 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Indonesia of tough diplomatic response to executions of two of its citizens by it. He said that millions of Australians are sickened in view of their imminent execution. No date has been set for the killing of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, but Indonesia has said that governments with citizens on death row have been invited to talks at the foreign ministry tomorrow. The two Australians are facing execution by firing squad as early as this week, as ring leaders of the so-called Bali Nine group, trafficking heroin from Indonesia's island of Bali into Australia. While all hope appears to be lost, Abbott put pressure on Jakarta for the second day in a row. |
Save Dissent to Save Democracy THE rising instances of physical violence and threats against political opponents and the inability to accept dissent must raise huge concerns amongst all of us who see democracy as perhaps the really stellar achievement since Independence. AAP’s attack on BJP headquarters and acts of arson committed under the very noses of their elite leadership; the attacks on Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in Gujarat in the last two days; the recent manhandling of the caretaker of journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s house by some garden variety thugs; and the violence and threats meted out regularly to their political opponents by political parties is surely deplorable and condemnable. This is a fatally flawed trend which will destroy the very foundations of our democratic institutions if not pushed back with all the strength and condemnation that the civil society can mobilise. Replaying the past To begin with, it must be clarified that we should ...
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