Attar Singh is a Fijian

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

ist of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. As of January 2007, he is the General Secretary of the Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions (FICTU), one of two major umbrella bodies for trade unions in Fiji. Unlike many unionists in the rival Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC), Singh has been a harsh critic of the

Republic of Fiji Military Forces The Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF, formerly the Royal Fiji Military Forces) is the military force of the Pacific island nation of Fiji. With a total manpower of about 4,000 active soldiers and approximately 6,000 reservists, it is one ...

, which seized power on 5 December 2006. He has attacked

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

Frank Bainimarama Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama (Fijian: ʃoˈsɛia βoˈreŋɡe mbɛiniˈmarama born 27 April 1954) is a Fijian politician and former naval officer who served as the prime minister of Fiji from 2007 until 2022. A member of the FijiFirst ...

, the coup leader who has since been sworn in as interim

Prime Minister of Fiji The prime minister of Fiji is the head of government of the Republic of Fiji. The prime minister is appointed under the terms of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The prime minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses ministers ...

. On 14 January 2007, Singh was quoted by

Fiji Television Fiji Television Limited is one of Fiji's main television network. It was founded on 15 June 1994 as the first permanent commercial television broadcasting network in the country, although television had previously been introduced temporarily ...

as insisting that Military personnel and politicians should not participate in the Interim Government (

Mahendra Chaudhry Mahendra Pal Chaudhry ( hif, महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी; born 9 February 1942) is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former lead ...

, whose

Fiji Labour Party The Fiji Labour Party (FLP; fj, Ilawalawa Cakacaka ni Viti), also known as Fiji Labour, is a political party in Fiji. Most of its support is from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an i ...

has links to the rival union group, was Minister of Finance in the Interim Government during 2007), and that the sole purpose of the interim government should be to prepare for elections, not to legislate new laws. He also condemned as "unconstitutional" the appointment of

Bernadette Ganilau Rose Lavenia Bernadette Rounds Ganilau, born July 5, 1951 as Lavenia Bernadette Rounds, is a Fijian writer, broadcaster, and politician, who served as Minister for Labour, Minister for Tourism, Industrial Relations, Productivity and Environment ...

as Minister for Labour, according to a Fiji Television report (9 January 2007). Singh's criticism of the Military-backed interim government provoked a hostile reaction from Commodore Bainimarama on 14 January 2007. That night, Singh was taken up to Suva's Queen Elizabeth Barracks for interrogation. Fiji Television further claimed that Singh had been taken from his Samabula home, locked in a cell, and assaulted.

Politics

A member of the executive of the

National Federation Party The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party. Though it claimed to represent all Fiji Islanders, it was supported, in p ...

(once a major

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, but without parliamentary representation from 1999 to 2014), Singh has contested several elections on his party's ticket. In the 1999 election (in which his party lost all of its seats in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

), Singh was a candidate in the Laucala Indian Communal Constituency. He polled 2,510 votes, some 22.2 percent of the total. In the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of 2001, Singh contested the Suva City Indian Communal Constituency. His 1976 votes amounted to just under 21.8 percent of the total - less than half of what

Wadan Narsey , settlement_type = Commune and town , image_skyline = OuadaneOldTown1.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Old tower, Ouadane , image_flag = , im ...

had achieved in the previous election. He contested the 2006 parliamentary election as his party's candidate for the Suva City Open Constituency. He polled 745 votes, or 6.2 percent of the total.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Attar Fijian people of Indian descent National Federation Party politicians Fijian trade unionists Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Year of birth missing (living people)