The latest program for the 2009 Thailand Update is pasted below. The Update has been organised by the National Thai Studies Centre at the Australian National University.

New Mandala will be experimenting with some live coverage of the update using Twitter. Our Twitter account is newmandala. If you don’t already have a Twitter account create one (here) and add newmandala to the list of accounts you follow (it’s easy!).

We are hoping to have some Thai language commentary too, so please pass this message on to Thai web boards etc.

We will be using what Twitter calls a “hashtag” to categorise all Twitter posts (tweets!) related to the Update. The hashtag will be #2009thaiupdate. So you if you want to make any of your own comments, put #2009thaiupdate somewhere in the tweet (anywhere is ok) so others can easily search for all tweets relating to the Update. If you want to follow all the tweets tagged with #2009thaiupdate the simplest way is to go to http://search.twitter.com/ and just insert the tag (including the hash). I have been having a few problems with this search function and I am finding that the posts show up best if you search all languages. All language search will also be useful to pick up Thai language tweets.

Sorry if all this sounds a bit complex. It’s not difficult at all once you get the hang of it!

I look forward to some lively online discussion on Monday!

National Thai Studies Centre, ANU
Thailand Update Conference, 2009

Date: Monday 2 November 2009
Venue: Hedley Bull Theatre, Hedley Bull Centre (next to Coombs Building), ANU
Theme: Thailand in Turmoil: Crisis, Coalition and Corruption

9.00 to 9.05: Welcome: Professor Paul Hutchcroft, Director, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU

9.05 to 10.15: Session 1. Chair – Professor Paul Hutchcroft

Dr Chris Baker, Bangkok – politics update
Professor Peter Warr, ANU – economics update

10.30 to 12.15: Session 2. Chair – Professor Hal Hill

Professor Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok – aspects of economic and political equity in Thailand
Mr Nicholas Farrelly, ANU – Red vs. Yellow Online: The Role of the Internet in Thailand’s Political Debates
Dr Bhanupong Nidhiprabha, Thammasat University, Bangkok – The military budget cycle, the coup, and corruption

1.15 to 3.00: Session 3. Chair – Professor Pasuk Phongpaichit

Dr Nualnoi Treerat, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok – corruption and institutions in Thailand
Dr Sirilaksana Khoman, Thammasat University, Bangkok – corruption in Thailand within an East Asian comparative perspective
Dr Ross McLeod, ANU – the economics of corruption in Indonesia: Lessons for Thailand

3.15 to 5.00: Session 4. Chair – Professor Raghabendra Jha

Dr Isra Sarntisart, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok – the role of economic deprivation in the Southern conflict
Dr Marc Askew, University of Melbourne and Prince of Songkhla University – Social and Political Origins of the Southern Conflict
Professor Des Ball and Mr Nicholas Farrelly, ANU – Thailand’s paramilitaries

5.00 to 5.05: Special presentation: Ms Saowapha Viravong – The Thai collection at the National Library of Australia

Note: Each speaker will be allocated 25 minutes, followed by 10 minutes questions and comments from the audience, which must be brief, please.