<div><em>In the past week, news broke that Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University and a member of Nitirat (a group of Thammasat law professors who offer academic legal advice to society), would take a step back from academia and into politics by founding a new political party with Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. </em></div>

<div>Hara Shintaro compares 2 anti-social organisations: the Japanese yakuza and the Muslim Malay insurgents in Thailand's Deep South.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>Japan’s diplomatic ambition to compete with China in maintaining its foothold in Thailand seems soon to fizzle out following the failure to reach a deal on a high-speed train project between the Japanese and Thai governments. </div>

<div>No matter who says that elections are only a tradition or full of corruption, before 1958 Thai elections gave necessary legitimacy to political power for 25 interrupted years, even though after that the army seized power and suppressed election after election for many years. However, after the 14 October incident, elections once again returned as the backbone of political legitimacy. The army used other methods to interfere in politics while accepting elections for example, by having a Senate with tremendous power but appointed, or pressuring political parties into supporting a prime minister from the army.</div> <p></p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><img alt="" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4760/40396881561_2c04211c2e_o.jpg" /></div> <div><span>The approved identity of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) from Design &amp; People. (Designer: Santosh Kangutkar, Mumbai)</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Thos who admire the work of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) and also those who need their help must have noticed the new identity of the Thailand-based organisation. </div>

<div>“The absence of a united women’s coalition hinder[s] a collective and strategic effort to call for inclusive and gender-sensitive peacebuilding”, argues Firdaus Abdulsomad in her Master’s thesis entitled ‘Women’s participation in the Patani Peace Process : a case study of the barriers to women’s participation in building peace in Patani’ which can be read <a href="http://www.scriptiesonline.uba.uva.nl/sv/scriptie/640110">here</a>.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Firdaus Abdulsomad who identifies herself as “a second generation Patani Malay who grew up in Sweden” undertook her fieldwork r </div>

<div><em>Abu Hafez Al-Hakim is a spokesperson of MARA-Patani, a leading insurgent movement in Muslim Malay-majority southern Thailand and is a member of MARA Patani's Dialogue Panel in the Peace Dialogue Process with the Thai government&nbsp;</em></div> <div> </div>

<div>Political scientists, legal experts, academics, the media, and the general public should all unanimously declare that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s use of Article 44 and its other orders which conflict with freedom of expression are a conflict within the junta’s own structure of governance, which has become the condition for creating conflict between the government and the people and the use of law that is self-contradictory and confusing.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The internal conflict in the system of governance is that the junta has two competing types of power. </div>

<div><em>Before the intensification of Southern Thailand’s long-running insurgency in the early 2000s, the region, (known as Patani) lacked a developed art scene, and the conflict which erupted in 2004 seemed to have devastated artistic creation among the local population. However, in the middle of the endless armed conflict, a new generation of artists has emerged in the region, struggling to seek out their identity/the region’s real identity through the creation of artwork.</em></div> <p></p>

<div> <div> <div><em>A story about the family of a Buddhist Thai woman killed by a motorcycle bomb in Yala market on 22 Jan. A group of Deep South women activists have proposed measures to make markets a safe space for everybody.&nbsp;</em></div> </div> </div>

<div>On Monday the Ratchaburi Court acquitted a Prachatai journalist and the other four activists for campaigning against the junta's charter.&nbsp;After the verdict, many people congratulated Prachatai and said that the fact that the court dismissed the case is a victory of the pro-democracy movement. I however disagree. The verdict is actually a bad sign for freedom of expression in Thailand.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>A full account of Chanoknak Ruamsap, the latest lèse majesté suspect on the moment she learned about the charge and why she decided to flee Thailand.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>