Stephff's world
Foreign Ground: Land, law and belonging in Thailand
Panel discussion, Monday, 28 Sept, 7pm
Anti-foreign sentiment and nationalist rhetoric appear to be gaining ground in Thailand. Anger over the conduct of some foreign tourists and expatriates, growing scrutiny of Chinese-linked businesses and transnational crime, and a renewed crackdown on nominee arrangements have fuelled a wider debate about foreign influence—and who is considered welcome in the country.
Yet the meaning of “foreigner” in Thailand has never been fixed or consistently applied. Across different periods, shifting laws, political priorities and economic interests have determined who was treated as an outsider—and what rights they were permitted to exercise.This discussion will explore how ideas of nationality, ownership and belonging have evolved, and why certain foreign communities have been viewed differently from others.
The panel will also consider the view from the business and investment community. While many long-term foreign residents support efforts to prevent abuse and exploitation, there are concerns that sweeping enforcement and increasingly hostile rhetoric could also undermine legitimate businesses, investor confidence and Thailand’s international standing. Where should Thailand draw the line between protecting its national interests and remaining open to foreign investment, visitors and long-term residents? And when does a justified clean-up risk becoming a broader backlash against foreigners?
Speakers:
Dr Jessica Vechbanyongratana, associate professor and adjunct researcher, Chulalongkorn University;
Pravit Rojanaphruk, columnist, Khao Sod English;
Olivier Dombey, founder and managing director, AlphOmega8.
Moderator: Panu Wongcha-um, president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of 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 400 baht; students and local media with ID 150 baht.
Bar and restaurant open.
Access to information and information integrity in the digital age: Lessons and challenges from Southeast Asia
Panel discussion, Tuesday, 29 Sept, 1pm
Access to information is essential to human rights and lays the foundation for transparent, accountable and inclusive societies. Ensuring public access to accurate and reliable information is more important than ever in the digital age.
To mark the International Day for Universal Access to Information 2026, the UNESCO regional office in Bangkok and the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand will convene policymakers, oversight institutions and access to information experts from across Southeast Asia to discuss how access to information can strengthen information integrity in an increasingly complex information environment.
Globally, more than 100 countries have adopted constitutional, statutory, or policy guarantees for public access to information since 2000. In Southeast Asia, the first strategic goal of the inter-ministerial ASEAN Workplan on Information and Media 2026-2035 calls for inclusive access to information by 2035.
Aligned with UNESCO’s global theme ‘Upholding Information Integrity in the Digital Age’, this year’s discussion will examine how effective access to information can help address disinformation, misinformation and hate speech while strengthening transparency, oversight and resilience against information disorder across countries in Southeast Asia. Through the exchange of policy lessons, practical initiatives and good practices, the event aims to strengthen collaboration among governments, regulators, media organizations and civil society, while raising awareness of regional efforts to advance access to information and tackle information disorder.
Welcome remarks:
AnnaMaria Oltorp, development cooperation head, Swedish Embassy.
Introduction:
Joe Hironaka, communication & information chief, UNESCO Bangkok.
Panellists:
Danica Orcullo, attorney, policy chief, freedom of information programme, PM’s Office, Philippines;
Virgílio da Silva Guterres, chief ombudsman for human rights and justice, Timor-Leste;
Dr Punitha Silivarajoo, deputy director-general (policy and development), PM’s Department (Legal affairs), Malaysia;
Moderator: Ms Wathshlah Naidu, executive director, Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia.
The venue can accommodate up to 50 participants, and advance registration is required. Registration closes on 25 September 2026.
To register, please visit this link.
The event will also be livestreamed in English via FCCT's Facebook page and YouTube channel.
For more info: Communication & Information Unit, ci.bgk@unesco.org
Free and open to all.
Bar and restaurant open.
China’s latest moon mission and Thailand’s role in Asia’s space race
Panel discussion, Wed, 30 Sept, 7pm
A Thai instrument is set to be carried on a Chinese mission to the Moon next year, putting the country in lunar space for the first time.
Thailand is looking for a space in the rapidly growing sector, and the south’s proximity to the Equator could give the country a huge advantage in the satellite launch market. The government agency GISTDA (Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency) has been investigating the possibility and held a spaceport week in August.
Thailand’s largest astronomy institution, NARIT (the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand), operates the largest radio telescope in Southeast Asia in Chiang Mai, and has designs on a new telescope. A Thai experiment recently returned from the International Space Station. A smattering of commercial companies, from satellite manufacturers to launch companies, are setting up shop in Bangkok.
But there are multiple challenges. The investment required for a spaceport would be huge, the specialized skills needed are limited in their availability, and others are decades ahead. As the space industry becomes increasingly dominated by private companies, this event will discuss what Thailand needs to do to move beyond hitching a ride on other countries’ missions.
This panel precedes the Thailand Space Expo, being held in Bangkok (Oct 28-31), along with the Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (Oct 26-30), plus the 10th Global Moon Village workshop and symposium (Oct 26-27), all of which will be held at Icon Siam and nearby hotels. It also comes at a time when the world is assessing Washington’s claim that it has weapons deployed in orbit above the Earth.
Speakers:
Atipat Wattanuntacha, acting head, space economy advancement division, GISTDA;
Peerapong Torteeka, the lead on NARIT’s space weather instrument aboard China’s Chang’e-7 lunar mission;
Nattanon Dungsunenarn, editor-in-chief, Spaceth.co;
Jonathan O’Callaghan, – Freelance Space journalist (New York Times, BBC, New Scientist, and more).
Moderator: Sebastien Berger, Southeast Asia bureau chief, Agence France-Presse.
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.
Green Drinks, Thursday, 1 October, 6pm
Kanchanaburi wildlife talk
This is a monthly informal gathering to connect people interested or involved in the environmental sector. People usually start arriving around 5:30pm, but please come when you like and stay as long as you want.
This month, we will have Vijo Varghese, a co-founder of Our Land, as a speaker. Our Land is a conservation project in Kanchanaburi aiming to protect and develop an important wildlife corridor from the Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary to the Khwae Yai river, by restoring and rewilding fragmented and degraded land, while also trying to develop practical models for people and wildlife to co-exist.
Vijo’s talk will draw on his decade of experience working in Kanchanaburi to explore the realities of human–wildlife co-existence and how this can be made safer and more practical through habitat restoration, wildlife corridors, community participation, education and emerging technologies. It discusses how Thailand might be able to build landscapes in which recovering wildlife populations and local communities can both thrive together.
Vijo’s talk will start around 6.30pm.
And, if you’d like to join the Green Drinks Line group for details of future events and for a place for discussion, then click the below link to get the QR code to join the conversation: https://line.me/R/ti/g/SCQN-DFXYc
This is not an FCCT event. Free and open to all.
Bar and restaurant open.
Made in Ethiopia
Documentary, Monday 5 October, 7pm
When a massive Chinese industrial park lands in rural Ethiopia, a dusty farming town finds itself at the new frontier of globalization. The sprawling factory complex’s formidable Chinese director Motto now needs every bit of mettle and charm she can muster to push through a high-stakes expansion that promises 30,000 new jobs. Ethiopian farmer Workinesh and factory worker Beti have staked their futures on the prosperity the park promises. But as initial hope meets painful realities, they find themselves, like their country, at a pivotal crossroads.
Filmed over four years with singular access, ‘Made in Ethiopia’ lifts the curtain on China’s historic but little-understood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fuelled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons. And its nuance, complexity and multi-perspective approach go beyond black and white narratives of victims and villains. As the three women’s stories unfold, ‘Made in Ethiopia’ challenges us to rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, growth and welfare, the development of a country and the well-being of its people.
Xinyan Yu
Max Duncan
The FCCT is delighted to be able to show this remarkable film, and to host the two people behind it, Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan. Xinyan Yu is an Emmy-winning journalist and filmmaker whose work centres on people often overlooked in the sweep of history and progress. She has directed and produced films for BBC News, PBS Frontline, PBS Nova, NHK, and Channel News Asia. Max Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer and journalist whose work has appeared on the BBC, PBS, The Guardian, The New York Times and Al Jazeera, and at dozens of international film festivals.
The programme will be moderated by BBC South East Asia Correspondent Jonathan Head.
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 200 baht; students and local media with ID 150 baht.
Bar and restaurant open.
The Invisible Workforce: People building clean energy in South and Southeast Asia
Panel talk, photo show, Thurs, 8 Oct, 2pm
Across South and Southeast Asia, a growing share of clean energy is small-scale solar built close to where people live, often in places the main grid does not reliably reach. Each system is small, but there are many of them spread over wide areas, and installing and running them takes a large, dispersed workforce. Small-scale solar accounts for two in every three solar jobs worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency. Yet this workforce is rarely heard when decisions about the sector are made.
Without that perspective, energy targets and training programmes are often planned with an incomplete picture of who is available to do the work and on what terms. This panel brings together organizations working alongside this workforce in different countries to compare what they see on the ground, and to ask what needs to change so that policy and funding keep pace with the people building the energy transition.
A photo exhibition of distributed energy work from across the region will run alongside the panel, and questions from the audience, in the club and online, will guide the discussion. This event is hosted by Mee Panyar and Green Empowerment, as part of Bangkok Climate Action Week.
Speakers:
Natasha Allen, founder and managing director, Mee Panyar;
Noorulain Masood, founder and CEO, Sath-CSIDC;
Sheryl Estella, academy manager, New Energy Academy Philippines;
Moderator: Ayu Abdullah, co-founder and executive director, Energy Action Partners.
Free entry. But please register at https://forms.gle/oqYzqM4mzdE8dLFP7. The session will also be streamed online for registered participants. Coffee and tea will be served, with the bar and restaurant open.
Free and open to all.
Bar and restaurant open.
Geoeconomics in an age of fragmentation: Lunch talk with the EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis
Tuesday, 13 October, 12 noon – 1.30pm
Geopolitical tensions and structural economic shifts are reshaping the global economy. Persistent global imbalances, high public debt, financial vulnerabilities, demographic pressures, and slower growth are creating new challenges for policymakers. European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis joins the FCCT to discuss how the European Union is navigating this challenging global economic landscape, including the implications of protectionism, economic security, and growing tensions between the world’s major powers. He will explore the outlook for the global economy, EU’s relations with Asia and the European Union’s competitiveness agenda, including efforts to simplify regulation and deepen the single market and capital markets in Europe. The discussion will also address the future of the international economic and financial system, as well as EU’s continued support for Ukraine.
One of Europe’s most experienced economic policymakers, Valdis Dombrovskis has been the European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, as well as Implementation and Simplification since December 2024. His portfolio includes the coordination and implementation of the EU’s economic policies, as well as overseeing the reduction of administrative burden and ensuring better implementation of EU rules. From 2019 to 2024, he served as the executive vice-president of the European Commission responsible for An Economy that Works for People and was also in charge of Trade. He previously served as vice-president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019, overseeing the Euro and Social Dialogue, as well as financial stability, financial services, and the Capital Markets Union.
He is Latvia’s longest-serving head of government with three terms as Prime Minister (2009–2014). He has also been finance minister, a member of the Latvian Parliament and European Parliament. Before politics, he was the chief economist at the Bank of Latvia, as well as a research assistant at Mainz University, the Institute of Solid-State Physics in Latvia and University of Maryland. Valdis Dombrovskis was born on August 5, 1971.
Interviewer: Dr Fuadi Pitsuwan, from Thammasat University.
Moderator: Panu Wongcha-um, president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand.
Registration here.
Free and open to all. Registration required.
Bar and restaurant open.
Britain, Thailand and a changing Southeast Asia – a conversation with the new British Ambassador to Thailand
Evening talk, Monday, 19 October, 7pm
Thailand and the United Kingdom share a long-standing relationship spanning trade, investment, education, tourism, security and close people-to-people ties.As both countries navigate a more fragmented and uncertain international landscape, the relationship is expanding into areas such as clean energy, technology, climate action and regional security.
Britain is also seeking a deeper role in Southeast Asia, a region increasingly central to global economic growth and geopolitical competition. How does the UK view its evolving partnership with Thailand? And where does the country fit within Britain’s wider engagement with ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific?
In her first appearance at the FCCT, British Ambassador Nicola Pollitt will discuss the opportunities, challenges and priorities shaping this next chapter.
Moderator: Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent.
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.
Don’t forget our photo show
The FCCT currently has an exhibition of photos taken by former AFP correspondent Ian Timberlake of people and events in East Timor (Timor Leste) in the weeks leading up to the country’s vote on whether to be an independent nation in 1999, or remain as part of Indonesia.
This was a turbulent and traumatic time for citizens in the former Portuguese colony, when ruthless militia leaders were pressuring them not to break away from the giant archipelago. Remarkably, they stood strong and voted to become a separate state – indeed, a tiny nation that is now the 11th member of ASEAN. So, please come and have a coffee, a muffin or a meal, and have a look at the latest photos on display.
And if you missed the event, you can watch the panel discussion held on August 27 on FCCT videos posted on YouTube.
Co-working at the FCCT
Tuesday, 29 Sept, 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 foreign correspondent Tommy Walker.
Free and open to all.
Bar and restaurant open.
Board games night
Tuesday, 29 Sept, 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, 23 October, 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.