http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/journal_splaw/Special_Interest/Fiji_2000/Fiji_Singh1.html |archive-date=2015-10-01 |access-date=29 September 2015 |website=Journal of South Pacific Law - Fiji Islands Crisis}}</ref> In February 1954, he returned to Fiji and began to practise in [[Labasa]]. He also had offices in [[Nadi]] and Suva. In 1956 he married Maya, with whom he had a son, Vinay, and a daughter, Madhu.<ref name=":0" />

== Contribution to the sugar industry ==

While in Labasa, Vijay Singh became involved in cane farmers unions and was the president of the [[Labasa Kisan Sangh]]. He was also a key player in the formation of the [[Federation of Cane Growers]] (an umbrella organisation of various sugar cane unions to negotiate with the CSR) and the subsequent negotiations that took place with the [[Colonial Sugar Refining Company (Fiji)|Colonial Sugar Refining Company]] regarding the 1960 sugar cane contract. He, together with [[Ayodhya Prasad]], of the [[Viti Levu]]-based [[Kisan Sangh]], signed the 1960 cane contract in defiance of the majority of the Federation of Cane Growers. He later became the President of a united Kisan Sangh and held this office until the mid-1990s. He was an active leader of the joint committee of all sugar cane growers associations, established to restructure the sugar industry and when the [[Sugar Cane Growers Council]] was established in 1985, he was selected as its first Chief Executive. He also became a director of the [[Fiji Sugar Marketing Company]], thus providing sugar cane farmers a direct say in how Fiji's sugar was marketed.

== Political legacy ==

In 1965, together with [[Kamisese Mara|Ratu Kamisese Mara]], and other organizations opposed to the Federation Party, he was involved in the formation of Fiji's first multi-racial political party, the Alliance Party. He joined the Alliance Party independently of Ayodhya Prasad's [[National Congress of Fiji]] and worked himself to a position of influence within the Party by taking up the posts of [[Treasurer]] and Publicity Manager. When the Congress was wound up in 1967, its members joined the Indian division of the Alliance Party, the Indian Alliance, with Vijay R. Singh as [[President (corporate title)|President]]. In the [[1966 Fijian general election|1966 election]], he was elected to the Legislative Council from the East-Central cross-voting seat which covered [[Vanua Levu]] and [[Lau Province|Lau]]. The Federation Party had no hope of winning the seat and to confuse voters selected another Vijay Singh. From then on he started to use the name, Vijay R. Singh (Vijay Raghubar Singh - using his father's first name as his middle name.) The ploy by the Federation Party backfired, as Vijay R. Singh's opponent was a clerk and he asked the electorate, ''"Which Vijay Singh do you wish to vote for - the clerk or the lawyer?"''

Following the Alliance Party's win in the election, he was appointed the [[Executive Council of Fiji|Member for Social Services]], a portfolio that had been held by [[A. D. Patel]] prior to the election.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lal|first1=Brij V|title=Fiji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2R3Nk3jUlsC&q=%22Fiji%22+%2B+%22Executive+Council%22+%2B+%221967%22+%2B+%22Alliance%22+%2B+%22Falvey%22&pg=PR64|via=Google Books|date=22 September 2006|publisher=University of London: Institute of Commonwealth Studies|isbn=9780112905899|access-date=30 September 2015}}</ref> This was not a ministerial post in the modern sense, as Singh and his fellow [[Membership system|"members"]] comprised a minority of the Executive Council and were technically only advisers to the [[Governor of Fiji|governor]], who retained all power. However, the portfolio, which encompassed Health, Education, Housing and Social Welfare, was upgraded to a [[Cabinet of Fiji|ministerial]] position when [[responsible government]] was introduced in September 1967. It was during his term as Minister that the [[University of the South Pacific]] was established. He also introduced a program to extend secondary education to rural areas by the establishment of Junior Secondary Schools. He was later appointed the minister of commerce, industry and cooperatives and was instrumental in the establishment of a flour mill, steel rolling mill and a second brewery in Fiji. He played an active part in multi-party talks held in London, culminating in the new constitution and Fiji's independence in 1970.

== Alienation from the Alliance Party ==

In the [[1972 Fijian general election|1972 election]], it was clear that Vijay R. Singh was losing favour with the leadership of the Alliance Party, when he was not nominated for his existing safe seat and instead was given another (less safe) seat in a constituency where he did not have any political following. He won the election and was made Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Social Welfare. Not happy with this "demotion" he soon resigned as a Minister and resumed private practice. He was then elected [[Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Fiji]] of the [[House of Representatives of Fiji|House of Representatives]]. In mid-1975, when the Minister of Education announced that the Government would not subsidize school fees for non-Fijians, Vijay Singh was among its most vocal critics, describing the decision as "deplorable because of its distressingly repellent odour of crude racialism." In 1976, he was elected the Speaker and resigned from the presidency of the Indian Alliance.

In June 1976, he became the first Indo-Fijian to be knighted by the Queen for his services as a citizen, as a member of parliament, Minister and Speaker. In the [[March 1977 Fijian general election|1977 election]], he lost the pre-selection for Alliance Party's nomination for his National seat to the prominent [[K.R. Latchan]]. He then began speaking out publicly on issues affecting the Indian community but accepted nomination for an Indian Communal seat that he could not win.

The Alliance Party still needed him as they needed a qualified lawyer to be the Attorney General. He was appointed to the [[Senate of Fiji|Senate]] and given the portfolio of [[Attorney General]] and Minister for Economic Development. Differences between him and the Alliance leadership widened and he resigned from both the party and the Senate in 1979.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mara|first1=Ratu Sir Kamisese|title=The Pacific Way: A Memoir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6x-ZOGJYb4C&q=%22Vijay+Singh%22&pg=PA144-IA6|via=Google BOoks|date=January 1997|isbn=9780824818937|access-date=29 September 2015}}</ref> In 1982, he joined the National Federation Party (NFP),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lal|first1=Brij V.|title=Islands of Turmoil: Elections and Politics in Fiji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3j500RPr4rEC&q=%22Sir+Vijay+Singh%22&pg=PA36|via=Google Books|date=August 2006|isbn=9781920942755|access-date=29 September 2015}}</ref> whose leader's moderate style appealed to him, and soon became a key adviser to its leader, [[Jai Ram Reddy]]. He won the [[1982 Fijian general election|1982 election]] on the NFP ticket in a national constituency in his home town of [[Ba (town)|Ba]] but his attempts to use foreign media to influence the election backfired and the NFP lost the election.

== Later years ==

In 1985 he resigned his seat in the House of Representatives and began work as chief executive of the Sugar Cane Growers Council but this career was cut short by the [[1987 Fijian coups d'état|Fiji coups of 1987]]. In order to bring pressure on the regime in Fiji to restore democracy, he lobbied at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Vancouver in October 1987 to have Fiji expelled from the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]. He succeeded but was barred from returning to Fiji, having been declared persona non-grata. He then settled in Australia. After the restoration of democracy in Fiji he returned and resumed his law practice in Suva in 1991.

Singh's last public contribution was his book, ''Speaking Out'', published in 2006, in which he recited his version of the events surrounding the coups in Fiji. The book offended [[Saula Telawa]] (the leader of the fringe [[New Nationalist Party (Fiji)|New Nationalist Party]]), who [https://web.archive.org/web/20061013095258/http://www.pmw.c2o.org/2006/fiji4983.html called for the book to be banned in Fiji]. Singh's strident criticism of some ministers of the [[Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma|Methodist]] and other churches for supporting the coups was insensitive to Christian beliefs and to the predominantly Christian [[Fijians|indigenous Fijians]], claimed Telawa, whose party calls for indigenous supremacy and for Christianity to be established as the state religion.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Singh's memoir also made controversial claims that [[Sitiveni Rabuka]], the architect of the 1987 coups, had personally told him that he was the main instigator behind the scenes of the [[2000 Fijian coup d'état|2000 coup]] also, and that his main target was not the government of [[Mahendra Chaudhry]], but the aging Ratu Mara, who was now [[President of Fiji|president]]. Pleading ''[[sub judice]]'', Rabuka refused to comment. In an audio interview broadcast on [[Fiji Live]] on 17 August, barely six weeks before his death, Singh claimed that an emotional Ratu Mara, who had abruptly resigned the Presidency in the midst of the coup crisis, had told him of his own suspicions about Rabuka. Although unsubstantiated, Singh's claims were not new: Mara's own last recorded interview had expressed strong suspicions about Rabuka's possible involvement in the 2000 coup. Singh's claimed conversation with Rabuka was, however, the first known purported confession from Rabuka.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Sir Vijay R. Singh died on 25 September 2006 in Brisbane, Australia, after a long battle with [[cancer]].{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927231702/http://www.fiji.gov.fj/publish/page_7489.shtml Curriculum Vitae - Sir Vijay Singh]
* [https://stuckinfijimud.blogspot.com/2006_01_29_stuckinfijimud_archive.html Review of Singh's biography ''Speaking Out''] (largely in his own words)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110613172010/http://www.parliament.gov.fj/hansard/viewhansard.aspx?hansardID=553&viewtype=full CONDOLENCES motion in Fiji Senate]

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef| before=[[A. D. Patel]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Executive Council of Fiji|Member for Social Services]] | years=1966-1967}}
{{s-aft| after=Himself As [[Cabinet of Fiji|Minister for Social Services]]}}
{{s-bef| before=}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Cabinet of Fiji|Cabinet Minister]] | years=1967-1976}}
{{s-aft| after=}}
{{s-bef| before= [[R. D. Patel]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Speaker of the House of Representatives of Fiji]] | years=1976-1977}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Mosese Qionibaravi]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef| before=}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Legislative Council of Fiji|Member, Legislative Council of Fiji]] | years=1966-1972}}
{{s-aft| after=}}
{{s-bef| before=}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[House of Representatives of Fiji|Member, House of Representatives of Fiji]] | years=1972-1977}}
{{s-aft| after=}}
{{s-bef| before=}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Senate of Fiji|Senator of Fiji]] | years=1977-1979}}
{{s-aft| after=}}
{{s-bef| before=}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[House of Representatives of Fiji|Member, House of Representatives of Fiji]] | years=1982-1985}}
{{s-aft| after=}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef| before= [[John Falvey]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Attorney General of Fiji]] | years=1977-1979}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Andrew Deoki]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Wikiquote|Vijay R. Singh}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Vijay R.}}
[[Category:Speakers of the House of Representatives (Fiji)]]
[[Category:Indian members of the House of Representatives (Fiji)]]
[[Category:Indian members of the Legislative Council of Fiji]]
[[Category:Indian members of the Senate (Fiji)]]
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Attorneys-general of Fiji]]
[[Category:Fijian trade unionists]]
[[Category:Sugar industry in Fiji]]
[[Category:Alliance Party (Fiji) politicians]]
[[Category:National Federation Party politicians]]
[[Category:Fijian politicians of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Fijian Hindus]]
[[Category:Fijian knights]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Politicians from Yalalevu]]
[[Category:People educated at Marist Brothers High School, Fiji]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Queensland]]

Vijay R. Singh - Revision history

ArielGrace8803: Created some biography from scratch