The Bulletin

Stephff's world

Troubled waters: Tackling transboundary river pollution in Southeast Asia

Panel discussion, Monday, 3 August, 7pm

Reuters

Growing concerns over heavy metal contamination in northern Thailand's rivers have thrust transboundary pollution into the national spotlight, prompting diplomatic engagement, scientific investigations and calls for stronger regional cooperation.

The issue has also sparked demonstrations, diplomatic appeals and growing public debate, reflecting wider concerns over environmental governance, corporate accountability and the challenges of addressing pollution that crosses national borders.

As governments, regional bodies and international partners weigh their response, what more can be done to protect shared waterways and the communities that depend on them? Join the FCCT for a timely discussion on one of Southeast Asia's most pressing environmental challenges with a panel that includes:

Pichamon Yeophantong, member, UN working Group on Business and Human Rights.

Norasate Prachayakorn, Thai senator.

Sor Rattanamanee Polkla, lawyer, Community Resource Centre.

Moderator: TBC

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 400 baht; students and local media with ID 150 baht.Bar and restaurant open.

The Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine case: Heritage preservation and the human cost of redevelopment

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Panel discussion, Thursday, 20 August, 7pm

Development around the Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine in Sam Yan (Photo by The Momentum).

The century-old Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine in Bangkok's Sam Yan district has become the focal point of a high-profile dispute over Chulalongkorn University’s Block 33 redevelopment project, raising broader questions about how cities balance urban renewal with the preservation of cultural heritage and historic communities.

As legal challenges over the project’s construction and the shrine’s future have unfolded, campaigners have also drawn attention to allegations that dozens of construction workers involved in the development have gone unpaid for more than a year, expanding the debate to include labour rights, public accountability and the social costs of redevelopment.

This panel brings together activists, a filmmaker, an MP and workers directly affected by the dispute to examine how a campaign to save a historic shrine evolved into a wider conversation about urban development, governance and workers' rights. The discussion will include an interactive investigation into the Block 33 project, a short documentary, testimony from affected workers and an update on the parliamentary inquiry into the case.

Speakers:

Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, Sam Yan Press founder, Harvard Divinity School student, recipient of the Prince Claus Seed Award and Thailand’s first conscientious objector to military conscription.

Jirapreeya “Mew” Saeboo, Sam Yan Press manager and coordinator of the Morning Glory Collective, who will present the Wage Theft Watch investigation into the Block 33 project.

Pichanun Srisawad, filmmaker and researcher at 101 PUB – 101 Public Policy Think Tank, who will show a short documentary on the experiences of affected construction workers.

“Auntie Pha”, construction worker hit by the Block 33 wage dispute, waiting over a year for unpaid wages.

Thanaporn “Mai” Wijan, MP from the People’s Party, who will discuss the parliamentary probe into the Block 33 case and broader issues of labour protection in Thailand.

A representative from Property Management of Chulalongkorn University.

Moderator: TBC

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 400 baht; students and local media with ID 150 baht.Bar and restaurant open.

Timor-Leste (East Timor): ASEAN’s newest member looks forward from a painful past

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Film screening, photo exhibition and panel, Thursday, 27 August, 6:30pm

Last October, Timor-Leste (East Timor) became the newest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, taking its place among regional peers 26 years after the end of a brutal occupation by Indonesia.

Following its invasion in 1975, Indonesia largely sealed off the territory. During the occupation, approximately 20-30 percent of the population were killed or died from hunger and illness. Only a handful of passionate and committed foreign journalists made it into East Timor under those conditions. One who did was John Martinkus, who later authored a penetrating account about the conflict titled ‘A Dirty Little War’. Martinkus died in his native Australia last year but is still seen by many in Timor-Leste as a hero.

Martinkus helped alerted the world to the emerging threat from Indonesian military-supported militias that in 1999 tried to brutalize the Timorese into rejecting independence. Those violent tactics failed but cost many lives and destroyed much of the new nation’s infrastructure.  Almost 30 years later, Timor-Leste enjoys good ties with Indonesia, and is looking to its ASEAN partners and southern neighbour Australia to help grow its economy.

Join us for a reflection on the country’s remarkable journey while honoring the late John Martinkus and other journalists who documented the war in Timor-Leste at a rare screening of Carmela Baranowska’s powerful documentary, ‘Scenes from an Occupation,’ which won the 2000 Rory Peck Award and is the only film to document the last six months of Indonesia’s occupation. There will also be an exhibition of photos by Ian Timberlake, an Agence France-Presse correspondent who was in Timor-Leste and knew Martinkus well.

Francisco Tilman Cepeda, ambassador of Timor-Leste to Thailand, will make opening remarks before the film.

After the film, there will be a panel of speakers:

Dr Carmela Baranowska, director of ‘Scenes from an Occupation: East Timor 1999’.

Ian Timberlake, AFP correspondent in East Timor in 1999. His photos from the period are being exhibited in conjunction with this panel.

Moderator: Jonathan Head, who covered the 1999 events and is an 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 400 baht; students and local media with ID 150 baht.Bar and restaurant open.

The Salamander’s Tail – The new spy novel from Michael Vatikiotis

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Book launch, Wednesday, 23 September, 7pm

Michael Vatikiotis, author of the best-selling Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia, will launch a compelling new book, a spy novel set along the Thai-Burma border.

The Salamander’s Tail traverses a fault line of strategic sparring between the United States and China on the cusp of a new Cold War. Inspired and informed by four decades of experience as a journalist and private diplomat covering conflict in Asia, Vatikiotis brings to life one of the world’s most dangerous contemporary conflicts.

The novel centres around Lance Friend, a rootless English do-gooder working for an environmental NGO in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. Friend finds himself caught up in a high-stakes geopolitical contest between the US and China, using the long civil war in neighbouring Burma as a proxy battlefield. Arrayed on either side of the Thai-Burma border is a cast of colourful characters escaping past lives to chase ideals, adventure and profit in the bad lands of Southeast Asia.

Reviews extolling the book are already coming in. “If Year of Living Dangerously was the classic Southeast Asian novel, The Salamander's Tail takes its place. A spy novel for the ages” says Jane Perlez, former New York Times correspondent in Asia. “A thoughtful and unsettling portrait of a region where environmental crisis, insurgency, and great-power rivalry intersect,” remarked Thant Myint U, author of The River of Lost Footsteps and The Hidden History of Burma.

Michael Vatikiotis has been a writer, broadcaster, journalist and private diplomat in Asia for nearly 40 years. His previous books include Indonesian Politics Under Suharto and Political Change in Southeast Asia, Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia and Lives Between the Lines: A Journey in Search of the Lost Levant. His novels include The Spice Garden and The Painter of Lost Souls. Vatikiotis also contributes regularly to podcasts, to the Nikkei Asia, and other journals.

Vatikiotis is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), earned his doctorate, which was on Thailand, from Oxford University. He speaks both Thai and Indonesian. He will speak about the book and what inspired it, as well as real-world events that shaped the story, in a moderated discussion, and will take questions from the audience. Copies of the book will be available at 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.

Members free, non-members 300 baht; students and local media with ID 150 baht.Bar and restaurant open.

Co-working at the FCCT

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Tuesday, 4 August, 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.

Free and open to all.Bar and restaurant open.

Board games night

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Tuesday, 4 August, 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

Friday, 28 August, 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.

"As a foreign correspondent, you're an observer"
Jonathan Head

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Dateline Bangkok podcast

Watch the full video at this link.

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