The Last Frontier corruption, rights violations and environmental degradation plague Malaysia's controversial Bakun project.

Thousands are set to lose their homes, as a controversial hydro power scheme gets underway. In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the Bakun Dam has already flooded an area the size of Singapore. Some of those displaced say they’ve never received the full compensation they were promised. The state government, working with Australian company Hydro Tasmania, is embarking on an ambitious plan to build a further 12 dams - flooding vast tracts of river valley land - and displacing tens of thousands of indigenous people. Both businesses are linked through Hamed Sepawi, who is the chairman of Sarawak Energy Board and Ta Ann. He is also a cousin and close business associate of the state’s Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.Hydro Tasmania, an Australian state-owned energy company is involved with dam construction projects in Sarawak by the Sarawak Energy Board while Malaysian timber giant Ta Ann has received major timber harvesting contracts in Tasmania. Clare Rewcastle Brown, the sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, say there is a lack of accountability and transparency over the hydropower projects. Environmentalists and political activists in Malaysia and Australia are calling for the ‘unhealthy’ business ties between Tasmania and Sarawak to be investigated and audited by an independent body. The Malaysian government says the 20gigawatt project capacity can change the economic face of Sarawak and says its links with Hydro Tasmania are legitimate, while the companies involved deny any wrongdoing.

Fault Lines travels to the Republican and Democratic Conventions and asks what the spectacle is worth.

The United States is in the midst of its most expensive election season ever.

It is not what Washington pundits mean when they say that this year's presidential race will be won or lost on the economy.

Nonetheless, almost $6bn will be spent trying to get Republican and Democratic candidates into office.

Virtually unlimited cash can buy many things - hundreds of hours of television advertising, automated phone calls, a really big party. But who is paying? And what is the price exacted of the country's democracy?

There are three months left until voting day.

And Sebastian Walker and the Fault Lines team travel from the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, to examine the spectacle being broadcast on US screens.

So what its worth for those who find themselves outside the political arena?