Manikam Vasagam Pillai MBE (last name sometimes spelt Pillay) was a Fiji Indian lawyer, football administrator, and politician. He was a supporter of the Alliance Party and in the 1968 by-elections contested the Nadi Indian Communal seat against Dr A. D. Patel, the leader of the

Federation Party The Federation Party was Fiji's first formal political party. The Citizens Federation, which had won three of the four seats reserved for Indo-Fijians at the 1963 elections, decided to formalize its role as a political party, which was officiall ...

, but lost by 7903 votes to 2772. He later served as

Attorney General of Fiji The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in Fiji. The attorney-general is the chief law officer of the State, and has responsibility for supervising Fijian law and advising the government on legal matters. Like other members of th ...

from 1981 to 1984.Fiji's Previous Attorneys-General
/ref> He then became Chairman of the

Fiji Law Reform Commission The Fiji Law Reform Commission is independent publicly funded commission, which helps develop and review legislation in Fiji. The Fiji Law Reform Commission Act established the Commission in 1979, to serve as an advisory body to the government an ...

, serving till 1987.

Career

Pillay was President of the

Fiji Football Association The Fiji Football Association is the governing body of football in Fiji. It came into existence in 1961. It is the overseeing body of the Fiji National Team and its leagues. History Football started to be played in Fiji ever since the arrival o ...

from 1962 to 1965, and again from 1967 to 1983.Kewal joins race for vice president's post
, ''

Fiji Times ''The Fiji Times'' is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869 by George Littleton Griffiths, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating. ''The Fiji Times'' is owned by Motibhai Gr ...

'', 22 November 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2013 He opened

Govind Park Govind Park is a multi-use stadium in Ba, Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an arch ...

in July 1976. Associates remembered him as a polite and unflappable person, who rarely spoke during negotiations, except to propose a compromise (which was usually accepted) to break a deadlock. On 13 June 1980, Pillai was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for his services to the community. He died in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillay, Manikam V. Alliance Party (Fiji) politicians Year of death missing Fijian Tamil politicians Attorneys-general of Fiji 20th-century Fijian lawyers Politicians from Nadi Indian members of the Senate (Fiji) Fijian civil servants Year of birth missing Members of the Order of the British Empire