RAMAN Singh is a lawyer by profession, but he doesnt hesitate to admit that politics is the greatest motivating factor in his life.
Its an inheritance passed on to him from his late father.
Ram Jati Singh represented Vanua Levu in Parliament from 1965 to 1980 under the banner of the National Federation Party.
I was following my father so thats how I got interested in politics, says Mr Singh.
My father is my hero and I give all the credit to him.
Mr Singh followed his fathers footsteps well and last year, became the president of the party his father was a part of.
But what would then have been a source of pride could now well be a major challenge for Mr Singh.
For, after two winless general elections in a row, the dilemma facing the party is a major one.
It has gone from being the oldest Indian political party in Fiji to one that is facing a desperate crisis of confidence among its one strongly loyal Indian electorate.
The crisis is one of identity.
Unlike its rival the Fiji Labour Party, the NFP is seen as moderate.
But how it will fit into the politics of race and the ethnic-based voting pattern that the results of the latest general election clearly demonstrate, is the question.
As Ro Teimumu Kepa puts it in our feature on page 4 on the challenge facing the party, NFP members need to reinvent themselves. What they are offering is not marketable and is something the voters are not able to identify with.
Asked to comment on the reasons behind the partys performance in this general election, Mr Singh was hesitant.
He said he preferred to wait until after the government was formed.
In an interview with The Sunday Times before the general election, Mr Singh allowed some insight into the challenge that faced him after being elected party president at its annual general meeting in October last year. With the new position came more responsibilities especially when the elections is to begin soon. It remains a big challenge for me because as it is we do not have any members in the parliament, he said.
But Mr Singh was confident at that time that being the oldest party, the NFP still had committed members all over Fiji.
He said the party would not like to lose the peoples trust.
Another big challenge for us is to convince the Indian community to vote for us, he said then.
Whether Mr Singh and his party colleagues are able to translate the once proud, post-independence NFP legacy to any useful contribution in the post-coup era in Fiji, will be an interesting exercise.
The decade-and-a-half old political legacy of Mr Singh himself was borne out of a desire to bring change. Mr Singh entered politics in 1992 when he won the Bua Communal seat in the general election of that year.
Mr Singh says the 1990 Constitution, which was in force at that time, was a key reason he entered the political arena.
My interest in politics came because of the 1990 Constitution which was very discriminatory and this gave me a challenge to go to Parliament and make improvements.
I wanted to stand up for the Indian people who were being discriminated against and to correct the situation, he said.
In 1999, Mr Singh took a break from politics, saying he wanted to give a chance to others who also wanted to participate.
In the 2001 election, he stood for the NFP again this time for a larger constituency comprising Bua and the larger parts of Macuata.
But then, as with the 2006 general election, the party was unable to win a single seat.
Still, in his comments prior to the general election, Mr Singh said his biggest achievement would be when the instability in Fiji is over.
Our party wants everything to be steady and running smoothly in the country and the day this is done, I would count this as my biggest achievement.
RAMAN Pratap Singh was born on June 6, 1950. He is originally from Bua where he attended classes one to six at Bua Indian School, switching to Dilkusha Boys School in Nausori for classes seven and eight.
Mr Singh completed high school at Lelean Memorial High School in Davuilevu and did his foundation studies at the University of the South Pacific in 1969.
He moved to Suva to complete his education at the suggestion of his family, who wanted him to take advantage of the better opportunities in the capital city.
Mr Singh is ninth in a family of 12 children.
After completing high school, he went back to his family in Bua and did farm work for a year after losing interest in school work.
But eventually, he realised the importance of getting a good education.
I knew very well that if I dont move out of Bua, my education level would remain stagnant in my academic life. Thats when I applied to some of the universities around the world to study law. These were universities from New Zealand, Australia and England. I always wanted to go towards the English side of doing something so I decided to do law. Most of the universities had accepted me but I chose to go to the University of Auckland because it was closest to Fiji.
His father supported him all the way, for which Mr Singh was grateful. But he didnt want to depend entirely on him.
I did some part time job in Auckland to support myself better. At that time things were cheap in Auckland and I had worked as a labourer in a beer company.
He finished his legal studies at the age of 26 and returned to Fiji in 1977.
But before coming to Fiji, he got married at the age of 26.
New Zealand was an interesting place and thats where I picked up interest in rugby and started drinking beer and it tasted very good, he said.
He then worked as an associate lawyer for the next four years for two law firms in Suva first at William Scott and Company and then for Kato and Company.
In 1980, Mr Singh opened his own office in Labasa Town.
His involvement in social and community work saw him becoming a member of the Rotary Club of Labasa in 1981.
A year later, he became club president, a position he retained for the next three years.
In 1985, he became a Sugarcane Growers Council director and was appointed a member of the Sugar Commission of Fiji in 1991, during which time he was involved in the negotiations of the Master Award.
From 1980 to 1996, he served as a lawyer in Labasa.
Mr Singh opened a law office on Suvas Cumming Street in 1996. A branch of the Kohli and Singh Barristers and Solicitors office remained in Labasa Town, run by his partner, Ami Kohli.
The transition to Suva was a smooth one.
Mr Singh said he had no difficulties finding clients after the move because most of his clients moved from Labasa to Suva at about the same time.
He has been involved in commercial law, civil litigation, criminal cases and family law as well.
A lawyers life is interesting and we come to face new cases everyday and get a lot of cases as well, he says.
It is an interesting profession but a lot of reading is required and time will just pass without you even realising it.
Speaking to The Sunday Times before the election, Mr Singh said he was thinking of moving away from his law career to devote all of his time to politics.
I am thinking of getting out of law practice because it is very hectic.
I want to be a full-time politician and feel very strongly about my party, he said.
He said that a lawyer was well suited to a politicians role.
Lawyers look after the law while politicians make the law.
We, as lawyers, are able to know the current status of any Bill put in parliament and if that bill has a constructive contribution in that area of law.
So it is very much related. Elections is especially a very important time to inform your party about the policies and how things are done, he said.
He says it is very important for politicians to make strong connections with people at the grassroots level.
Another time, another place and people
SOME of the most exciting memories of Raman Singhs childhood have to do with watching horse racing the most popular event in Bua in the 1950s and 60s.
He said the event was something that brought their rural farming community alive.
Mr Singhs entire family used to be involved in the event. They owned a family horse named Siro, who usually won the race.
The most popular event during that time was horse racing and it brought the people and different communities together, Mr Singh says. My family was very excited at this event because my dad and elder brother took part in it so it was a big thing for us and we used to win every year.
We took a lot of interest in feeding and washing and training Siro. We had two horses who took part in the race.
It was a very exciting moment for the rural community and something very different from the normal everyday life. There were about three to four races held every year, he said.
Mr Singh says he was amazed when he came across people who still remember the horse races and his familys involvement in them.
He was attending school in Suva at the time and during every holiday, would go to Bua especially to see the horse race.
He remembers the Bua of that time as a friendly, multi-racial community that lived in peace and harmony.
There were about 20 Fijian villages and 15 Indian settlements in of Bua back then.
It was a very mixed population and we all were good friends, Mr Singh recollects. Even though most of us have moved out of the place, the friendship bond is still there and the love remains in our hearts.
He says Bua is still a quiet and isolated place with most people involved in farming.
Mr Singh himself knows a lot about farming and takes an interest in it. His family was involved in copra and rice farming. He says he owes a lot to his parents who have died.
He has a family of his own and is proud of his three daughters, all of whom live in Australia.
His wife stays with their three daughters in Sydney but visits Mr Singh often. He misses the Bua environment and atmosphere and is still attached to the place.
Travel, sports some of his faves
RAMAN Singh loves travelling as way of gaining knowledge about different countries.
He likes watching rugby and soccer, especially overseas matches.
He doesnt know how to cook.
He does not smoke but is a beer and whisky lover.
He takes a keen interest in athletics and admires athletes.
He believes in grabbing any opportunity that life has to offer in order to succeed.
He believes in equality and fairness.
He believes people should speak up if they feel that injustice is done to them.
Mr Singh is a very patriotic person.
He said he loves his country and is proud of it.
Copyright © 2006, Fiji Times Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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