Stephff's world

The Stringer: The man who took the photo

Panel discussion,
Wednesday, 3 December, 7pm

The Stringer on Netflix from 27 November
PLEASE NOTE: Those planning to attend the panel discussion now scheduled for 7.30pm who cannot make their own arrangements to view the documentary in advance on Netflix will now be able to view the documentary in the clubhouse at 6pm.

It is difficult to overstate the visual significance in the history of the Vietnam War of the photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, “the napalm girl”, running naked down the road toward the camera on 8 June 1972 having just been severely burned in an air strike.

“The photograph of Kim Phuc is perhaps the most iconic photograph of a war ever made,” said Gary Knight. “The photographer is almost as well known as the photograph itself.”
The Associated Press photograph has always been credited to Nick Ut, a staff photographer, but new evidence suggests it may have been taken by Nguyen Thanh Nghe, a freelance.

Knight, co-founder of VII Photo Agency and a former FCCT member, was the moving force behind The Stringer, the documentary by Bao Nguyen first screened in January at the Sundance Film Festival. It finally came to a global audience on Netflix on Friday 28 November, and its contention is that the photograph was deliberately misattributed.  

AP has stuck with the original credit assigned by Horst Faas, its Pulitzer-winning photo editor in Saigon at the time: “In the absence of new, convincing evidence to the contrary, the AP has no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.”

Rumours about the authorship of ‘the terror of war’, as the photograph was originally dubbed, have wafted around for at least 15 years, but only came to a head in recent years after Carl Robinson, an AP photo editor that day in Saigon, reached 80 and determined before he died to find the man he believed actually took the photograph and make his peace.

'Terror of war' aka 'The napalm girl' (AP)
Carl Robinson and Gary Knight will be joined by Matt Growcoot. Growcoot is an editor at PetaPixel, a US photography website covering human interest and photography history stories. “The Stringer has been one of the most fascinating photography-related stories of the year, and I have probably covered it closer than any other journalist,” he said.

Moderator, Dominic Faulder, Nikkei Asia associate editor and FCCT board member.

Other panelists to be announced.  

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 450 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
Democrats Abroad Thailand presents: Information for US Expats: Financial planning tips and an update on US tax compliance

Monday, 1 December, 6pm

Living abroad presents many practical challenges that impact every American, particularly in the realm of finances and taxation. For overseas U.S. citizens, adhering to U.S. tax obligations is both unavoidable and complex. Every American expat is obligated to file U.S. taxes while remaining cognizant of the most recent regulations, requirements and revisions to the tax code. Those difficulties are compounded by these tumultuous times characterized by rapidly shifting US global and domestic policies, which further underscores the paramount importance of providing clear and accessible information.

Furthermore, numerous American expats aspire to adopt a comprehensive perspective that focuses on detailed organization of their financial affairs, encompassing investment and retirement planning, as well as estate considerations. By aligning an update on U.S. tax compliance with comprehensive financial planning guidance, this briefing can provide practical value to all expats.

Speaker:

Matthew Stevens is managing director of Client-Centered Cross-Border Financial Planning Ltd. He is a seasoned advisor with extensive experience helping U.S. citizens overseas navigate the complexities of both tax compliance and financial planning.
The event is free and open to Democrats Abroad Thailand members, and to FCCT members.

US citizens who wish to join Democrats Abroad Thailand can do so at the event.
The Next Great Divergence: Why AI may widen inequality between countries

UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP) flagship report,
Tuesday, 2 December, 10.15am

Why this matters: Artificial intelligence is reshaping economies, labour markets, governance and social contracts across Asia and the Pacific. If managed well, AI can accelerate human development and inclusion. If left unmanaged, it risks creating a new and lasting divergence—widening gaps between leading and lagging countries and leaving vulnerable communities further behind.

This flagship report examines these risks and opportunities in depth and argues that the future of AI is not pre-determined: it remains a historic policy choice. It offers concrete recommendations on capability-building, institutions, ethical governance and inclusion to ensure AI expands human freedoms for all.

Panellists:

Michael Muthukrishna, principal author (LSE & NYU) – remote.

Urvashi Aneja, founder, Digital Futures Lab, India – in person.

Sak Segkhoonthod, senior expert on digital transformation, ETDA, Thailand – in person.

Calvin Woo Yoong Shen, director, MyDIGITAL Corporation, Malaysia – remote.

Katie Silver, international technology reporter and presenter (tbc) – in person.

Moderator: Sriganesh Lokanathan, UNDP regional digital transformation specialist.     

Please RSVP by Thursday, 27 November 2025 using this link:

Zoom details and the final agenda will be shared with registered participants on 28 November.

We very much hope you can join us—either in Bangkok or virtually—for this important regional conversation.

A networking lunch will follow the event for in-person participants.
Free and open to all.
Launch of the Myanmar Opium Survey 2025

Wednesday, 3 December, 11am

Opium poppy flowers in bloom in in Hopong Township, South Shan, Myanmar, January 2025. Photo: UNODC
Myanmar’s opium poppy cultivation is increasing, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports in its latest opium survey, which comes at a critical time for the country and reflects the uncertainty after years of conflict and socio-economic instability. The data reaffirms Myanmar’s role as the world’s main source of illicit opium, following the continued decline of cultivation in Afghanistan.

The report, titled Myanmar Opium Survey 2025: Cultivation, Production and Implications, will be launched at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) by Delphine Schantz, Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Inshik Sim, Lead Analyst on Drugs and Organized Crime at UNODC. The event will conclude with an interactive Q&A session, offering an opportunity to explore these most recent developments in Myanmar’s unique drug context.

Lunch will be served.

Speakers include:

Delphine Schantz, regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Inshik Sim, lead analyst on drugs and organized crime, UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Moderator: Laura Gil, head of communications, UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Free and open to all.
Co-working at the FCCT

Tuesday, 2 December, 10am

Need a change of scenery from your home office? Join us for a coworking day at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) -- a perfect space for working professionals, digital nomads and anyone looking to break free from the home-office routine.

Enjoy a spacious, comfortable workspace with dedicated tables, a full restaurant, café and bar and exclusive lunch specials just for this event.

Whether you're tackling deadlines or networking with like-minded professionals, this is an opportunity to be productive in a collaborative, social environment. Come work, connect, and enjoy great food because working remotely doesn’t have to mean working alone.

Hosted by Nick Bernhardt, FCCT board member and managing director of Khayan Consultants and Tommy Walker, FCCT board member and digital nomad.

Free and open to all.
Christmas dinner — save the date

Friday, 12 December, 7pm

At this time of year, there are few things better than sipping fine wine and feasting on well roasted turkey, baked ham and tender vegetables with Christmas pudding, pies and more to follow. Waste no time -- mark the date. Seats are limited!

Get your tickets here.

The Universe is Painting at BACC

2-14 December

Board games night

Tuesday, 2 December, 7pm

Join us for a chilled night of board games with The Boring Club. Try your luck with classics like chess and backgammon or modern games including Catan and Pandemic.

The bar and restaurant will be open. Try our pizzas from the new pizza oven. The Boring Club meets at the FCCT clubhouse for games every Tuesday at 7pm.
Free and open to all.
Launch of the Sham Election Tracker (SET): Monitoring the Myanmar junta’s illegitimate election and human rights violations

Press conference,
Wednesday, 10 December, 11 am

Amid its ongoing airstrikes and atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar since its illegal military coup in 2021, the Myanmar junta is planning to hold a sham election, with the first phase on 28 December, followed by the second and third phases in January 2026.

There is a clear need for the international community and key stakeholders -- including governments, parliaments, civil society and the media -- to have access to a reliable, evidence-based platform that monitors and documents the junta’s sham electoral process and exposes its associated human rights violations.

Meeting this need, like-minded Myanmar youth activists formed the Sham Election Tracker Working Group (SET WG) in collaboration with Myanmar civil society groups, to create a transparent and accessible tool that combines real-time reporting and data visualization, as well as campaign and advocacy activities.

SET WG will launch its Sham Election Tracker at the FCCT on 10 December, International Human Rights Day. Representatives from the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) and the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) will also join the launch to share findings and recommendations from their recent reports on the military junta’s sham election.

Panelists:

Khin Ohmar, Sham Election Tracker Working Group.

Pai, Sham Election Tracker Working Group.

Representative to be announced, Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).

Amael Vier, election analyst, Myanmar program, Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL).

Moderator: Phil Robertson, director, Asia Human Rights & Labour Advocates (AHRLA) and FCCT board member.
Free and open to all.
“Shoot, Ask ... and Run!” – Photographing Asia with Chris Stowers

Show and tell with the author,
Wednesday 10 December, 7pm

“Shoot, Ask ... and Run!” The advice given to aspiring British photographer Chris Stowers at the start of his travels has never seemed so valuable. Buffeted by the tempestuous forces of both personal and international affairs, he flees from the Jakarta mafia through the jungles of Borneo, is tear-gassed by riot police in Manila, and crosses an imploding Soviet Union by train, only to be abducted by a group of heavily-armed Serb militia.

In these pages, recalled from diaries kept at the time, Stowers paints a harsh, humorous and very human picture of media life in Asia -- and beyond -- during the boom years of the early 1990s. Based in Hong Kong in the dying days of both empire and analog photography, he finds himself constantly on the road, in trouble and out of film. A natural-born observer and nomad, the question arises: where is home?

Chris Stowers left England in 1987 fresh out of high school, clutching a one-way ticket to Karachi. He has lived in Asia ever since. For ten years before the 1997 handover to China he was based in Hong Kong where he was a photographer for Asiaweek magazine.

His love of photography began right at the start, hanging out with impoverished freelance photojournalists in war-torn Peshawar, Pakistan, where he was – fleetingly – Official Poet of The Frontier Post.

He joined the prestigious Panos Pictures Photo Agency in 1992. Photography assignments and wanderlust have taken Chris to well over 70 countries, so far, and his work has appeared in all manner of publications, including Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Forbes, Businessweek, National Geographic Traveller and The New York Times.

He has photographed numerous guidebooks for Insight Guides and Dorling Kindersley, is co-author of the Insight Guide's book of Travel Photography, and has hosted several TV travel documentaries.

His newly released book ‘Shoot, Ask…and Run!’ is the second in his on-going series of travel memoirs published by Earnshaw Books.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 300 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
The upcoming election in Myanmar: Democratic opportunity or farce?

Wednesday, 17 December, 7pm

On 1 February 2021, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military launched a coup that prevented the newly elected National League for Democracy government from assuming office, claiming that the NLD’s landslide win was plagued by electoral irregularities. Now the Myanmar junta is planning its own election, with the first round of polls set to take place on 28 December, followed by a second round on January 11, and a final round due at the end of the month.  

What’s the likely outcome of this electoral exercise, and will it be free or fair? How will polls even be held, given the fact that fighting continues across many parts of the country between the military and an array of ethnic armed organizations and peace defense force militias? Given the resistance’s serious opposition to the polls, will conducting elections result in a further uptick in violence and possibly even worsen the situation? Finally, will the elections result in any changes to Myanmar’s current governance, its political future, and its international standing? These and many other questions are being asked by government officials, diplomats, journalists, civil society groups and others who will be watching the elections closely.

Join us for a pre-election discussion with a panel of Myanmar experts who are watching these developments:

Confirmed panelists:

Khin Ohmar, veteran Burmese political activist.

Amael Vier, election analyst, Myanmar program, Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL).

Debbie Stothard, coordinator/founder, ALTSEAN-Burma.

James Rodehaver, chief, Myanmar team, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Moderator: Phil Robertson, director, Asia Human Rights & Labour Advocates (AHRLA) and FCCT board member.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 450 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
From construction sites to battlefields: The migrant workers crisis from temporary to a never-ending problem

Thursday, 18 December, 10.00am

Press briefing: Key issues facing migrant workers in 2025 and emerging concerns for 2026

Summary of migrant workers situation in 2025
Speaker: Roisai Wongsuban, Migrant Working Group (MWG)

Cambodian workers returning to their home country and the economic value of longans in the Eastern region
Speaker: a representative of Kasikornthai Research Center (TBC)

Life of migrant workers after the dust settles: Result of the collapse of the Office of the Auditor General construction building
Speaker:  Worachai Sanansuk, Raks Thai Foundation

One year of the government and the order to shut down migrant learning centers — more gain than loss, or more loss than gain?
Speaker: Laddawan Lakkaew, Foundation for Rural Youth (FRY)

Panel discussion: “Thailand’s Opportunities Through a Comprehensive Management Strategy for Migrant Workers”

The Minister of Labour and the never-ending migrant-worker management system
Speaker: Adisorn Kerdmongkol, Migrant working Group (MWG)
Migrant workers and Thailand’s seafood industry in the Blue Economy
Speaker: Nattawut Kasem, Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)

Employers’ ordeals from failed policies and corruption
Speaker: Nilubon Phongpayom, Group of Entrepreneurs with Foreign Workers

Myanmar election 2025 and trends in migration flows caused by the political unrest

Speaker: Dr.Sirada Khemanitthathai,  the Office of International Relations, Chiangmai University
Free and open to all.
FCCT pub trivia

Friday, 26 December, 7pm

Gather your friends and colleagues for a night of pub trivia at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.

Come for a bite and a beverage and test your knowledge. 1,000 baht bar tab up for grabs for the winning team, to be redeemed on the night.

Advanced table bookings encouraged here.
Free and open to all.

Bar and restaurant open.
Beyond the Badge: Crime, Justice, and the FBI in Thailand

Book discussion and Q&A,
Wednesday, 21 January, 7pm

Retired FBI Agent John Schachnovsky says the 10 years of his 25-year law enforcement career that he spent as the FBI representative to Thailand was the highlight of his career.  When he retired in 2019, he recognized there was so much he could write about his unique career and his time in Thailand.

Beyond the Badge explores how the trust, goodwill, and long-term relationships he built with his Thai counterparts lead to the capture of numerous dangerous criminals in cases that transcended borders. Providing a behind the scenes view of high-profile incidents like the shocking death of famous Hollywood actor David Carradine at a high end hotel in Bangkok, the apprehension of a notorious kidnapper subject to an Interpol Red Notice, the extradition of a suspect in the murder of a United States Marine, and responding to overseas terrorism, Beyond the Badge takes you to the frontlines international crime in Thailand and the region.

John will share the highlights of his journey in Thailand with the FBI and explain how he did his work as the FBI’s “man in Bangkok”. His presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the author, and there will be opportunities to purchase the book at the event.

Speaker: John Schachnovsky, author of Beyond the Badge-Crime, Justice, and the FBI in Thailand.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 300 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.

‍