The Bulletin

Stephff's world

The General: Vietnam in the Age of To Lam‍

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Film screening,
Wednesday, 28 January, 7pm

General To Lam is Vietnam’s most powerful man, bar none. A new film, The General: Vietnam in the Age of To Lam, produced by journalist Laura Brickman, chronicles his rise and the impact his rule has on the people of Vietnam. This showing will be the Thailand premiere for the film.

Rising through the state security services to ultimately become today’s general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, To Lam severely cracked down on free speech and any form of dissent while simultaneously being lauded by trade partners on the international stage as a “blazing furnace against corruption”.

While this reputation helps To Lam secure lucrative trade and development deals, Vietnam’s so-called “economic miracle” has had devastating environmental ramifications,  including the 2016 Formosa Steel disaster, and has displaced many thousands from their homes, particularly poor people and ethnic minorities. At the same time, the willingness of foreign governments to trade and invest with the regime without regard for the country’s significantly worsening human rights climate has whitewashed those abuses, and helped To Lam solidify his hold on power.

The attacks on dissidents extend far beyond Vietnam’s borders, and the film begins with the widely publicized 2017 abduction of Trinh Xuan Thanh in central Berlin as he tried to escape the reach of the general. A prominent Vietnamese businessman and political figure, Thanh led Vietnam’s oil and gas utility, embodying a challenge to To Lam’s iron rule.

Through interviews with prominent Vietnamese dissidents and exiles — including democracy activist Nguyen Van Dai (founder of the Brotherhood for Democracy) and Trung Khoa Le (publisher of Thoibao.de) in Germany; human rights defenders Nguyen Van An and Siu Wiu in Thailand; the artist and pop singer Mai Khoi in the U.S.; and the activist Pham Doan Trang in Saigon before her 2021 arrest — The General offers a cogent analysis of the tactics Vietnam’s police state uses to repress its critics around the world.

Movie director Laura Brickman will answer questions from the audience after the film.

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 150 baht; Thai media and students with ID, 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.

Co-working at the FCCT

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Tuesday, 27 January, 7pm

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.Bar and restaurant open.

Board games night

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Tuesday, 27 January, 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.Bar and restaurant open.

FCCT pub trivia

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Friday, 30 January, 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.

The decline of rights in 2025: Conflicts, aid cuts and democratic backsliding Human Rights Watch's 2026 World Report

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Press Conference, Thursday, 5 February, 10.30am

Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2026 exposes the human rights situation in nearly 100 countries worldwide over the past year.

At the Asia launch of its global report, Human Rights Watch will report on the serious downward slide in human rights across Asia as well as regional trends of rising authoritarianism, transnational repression, violations of media freedom, shrinking civic space and civilians caught in armed conflict.

This past year saw continuing non-accountability for crimes against humanity in China, Myanmar and North Korea; the human rights and humanitarian catastrophe worsen in Afghanistan; conflict-related abuses in Thailand-Cambodia and Afghanistan-Pakistan conflicts; and the weakening of democratic institutions in India and Pakistan.

As protest movements seek to oust governments for rights’violations, mismanagement and corruption, voters will go to the polls in Bangladesh, Nepal and elsewhere to determine their future, while sham elections in Hong Kong and Myanmar only serve to deprive people of their basic rights.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has abandoned the human rights commitments of the United States, decimated the country’s aid budget and stopped taking in most refugees.

Join us in person at the FCCT or via livestream on Facebook live to hear from the following Human Rights Watch experts:

Elaine Pearson, Asia director

Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director

Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director

Sunai Phasuk, senior Thailand advisor

Moderator: Phil Robertson, FCCT board member

Free and open to the public.

Thailand’s Feb. 8 general election: What is at stake?

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Thursday, 5 February, 7pm

Thailand’s general election and referendum on 8 February should be a defining political moment. Voters will elect all 500 members of the House of Representatives, who will then choose the next prime minister — deciding who governs and the direction the country takes in the next term.

Voters will also cast ballots in a constitutional referendum, deciding whether the next parliament should begin drafting a new charter to replace the 2017 constitution, which was written at the behest of the military after the 2024 coup.

The campaign has been heating up, shaped by last year’s border tensions with Cambodia, economic headwinds as exports and tourism struggle to recover, and growing uncertainty in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape — raising expectations that the next government must deliver stability, security and growth, fast.

Join us to hear some leading commentators unpack what is at stake, assess the key players and possible outcomes, and explore how the results could reshape Thailand’s politics, economy and foreign policy.

Confirmed speakers:

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, professor of political science and international relations, and senior fellow at the Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Pongkwan Sawasdipakdi, lecturer in international relations at the faculty of political science, Thammasat University

Yingcheep Atchanont, executive director of legal monitoring group iLaw

Moderator: Panu Wongcha-um, FCCT president and Reuters senior correspondent

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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.

An evening with Barry Broman, retired American spy and writer

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Monday, 9 February, 7pm

Barry Broman, a graduate of the University of Washington in political science and Southeast Asian studies, first came to Asia in 1962 as an Associated Press photographer covering Thailand, Cambodia and South Vietnam. He joined the FCCT at that time, and rejoined in the 1970s. In between, he served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam war, and was a liaison officer in Bangkok.

Broman went on to a 26-year career in the CIA with postings in Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, France and Myanmar. He retired in 1996, and returned to writing and photography. He has written and/or photographed more than a dozen books on Asian themes, including Old Homes of Bangkok and Spiritual Abodes of Thailand with the late William Warren, and has produced nearly a dozen documentaries, including ‘Burma: A human tragedy’.

Last year, Broman published a memoir, ‘Indochina hand: Tales of a CIA case officer’, the second in a trilogy and set in Thailand and Cambodia in the early 1990s. It is a compilation of 62 short stories, most of which relate to the CIA.

‘Risk taker, spy maker: Tales of a CIA case officer’, the first in the three-part memoir was published some years ago. It covers Broman’s life from his school years in England,where his father was stationed at RAF Manston, a fighter base in Kent, his stint in the early 60s stringing for the Associated Press in Bangkok with assignments in Cambodia and South Vietnam, and his clandestine career with the CIA.

Broman also published a second novel last year, ‘The spy from Sukhumvit Road’, set in Thailand and Cambodia in 1991. It followed ‘The spy from Place Saint-Sulpice’, set in Paris in the 1980s. According to Broman, the CIA has recently cleared a third novel for publication, ‘The spy from Golden Valley’ set in Burma in 1994. It deals with chasing a Burmese drug lord and involves the Thai army and police.

All of the books are available on Amazon, and Broman will bring some copies to the event.

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.

Broman cover 1/3

Broman cover 2/3 & Broman cover 3/3

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

Bar and restaurant open.

Thailand’s dugongs in danger of extinction -- confronting a crisis

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Film and panel discussion
Thursday, 12 February, 7pm

Over the past few years, an environmental crisis has been unfolding in Thailand  with an alarming number of dugongs washing up dead.

In 2024, 42 dead dugongs were retrieved from Thailand’s shores, and some experts believe there may be fewer than 120 left alive in Thai waters. Scientists say the animals are starving due to a massive die-off of seagrass, their only source of food.  

Join us to watch Payuun: Thailand's Last Dugongs, produced by Mailee Osten-Tan and Nicolas Axelrod, which follows the efforts of Theerasak 'Pop' Saksritawee, a conservation influencer who is using his voice, and his social media platforms, to sound the alarm and call for urgent action.

After the documentary, which is published by the Guardian Documentaries and supported by the Pulitzer Centre, there be a panel discussion about the film’s production, why the seagrass is disappearing, and what urgently needs to be done to save Thailand's last dugongs.

The panel will feature:

Theerasak 'Pop' Saksritawee, environmental activist and the film’s protagonist.

Mailee Osten-Tan, producer, Payun: Thailand’s Last Dugongs.

Assistant Professor Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist and lecturer at Kasetsart University.

Moderator, Rebecca Ratcliffe, Southeast Asia correspondent, The Guardian, 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 250 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.

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