Asia and Pacific

Over the past week, Lithuania, Nigeria, Chile, Chad and Saudi Arabia were elected unopposed to five non-permanent member seats in the UN Security Council. Only a few hours later, Saudi Arabia, though hardly a state celebrated for its human rights record, rejected its seat

I was to interview three individuals (names have been changed for this article) – Nicole, the NGO’s director, James and Jamal (both support staff of TRIPOD) – the last of whom was to take the spotlight of the interview.

The big watchword for the upcoming Indonesian legislative and presidential elections in 2014 is golput. Golput, which has its history in the New Order regime, is perhaps best understood as a form of protest vote against the current political establishment. It tends to take the form of low voter turnout or intentional non-marking of the ballot to invalidate it.

Many filed Pakistan under 'basket case' years ago and stopped trying to rationalise developments in that country. Sadly, for others, that isn't an option. What is taking place is tragic, absurd, and frightening.

Defeating the Taliban is a moral imperative; conversely, to appease them would be against everything we believe in, stand for, fight for and died for. It would be the ultimate betrayal of our values.