Charan Jeath Singh is an

Indo-Fijian Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...

businessman, politician, and

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. From 1992 to 2005 he was Mayor of

Labasa Labasa (pronounced ) is a town in Fiji with a population of 27,949 at the most recent census held in 2007. Labasa is located in Macuata Province, in the north-eastern part of the island of Vanua Levu, and is the largest town on the island. Th ...

. He is the founder of the CJS Group of companies.

Early life

Singh is from Labasa and was educated at All Saints School and Labasa College before training as a pilot at Ardmore Flying School in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He worked as a pilot for

Air Pacific Fiji Airways (trading as and formerly known as Air Pacific) is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 26 cities including, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, K ...

and

Air Fiji Air Fiji was an airline based in Nausori, Fiji. It operated inter-island services to destinations within the Fijian Islands. Its main base was Nausori International Airport, Suva, with a base at Nadi International Airport.Flight International ...

from 1982 to 1987, when he went into business.

Political career

Singh was elected the Mayor of

representing the Ratepayers' Association in 1992 but in the municipal elections of 2005 his Association lost in a landslide result to the

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 in ...

(FLP), winning only two seats. In the 1994 general election, he won the Macuata West Indian Communal Constituency for the

National Federation Party The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A. D. Patel, A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party (Fiji, 1960s), National Democratic Party. Though it claimed to ...

(NFP). In the 1999 general election he contested the Labasa Indian Communal Constituency for the UNLP but managed to get only 10% of the votes cast. Following the death of the sitting member, he contested the Labasa Rural Indian Communal Constituency in December 2003 for the National Federation Party (NFP). During the election campaign

leader

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 ...

accused Singh of supporting the

2000 Fijian coup d'état The Fiji coup d'état of 2000 was a civilian coup d'état by hardline i-Taukei (ethnic Fijian) nationalists against the elected government of an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry on 19 May 2000. This was followed by an attempt on ...

. Singh sued for defamation, beginning a long-running suit. The case was eventually settled in January 2012 with a declaration that Singh did not support the coup in any way. In the 2006 general election, he contested the Vanua Levu West Indian Communal Constituency, Fiji) for the National Alliance Party (NAPF) and again lost with only 14% of the votes cast. Following the

2006 Fijian coup d'état The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 was a coup d'état carried out by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, against the government of President Josefa Iloilo. Iloilo was removed as president, but ...

he criticised the military regime's detention of journalists, and was arrested by the regime for criticising Mahendra Chaudhry, who at the time was collaborating as interim finance minister. He later formed the Fiji People’s Party in the expectation of contesting eventual elections. In 2013 he supported the regime's Political parties Decree, which effectively banned small parties, and called for the mandatory death penalty for treason to deter future coups. He supported the regime's 2013 constitution. He later applied to be a

FijiFirst FijiFirst ( fj, iMatai ni Viti) is a liberal political party in Fiji. The party was formed in March 2014 by then Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama. Formation The party was launched on 31 March 2014 with Bainimarama beginning a nationwide tour of ...

candidate for the 2014 election but was rejected. He contested the 2018 election as an NFP candidate, but was unsuccessful. In March 2022 he resigned from the NFP and joined the People's Alliance. He later said that he wanted to show that the PA was not a racist party but a multiracial team. He contested the 2022 election as a PA candidate and was elected with 5616 votes. On 24 December 2022 he was appointed Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs in the coalition government of

Sitiveni Rabuka Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, (; born 13 September 1948) is a Fijian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was democratically elected as Prime Ministe ...

. He was also appointed Minister for Sugar. One of his first actions as a Minister was to invite Mahendra Chaudhry to chair the board of the

Fiji Sugar Corporation Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) is the government-owned sugar milling company in Fiji having monopoly on production of raw sugar in Fiji. It is also the largest public enterprise in the country employing nearly 3,000 people, while another 200,000 o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Charan Jeath Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Labasa National Federation Party politicians Indian members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) People's Alliance (Fiji) politicians Members of the Parliament of Fiji Government ministers of Fiji