Issue No: 813; 31 May 2001

Bole was appointed the SVT leader this week after Ratu Inoke Kubuabola stepped aside.

Today's Daily Post quoted Bole as saying: "The 1997 Constitution is one of the best documents that this country has had.". He also stated that only an elected government has the authority to review the Constitution.

Bole's position has been a total reversal of the earlier SVT stand that the 1997 Constitution should be abrogated and one devised which guaranteed ethnic Fijian supremacy. It is believed that the change in policy comes after the rejection of the Kubuabola-Druavesi-Ahmed Ali controlled faction which had aligned it with the terrorists.

Bole, who was nominated as Fiji's Ambassador to the US, also revealed that he declined the offer until the regime accepted to abide by the court decisions. The Post states Bole as saying that he said "no, until a legal Government is formed, I can not go to Washington. I had first seen the reports in the media and I stated to the Government that you will never get me to go unless you believe in the court system and obey what the courts say".