The primary objective of the Executive Committee, to my mind, is to maintain and uphold the dignity and credibility of the journalistic profession and the Club as a space for free and fair discourse on issues of the day.

A parallel objective is to maintain and improve on the FCCT's financial viability and through that our survival, leaving the Club in good health for the next Executive Committee to take over.

I am happy to say that we have succeeded through a year that has at times been difficult.

In April 2007 some members of the Executive Committee including myself, past presidents of the FCCT, and the team that compiled, edited, designed and produced the book The King of Thailand in World Focus, were granted an audience with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It was an extraordinary privilege to be face to face with and hear first hand, from the King, who spoke with us for about two and a half hours on a wide range of topics and issues.

In May, Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta. The FCCT became the staging ground for coverage of the disaster by international media who were unable to get into Myanmar . We extended ourselves, our staff working through weekends, to facilitate media briefings, evaluations and discussions on the response to the disaster. This was the FCCT at its best, serving our core constituency - the international media community. We became the nerve centre for coverage of the disaster, with UN agencies, international humanitarian agencies, and ASEAN secretary general Dr Surin Pitsuwan all holding briefings here.

In May in my capacity as president, I was required to submit to lengthy questioning by the Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police, over lese majeste complaints filed against Jakrapob Penkair and Jonathan Head, the BBC's bureau chief in Bangkok and also the first vice president of the executive committee. Both complaints centred on comments they had made at the FCCT. Later last year, in October, I had to again make a statement to the police on the two cases. The FCCT has extended our fullest cooperation to the police over these cases, and will continue to do so.

As the People's Alliance for Democracy remobilized, we found ourselves looking at resumed political turmoil.

Through it all we have had a steady stream of programmes - the life blood of the Club. Speakers have included the President of Timor -Leste Jose Ramos Horta; then leader of the opposition Abhisit Vejjajiva; current finance minister Korn Chatikavanij; and current foreign minister Kasit Piromya.

We have always welcomed voices from across the spectrum of Thailand's political and social opinion. In our programmes - and we have had a rich schedule this past year - we always attempt to encourage balance.

For months at the height of Thailand 's political turmoil in late 2008, we had a standing invitation extended to the leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy and senior figures in the government at the time. Kasit Piromya spoke at the FCCT in his capacity as an advisor to the Democrat Party as well as the PAD. Bangkok governor Sukhumband Paribatra spoke here on the eve of his landslide victory in the polls. Dr Ammar Siamwalla spoke on the state of the Thai economy. Then-government deputy spokesman Nattawut Saikuar - now a key leader of the ''red shirt'' movement - also spoke at the Club, together with Jatuporn Promphan and Veera Musigapong, who were and remain very much in the news.

When the Preah Vihear or Pra Viharn issue came up, we had prominent speakers on the topic who filled the Clubhouse. Ajarn Panitan Wattanayagorn, now acting spokesman for Prime Minister Abhisit, spoke here with Ajarn Chris Baker on the military.

A panel discussion on the unrest in Tibet saw the Embassy of the People's Republic of China send a senior diplomat to share the floor with activists sympathetic to Tibetan autonomy/independence and human rights in Tibet . The result was an at times intense, but at all times educational and cordial debate.

We have also routinely invited representatives of the government of Myanmar to take part in discussions on Myanmar issues, or even mount their own exclusive talk. There has been no response so far.

At times the politics was heavy going, and we were able to lighten up the year with some other interesting programmes. Among other memorable nights were one on Ladyboys, one on ‘sexpat' literature, and one featuring a live astronaut.

The FCCT remains a favoured venue for book launches, and talks by writers. We also took the decision to support quality photographic exhibitions, which has put us on Bangkok 's map of photographic galleries. One memorable exhibition featured photographs of the Sichuan earthquake by photographers who, we are happy to say, are based in Bangkok and part of our larger family. The current exhibition features winning and commended photographs from our now-annual photo competition, whose main sponsors this time around were Canon and Toyota . We hope to continue to build up the FCCT as a venue for exhibitions of world class photography.

Our film series, thanks to the indefatigable Lekha Shankar, drew in a devoted following, and has made us one of Bangkok 's prime venues for quality world cinema. With the feature films we also maintained our occasional documentary series. One particular documentary, on the CIA's secret war in Laos , packed the Clubhouse to capacity.

This Executive Committee rounded off our term with a dinner with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Jan 14, which was attended by over 500.

We successfully managed a great deal of long overdue housekeeping. With the help of Tony Doherty and Art Moritz, we overhauled our membership database and streamlined our systems. Treasurer Dominic Faulder's report has some details on this. We set out with ambitious refurbishment plans in order to give something back to you, our members. We managed to push some through, notably the backdrop that you see behind me. More will

follow soon, specifically we will replace the carpet and get new furniture. The walls have been painted and the lighting improved. The bar has a new look.

Our food continues to be excellent and in fact the buffet has improved, we are told. Here I would like to mention our staff - Pink, Pla and New in the office; Khun Roong, Khun Rienchai, Khun Atty, Khun Santana out here at the bar and in the restaurant. All have put in extra hours to keep the Club alive and functional even in the most trying conditions - for example when a water pipe burst and flooded the Clubhouse while we were between media briefings on Cyclone Nargis.

And apart from Lekha Shankar, and Tony Doherty and Art Moritz who are like rocks as far as the Executive Committee is concerned, in looking after our website, our software and the Bulletin, many others who are not on the Executive Committee rate a big Thank You. They also illustrate how you don't have to be on the Executive Committee to contribute to the Club.

Thanks are due to Julian Hadden, the Asiaworks folks, Stuart Raj, Laurent Malespine, Lance Woodruff, Sunai Phasuk, Paul Wedel, Pamela Hongsakul and Marc Ogislert among others, for freely and selflessly giving of their time and energy to help out on everything from putting together and translating at programmes, to maintaining our audiovisual system, to taking photographs for us, and to helping us network.

Mom Thim, our landlord, gets a special vote of thanks. Our sponsors Coca Cola, Pfizer, and soon to be on board Boonrawd Breweries, are helping us maintain a financial cushion.

Through all this we have also had to manage and safeguard the credibility and dignity of the FCCT, a Club that we are justifiably proud of and whose name we will not allow to be tarnished. I am fortunate to have worked with excellent colleagues who have brought ideas, suggestions and knowledge and talent to the table, and have also selflessly slaved using every spare minute of their time and then making room for more, to keep the FCCT going. Patrick has doggedly edited and brought out what may well be a record number of Datelines; Marwaan has spent hours in the office to produce the Directory; Dominic and the King of Thailand in World Focus team which includes the energetic Henry Silverman, all contributed to producing a book that is without a doubt a historic publication and something that does us proud.

There remain some announcements and proposals to be made, but in the interim I would like to close by thanking all of you for your support. It has been a roller coaster of a year. To me it was a specially interesting one, since I spent more than half of it on crutches after breaking my leg in a motorcycle taxi accident on January 12, 2008. The year seemed to flash by, yet it was packed with so much that looking back, I almost have trouble remembering everything that happened. Thank you very much for being with us through it all, and sticking with us. It is a privilege and a pleasure to have been given the opportunity to serve and contribute to the FCCT.

Nirmal Ghosh
President