Tribute to Pravin Singh by Hon Krishna Datt in Parliament

(posted 6 October 2003, 14:45)

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I similarly rise on behalf of the Fiji Labour Party and parliamentary colleagues to pay a very brief tribute to our former colleague.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as much as I want to, I do not wish to speak on the attributes of the late honourable Pravin Singh, they have already been referred to at the time of his funeral and has been covered in the media. I do not wish to give an extensive account of his academic achievements both here in this country and in India where he got educated. I do not want to deal with his achievements in business, nor do I want to focus on the social, community and service that he provided in the political field to both his constituents and to the people of Fiji. These are indeed considerable achievements worthy of recognition.

I recognise, Mr. Speaker, all that but I wish to pay a particular tribute to those personal qualities which the late honourable Pravin Singh had in abundance, and those qualities which endeared some of my colleagues and I to him and those others who he touched directly and indirectly. I am conscious, Sir, that I do so in the shadow of yet another tragedy that has struck Fiji. That is of the loss of the late Savenaca Siwatibau the Vice Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, more affectionately known to a lot of us as "Siwa".

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with the passing of the late honourable Pravin Singh, the Fiji Parliament has lost one of its best. At the time when we needed people who have a natural ability and a natural capacity to cross barriers of one community to another, we have lost him. The late honourable Pravin Singh was able to do this with considerable ease and he did so without any pretensions. Sir, nowhere else was his ability to move across cultural divide better manifested than in this House and in his constituency. He was loved and respected by people of all communities.

I am told, Sir, that this was most visible at his funeral where people of all races came to pay their last respect. In his dealings with people, he saw no race barriers, nor did he feel more rebound or hamstrung by cultural or customary protocol. He did as his instinct dictated and his heart directed. He would approach a chief and a commoner with the same ease. He felt relaxed and comfortable in all company and made others feel the same way.

Members of this House will feel his absence when they do not receive a little affectionate note reminding them of their tea time meeting or a note recalling some humorous moment at a shared experience in this country or abroad. He was kind, he was generous, he was loving and he was respectable. Parliamentary staff as well as Members will miss him equally. He never missed an opportunity to say something nice to someone else or to thank the staff for a job well done. His justice of thanks will not just confine to words, he would often invite people for lunch or a drink or a bowl of grog. Members of the Public Accounts Committee and the Sector Committee on Economic Services and other committees on which he served from time to time would have come to experience his calibre and his style at close quarters. He was a man, Sir, as you would recall yourself, of very few words. He did not like to debate for the sake of it. He recognised the value of debate but left the wrangling part of the debate to others.

In his own deliberation, he would do his own research, consultation, write his own speech and present it in a firm and controlled manner. He would be critical but controlled. He tried very hard to isolate the subject matter from personalities. He was critical of the subject matter but not of the people who delivered the subject. I never heard him make personal attacks or even to speak in a manner that would hurt others. He did not see that a requirement or necessary in opposing a Bill or presenting his side of the story. He remained brief and to the point, delivered his message with brevity and conviction and took his seat or more often short-leave and went to the Speaker's tanoa to regain his composure, just in case he had overstepped the equilibrium. He was the same in his personal life as he was in his parliamentary and public life. He dealt with his clients in the same frank and honest manner as he dealt with us. He was not blind to the shortcomings of those close to him, in Tavua or here but preferred out of choice to exalt on the strengths and virtues of individuals. He often talked to me about his Fijian friends who came from all parts of Fiji.

He even talked to me about Tui Tavua, Ratu Ovini and his relationship with the Tavua Village. His family, Sir, was third generation Tavuaittes and had over time, developed a very special relationship with the Tavua people, Indians and Fijians alike.

He would worry about race relations and the future of Fiji. He earnestly believe that Fiji had a great future and we all had a role to play. The only time that I would see him disconcerted is when party discipline or exigencies of politics would cause an internal crisis and challenge his higher order of values. The existence of this conflict in a man made him more of a man than those others who would follow. He would argue with others when you know he was really arguing with himself to reach that balance, that equanimity of judgement which will enable him to take the right decision and be at peace with himself.

In the week before he passed away, Sir, he insisted that I visit him and stay with the family, which I did. We spent the day visiting his constituency and went as far as Rakiraki to inquire on the sinking of the Ovalau.

When he came back to Suva, he again spent the evening with me, Sir, and he talked about trade, race relations, Multi-Party Cabinet and the future of Fiji.

The next morning, Sir, he was to drive back to Tavua. I spoke to him again when he was at the Tavua Hospital and twice again when he was admitted at the Lautoka Hospital. He rang me one hour before he went into the theatre. We both wished each other well and then he was no more. Fiji has lost a torch bearer who, in his own humble way and from humble surroundings, carried on building a Fiji on racial amity and commitment to this soil.

May he inspire others, may his soul rest in peace, may he find the equilibrium and balance that he sought in his life and may God give courage to Vandhana, his wife, their children, his mother, brothers, business colleagues, friends and his constituents in Tavua. May God give them all strength to bear their personal grief. May his soul rest in peace.