Sainimili Magimagi 
Former Minister for Sports Rajesh Singh.
Former Minister for Sports Rajesh Singh has shared a deeply personal account of survival, loss, and resilience during one of Fiji’s most turbulent chapters, the 1987 coup.
Speaking at the third session of the Fiji Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Singh says his family lost everything overnight, including his father’s construction business and livelihood, but what mattered most was that they survived.
“When the coup happened, my dad lost everything, the bulldozers, the business, the contracts, but he came home alive, and that was our blessing,”
At the height of political unrest, Singh’s father was working in Namosi. He says the local landowners risked their own safety to ensure his father’s safe return to Suva, an act Singh describes as a powerful reminder of humanity that transcends race and politics.
But rebuilding life after the coup was far from easy. Singh remembers pawning his gold chain to buy food, selling roti parcels on the streets, and doing whatever it took to keep his family afloat.
“We had nothing. I sold food just to survive. People laughed, but I wasn’t ashamed, I was working hard to feed my family,”
Through those struggles, Singh says he learned lessons that shaped his life, the dignity of hard work, the importance of forgiveness, and the strength of unity.
“What happened divided us for a time, but it also showed me that Fiji’s real strength is in its people, not in politics, not in race, but in kindness.”
Decades later, Singh says he shares his story to remind young Fijians that the country’s future depends on compassion and understanding, not division.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
