Stuffy Vietnamese authority figures: 1, middle-school humor: 0.

An eighth-grade Vietnamese girl has been suspended for one year over a Facebook post parodying a 1946 speech by revered freedom fighter Ho Chi Minh, the news outlet Thanh Nien reports.

It's a decent parody, especially for a middle schooler. It adopts Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary tone and, in lieu of stoking an uprising against the colonial French, vows resistance against exams.

This is an excerpt from Ho Chi Minh's original 1946 speech: "We have made concessions. But the more concessions we make, the more the French colonialists press on. Never shall we be enslaved. Our resistance war will be hard and protracted but certainly successful."

Here's the girl's Facebook post via Thanh Nien: "As we desire peace, we have made concessions. But the more concessions we make, the more the teachers press on, for they are bent on failing us once again. No, we would rather sacrifice all than be dismissed."

It gets better: “All students, whether boy or girl, good or stupid, tall or short have to find ways to get good marks in the exam. Those who have health will use their health, those who have heads will use their heads. Those who have neither health or head have to copy or use cheat sheets.”

The school's authorities tell Thanh Nien the girl is guilty of “insulting her school and teachers” and “distorting history.”

But isn't this the sort of kid you wanted to sit next to in home room?

There are signs that influential Muslim leaders in Malaysia are finally coming to terms with a long-standing gripe against Christians.

The dispute? To some Muslims' dismay, Malay Christians also prefer to use the word "Allah" when describing their god.

Given Islam's deep influence on the Malaysian peninsula and the Malay language, many Christians see "Allah" as the go-to word for their maker. Some Muslims, however, feel the word should be reserved exclusively for their God.

This is no gentle debate over semantics. Just two years ago, authorities blocked the import of "Allah" bibles and relented only after customs officials adhered stickers reading "FOR CHRISTIANS" to every cover. And in 2010, when courts ruled in the Christians' favor, irate Muslims torched several churches.

But, as the Malaysian Insider reports, even one of Malaysia's most conservative religious parties -- the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party -- is acknowledging that Christians are within their rights to use the word "Allah." A spokesman with the fundamentalist party had urged Christians to forego "Allah" in a Christmas statement but was overruled by the party's leader who, according to the Insider, quickly cleared up the party's official stance.

There are plenty of Islamic fundamentalists in Malaysia who will never grow comfortable with non-Muslims using "Allah."

But an agreement to share the word by one of the nation's bastions of fundamentalism suggests that, just maybe, Malaysians can overcome this semantics quarrel that has drawn out for far too long.

There are growing reports of Myanmar military choppers and jets buzzing above Kachin State, where a mountain-dwelling resistance force (the Kachin Independence Army) has long defended terrain against state-backed incursions.

That helicopters and jets are circling above this war zone is not in dispute. The government, according to the AP, says its aerial fleet is simply resupplying zones struck by rebels. The guerrillas insist they're being bombarded by airborne munitions and they've circulated grainy video to support their claim. A pro bono, anti-government medic squad, the Free Burma Rangers, has some unverified shots of choppers and jets as well.

But geography makes this uptick in fighting doubly interesting

All of these attack aircraft are whizzing above an area that's right next to China. Sending jets and attack choppers into this air space without at least notifying China -- a stalwart economic and military benefactor in Myanmar -- would be outlandishly bold. Myanmar generals would most likely prefer China's blessing.

As Myanmar-focused journalist Francis Wade writes, the Kachin fighters' insistence that the aircraft are dipping into Chinese air space is plausible.

This amounts to an escalation in a seemingly intractable conflict -- with an added international twist. Hardly the brightest New Year's beginning for a nation hoping to overcome a war-ridden past.

Focusing on the long toil for big-issue freedoms in Myanmar -- free elections or freedom from land-grabbing army battalions -- can sometimes overshadow the small pleasures that were forbidden by the former military regime.

Like getting tipsy and joining thousands of compatriates in a New Year's countdown.

But last night, at Yangon's resplendent Shwedagon Pagoda, the citizens were allowed to do just that, the Associated Press reports. One organizer told news outlet The Irrawaddy that roughly 50,000 were expected to turn out. (GlobalPost has posted a slideshow of the gala.)

Large and uncontrollable gatherings on this scale have long been prohibited in Myanmar, an authoritarian nation on the mend.

This giant New Year's bash, standard fare in most countries, is just one of many signs that the nation is swinging towards normalcy. Still, given Myanmar's odd time zone, which is 30 minutes off from its neighbors, the nation was largely alone in celebrating at the stroke of midnight. Only Australia's remote Cocos Islands -- population 600 -- share the same time zone.

It's impossible to neatly sum up Myanmar's 2012, a year that saw draconian laws relaxed and U.S. President Barack Obama's historic visit along with intense ethnic violence both in the mountains along China's border and the tropical coast. This year may prove whether Myanmar's reform movement is really powerful enough to tame the nation's worst abuses.

But here's to a less bloody and more free Myanmar in 2013.