Sir Vijay R Singh

[Guest guest]

Suva (Fiji): Sir Vijay R. Singh, the former ethnic Indian attorney-general

and speaker of Fiji, passed away at his home in Australia Monday. He was 75.

 

The well-known Indo-Fijian politician and lawyer breathed his last at his

home in Brisbane after a

prolonged fight against cancer.

 

Sir Vijay, the first Indo-Fijian to be knighted and a lawyer by profession,

held cabinet office in that Pacific archipelago in the 1970s.

 

Born on July 13, 1931 at Ba in the island of Viti Levu in northeastern Fiji,

Sir Vijay was the eldest of 14 children in a prominent Arya Samaj family.

 

After doing his early education in Fiji, he went to London where he earned a

degree in law from Lincoln's Inn.

 

He served as a barrister in the high courts of England, Australia and Fiji.

 

He was first elected into the legislative Council in British colonial Fiji

in 1959. In 1965, together with Ratu Mara, he formed Fiji's first

multi-racial political party, the Alliance Party.

 

After the Alliance Party's victory in the 1966 elections in Fiji, he was

appointed Minister of Social Services. He played an active role in the

multi-party held in London, which resulted in the new constitution and

Fiji's independence in 1970.

 

He served in Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's government in a variety

of positions, including Speaker of the House of Representatives, before

being appointed attorney-general in 1977, a post he held till 1979.

 

He was knighted by the Queen in 1976.

 

Following the coup in 1987, which saw the ouster of an ethnic-Indian

dominated government, Sir Vijay campaigned for the expulsion of Fiji from

the Commonwealth and succeeded.

 

He was then barred from entering Fiji and took up residence in Australia.

Later, after the restoration of democracy in Fiji, he returned and resumed

his law practice in Suva.

 

Last month he was in the news again following the release of his book,

'Speaking Out', in which he expressed his thoughts on Fiji in the period

1995-2005, including the pre-coup nationalist protest marches of 2000

against the then Indo-Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

 

(Courtesy: 'South Asian Observer'- September 29,2006