Between Likes and Loathing: What can Malaysians Learn from Cross-Border Research on the 2025 Online Conflict between Thai and Cambodian Netizens?
Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Time: 3:00–4:30PM
Venue: Conference Hall, Penang Institute, 10 Jalan Brown, 10350 George Town, Pulau Pinang
Speakers: Chawanrat Euafua (Thailand); Phasiree Thanasin (Thailand); Raymond Hyma (Canada); Rungrot Tatiyawongwiwat (Thailand); Sreyrath Kong (Cambodia); Suyheang Kry (Cambodia); Vuthy Khorn (Cambodia); Wanvipa Marasin (Thailand)
Abstract of Talk:
Many people in Southeast Asia were caught by surprise – and alarm – when hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand at the neighbouring countries’ borders burst into open, destructive, and deadly war in July 2025 between their armed forces. While largely overlooked at the time, online spaces had also become sites of increasing hostility as Cambodian and Thai netizens engaged in sarcasm, ridicule, and combative exchanges. Like the political and military conflict, much of what was happening online reflected and amplified deeper historical grievances and evolving nationalisms.
In this event, eight speakers from three different countries will speak of what they learned, what they contributed, and what their experiences doing research on the online conflict between Thais and Cambodians in 2025 might offer to us in Malaysia who are faced also with the increasing incidences and rising temperatures of inter-communal conflicts and antagonism. The members of the collaboration – spanning Monash University in Australia, the University of Warwick in the UK, Women Peace Makers in Cambodia, Wocation in Thailand, and the cross-border network Peace Developer – will share insights from both the research process and its outcomes.