Vajiralongkorn is a graduate from Australia’s Royal Military College in Canberra and has trained with the U.S., British and Australian armed services…His Western lifestyle is not discussed openly, thanks again to lese majeste. But people have privately asked whether he has the natural authority to unify the nation, especially given his partisanship towards the military. Meanwhile, the king remains convalescing in a heavily guarded Bangkok hospital as the unsaid succession to the throne gets thought about daily.

- Extracted from “Police on guard against anti-king comments”, UPI, 4 November 2009. 

It is hardly surprising — given the inevitable international curiosity about Thailand’s succession – that descriptions of this type will continue to appear in newspapers around the world.  Such descriptions tend not to be explicitly critical of the royal family, or Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, but they are, I’d suggest, one part of increasingly broad-minded efforts to understand the future of Thai society.  These efforts are now coming thick-and-fast; on some days they are starting to dominate discussion of the potential changes that will come with the end of King Bhumibol’s long reign.

Some months ago I put together a tentative list of Fifty-two questions for the study of mainland Southeast Asia.  Today I want to draw attention to question 41, “Is Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn really as bad as people make out?”.  Well-informed answers to this question will, I’m sure, help journalists, analysts, academics and others to better understand Thailand’s longer-term prospects.  Such answers may also help Thais who are interested in the succession to improve their own understanding of the palace, and its key personalities.  We haven’t seen the end of newspaper articles that seek to describe (usually in very cautious terms) the potential for an even deeper political crisis.  So it makes sense, I reckon, to attempt an answer to one of the questions that is lurking in the background of these commentaries.

Comments and suggestions from readers are very welcome here.  You may even want to chance your arm…and offer an answer to the question.

There may be some teething problems on Wednesday so please bear with us if the site is off-line for longer than expected.  We thank you all, as ever, for your patience and ongoing support.

Asia-Pacific Week at the ANU will be held from 8-11 February 2010. Applications close 31 October. Tyrell Haberkorn and I will be convening the Southeast Asia group and we encourage PhD, Masters and advanced Undergraduate students to apply. It will be lots of fun!

Here are the details from the Asia Pacific Week website. Go online to apply.

Asia-Pacific Week is a conference and summer school that brings together hundreds of PhD candidates from Australia and overseas to workshop projects, benefit from master classes and form networks committed to understanding the world’s most dynamic region. … Asia Pacific Week is a container for a number of “Graduate Summer Schools” focusing on different areas of the Asia-Pacific region (the Pacific Islands, China, Japan, Indonesia, South Asia and Southeast Asia).

During a week of activities, graduate students have a chance to present their research interests, meet other students and academics, participate in a wide range of training activities, be introduced to the rich holdings on Asia and the Pacific at the ANU Library and the National Library of Australia and participate in a stimulating program of events including cross-area workshops, keynote speeches, seminars and master classes, film screenings, cultural performances and social events.

How to participate.

We provide a limited number of small grants to partially cover travel, accommodation and board while in Canberra. The number and amount can vary from program to program, but candidates who are accepted can count on room and board for the four days of Asia-Pacific Week (8-11 February) and a contribution towards their domestic travel. (Please note that no financial help is available for travel from overseas).

Undergraduate and Masters students

A small number of bursaries will be made available for advanced undergraduate students and Masters students to attend the event as observers. Bursaries will only cover accommodation

Little in this particular story will be news to regular New Mandala readers, but it is notable for its length and its tone.  And while it won’t be making an appearance in any Thai newspaper there is a chance that it will be translated and end up here. 

As I have said in the past the Great Firewall of Chitralada can only be built so high….

The advertisement sets out all of the details:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks candidates for an assistant professor (tenure-track) position with a specialization in Hmong studies or related highland societies in Southeast Asia and/or adjacent regions. Appointment to begin August 2010. Ph.D. required. Previous teaching experience at the college/university level desirable but not required. Duties include teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, conduct scholarly research in area of expertise, and perform university and professional service as appropriate. The successful candidate will be expected to do collaborative work in the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and participate in program activities. The tenure home for the appointment will reside in a department appropriate to the candidate’s discipline, i.e., social sciences or arts and humanities. To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by December 1, 2009. Applications and three letters of reference, in PDF format, should be sent via email to Dr. Michael Cullinane at mmcullin@wisc.edu and Professor Kris Olds at kolds@wisc.edu. For additional information, see http://www.ohr.wisc.edu/pvl/pv_062881.html and http://hmongstudiesmadison.wordpress.com/. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an equal opportunity employer and encourages women and minorities to apply. A criminal background check may be required prior to employment.

Once he is back on his feet I hope Gor will leap back into the online world with relish.  His site announces that “Some of his previous blogs had to be censored as the Department of Corrections discovered this website and were giving Gor a hard time. Now the full truth will come out.”

Once upon a time (and we are talking 1999 here) I learned a huge amount from Gor’s early experiments online — the websites that grew into www.thailandlife.com.  I don’t know him personally but I have always remained impressed by his commitment to sharing his life (and its ups-and-downs) with the world through the web.

Hearing that he has been released has made my day.

Gor, I hope you enjoy this new chapter of life back with your daughter, family and friends.  Good luck from all of us at New Mandala!

Congratulations Professor McCargo!

And thanks, as always, to Michael Montesano for keeping me in the loop (via the TLC list) of important developments in Southeast Asian Studies.

With this in mind, I was pleased to see that there has been a recent spurt of eye-opening coverage that puts the web censorship that occurs in countries like Thailand and Burma in a wider context.

The Wall Street Journal has produced an interactive map of the Asian region (all the way across to the Middle East) that  gives a clear indication of the countries that have made the most substantial efforts to censor online content.  The map is best examined in conjunction with an article by James Hookway that describes attempts to circumscribe access to certain kinds of Internet material in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.  A recent article by Geoffrey Cain picks up similar themes and discusses the future of “Asia’s fragile cyber-democracies”.  That piece has already been translated into Thai.

From where I sit, real-world politics are increasingly taking root in the fertile (but muddy) soil of the online world.  This is happening almost everywhere.  Repressive governments, of whatever stripe, will continue to fear the subversive potential of online content. In response, their filtering, censorship and intimidation will probably only become more sophisticated as they meet new and unforeseen online challenges.

For those of us who embrace the potential (and the pitfalls) of web-based analysis, debate and discussion these are issues that will need to be constantly reassessed.  The future battlegrounds for politics, but also for academia and journalism, are fast taking shape online.  These recent articles provide some helpful pointers about issues to keep in mind.