<div>IS "KNOWING BUDDHA" - a group of Thai Buddhists who are relentlessly tackling what they see as a disrespectful act against the image of Buddha - the new face of Thai Buddhism?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The year-old group has been battling manufacturers of all sorts of products around the world that exploit the image of the Buddha to make money. </div>

<p>‘The European Union has requested full protection on its investments in Thailand in exchange for extending favours to Thai businesses under the proposed Thai-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).’ (Bangkok Post, 21 September 2013)</p> <p>Something doesn’t add up here.</p> <p></p>

<p>Chaiwat Limprasertying, 33, knew he was gay when he was 12 years old, when he found himself different from others. But he is used to being different. He was born deaf. He couldn’t tell anybody about being gay at that time. “It was like being doubly disabled, and I was embarrassed to tell others about my gender identity.”</p> <p></p>

<p>The recent spike in lèse majesté cases seems likely to continue, the majority being brought by private individuals with a variety of motives.&nbsp; An accusation brought by TV talk show host Pontipa Supatnukul has, for example, triggered a chain reaction of similar accusations.</p> <p></p>

<div>Following from his short story, “Incident on the Fourth Floor,” the unnerving story of a younger brother who faces charges of lèse majesté under Article 112 brought by his older brother, Noom Rednon wrote a novelette which provided the long back story to the day the younger brother was placed behind bars.</div> <p></p>

<p>AT a street corner in Kamayut Township, Yangon, a young man does what would be seen as freakish in his country just three or four years ago – he lowers his head, fixes his eyes on his smart phone, swipes the screen and smiles at it.</p> <p></p>

<p>Police arriving one year late at an early-morning traffic accident on Sukhumwit Road found an unusual scene.</p> <p>A car appeared to have slammed at high speed into a police motorcycle, killing the Police Sergeant Major riding it, and dragging his body for a city block.&nbsp; A trail of leaking oil led to a house on nearby Thong Lo where police found a Ferrari FF with signs of having recently being involved in a serious accident.</p> <p></p>

<div>The university uniform drama has unfolded a new ugly reality in Thai society. Recently, a vocal Thammasat student, under her chic nickname Aum Neko, has daringly defied a traditional practice of student uniform wearing within the walls of a prestigious university. As it is understood, there is no fixed rule on the necessity of wearing university uniform. </div>

<p>RANGOON, Burma – Five years ago, Nay Phone Latt tried to kill time by reading, doing yoga, and writing letters, short stories, and poems. But on a recent gloomy Monday morning, the blogger could hardly answer a phone call as he rushed about before he took a bus to Burma’s administrative capital to help change the law that sent him to prison.</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 12px;">The Cabinet has passed a resolution on a code of conduct for public service vehicles.&nbsp; And I am sure we all agree that such a thing is overdue, what with trains derailing by the day and minivans crashing at high speed, all the way down to more everyday problems such as having to jump from buses in the fast lane and negotiate 2 lanes of Bangkok traffic to find the safety of the pavement.&nbsp;</span></p> <p></p>

<p>SINGAPORE – Twenty-two-year-old Wendy (not her real name), on her first day as a Hospitality Intern in a budget tourist hostel in Chinatown in Singapore, speaks surprisingly frankly on a seemingly taboo subject, much to this writer’s relief.</p> <p>Clad in a colorful traditional gown, the native Singaporean is taking a break from washing dishes and chatting with guests to talk about how free people and media in her country are to criticize the government – a subject which senior Singapore-based journalists were extremely reluctant to discuss with the writer.</p>

<p>RANGOON—Two years&nbsp;ago, Freddy Lynn was spending most of his time at a public access centre in&nbsp;downtown Myitkyina in Kachin State. There he was introduced to&nbsp;a&nbsp;world that he did not learn in his university or heard about in his community that had been slowed&nbsp;down&nbsp;by more than six decades of armed conflict.</p>