Anutin Charnvirakul has his hands full running the affairs of the Bhumjaithai Party after taking over the leadership from his father Chaovarat Charnvirakul.
Anutin: Help from the heart
With veteran Buri Ram politician Newin Chidchob, the party's former key figure, having decided to turn his back on politics for the world of sports, the onus is upon Mr Anutin to organise all of the party's activities — such as looking after the welfare of party members, and representing the party in expressing its stance on public affairs, particularly the ongoing national reform.
Mr Anutin runs his own construction business which has been awarded major construction contracts, including building some electric rail lines and the new parliament building.
The Buri Ram International Circuit, which opened its doors in October and can hold up to 70,000 people, is one of his company's recent construction accomplishments.
The circuit, which is Thailand's first motor racing track capable of hosting F1 racing, is one of Mr Newin's pet projects.
Both Mr Anutin and Mr Newin were among the so-called House No.111 — which refers to the 111 former executives of the defunct Thai Rak Thai Party who were banned from politics for five years. That ban came to an end on May 30, 2012.
During his five years in the political wilderness, Mr Anutin devoted most of his time to learning how to fly an aeroplane.
After mastering the skill of flying, he bought his first four-seat private aircraft and gradually built up a collection. At one point he decided to run a chartered flight business, which is making him quite a lot of money.
For him, flying is a great personal pleasure, and he was even happier when he learned that his aircraft could also be of use to people who require urgent medical treatment.
One of Mr Anutin's close friends is Pat Oncharit, the well-known heart transplant surgeon at Chulalongkorn Hospital. Dr Pat has a long list of patients waiting for heart transplants.
One of the surgeon's duties is to fly across the country to collect donor hearts and take them back to the operating theatre for transplant at Chula.
The doctor must ensure the heart is kept in a special container and that transplant surgery must be completed within 13 hours of collecting the organ.
For years, the doctor has struggled to balance grabbing available commercial flights and beating the race against time to complete his mission. That was until Mr Anutin stepped in to help his friend.
Last week, Mr Anutin heard that the doctor was to fly to Udon Thani to collect a donated heart. Mr Anutin offered to fly his friend in his aircraft up to the Northeast to get the organ and fly him back to the hospital.
After learning that his friend had for years been forced to use commercial flights, Mr Anutin decided to volunteer his services as a pilot whenever a mission arises and an emergency dash across the country is needed to collect a much-needed donor heart.
Learning from Japan
Juti: Lessons from abroad
When reform takes centre stage, political parties sit up and listen ... including the country's oldest, the Democrats.
A mantra has been adopted by the party's leaders: if the party doesn't shape up, it will definitely lose out.
National reforms, perched at the top of the agenda of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), will set the tone for the way political parties will have to behave when they go about their politicking and electoral activities in the future. In other words, new ground is about to be trod where the parties will be required to toe the line.
While martial law remains in effect — and it does not look as though it will be lifted anytime soon — most political parties are lying dormant. Political gatherings are banned and the parties cannot even organise a meeting of executives and members.
However, younger Democrats have seized the opportunity to convince the party's leaders to make radical changes in tandem with the national reforms being vigorously pursued by the NCPO. After the reforms are finalised, they will be written into the new constitution that is being drafted.
The younger Democrats have approached party secretary-general Juti Krairiksh and passed on their wishes for the party to reform itself too.
They insist that if there is a time to turn the party's political fortunes around, it is now. The Democrats have been defeated in several general elections in recent years and its members are looking for ways to straighten out the party to help it prosper and grow.
The prevailing sentiment among a lot of voters is that they feel they are left with no choice but to pick a "less bad" candidate in a general election, according to experts. They have no attachment to the Democrat Party, but they tick their ballot papers in favour of the Democrats because they believe there is no other choice, and not because the party promises policies they believe are realistic and practical.
During the current political hiatus, Mr Juti took party bigwigs and former MPs on a study trip to Japan. The delegates were eager to find as much information as possible on how Japan organises its elections free of foul play and how that country's politics has evolved and bred a crop of highly accountable politicians.
After the trip, the Democrat members sat down to discuss and analyse the pros and cons of the Japanese election system. Joining the discussion team was the party chief adviser and former prime minister Chuan Leekpai.
During the study tour, Mr Juti and Mr Chuan had a lengthy meeting with Japan's election commission. They found election laws were stringently enforced and that voters understood their duty to democracy, said a Democrat source.
The Democrats were briefed about electioneering and restrictions that are imposed in Japan on candidates to deter voting fraud.
The input from the trip is being summarised by both Mr Juti and Mr Chuan. It will provide some guidelines for national reform as well as reform of the party itself.
Fight begins to save monopoly
Vichai: Mr Connection
The status of Vichai Srivaddhanaprapha as king of the duty-free stores in Thailand could be under threat. Transport Minister Prajin Juntong does not appear to like the way things are at the nation's airports where King Power reigns supreme as the sole operator of duty-free shops.
Recently ACM Prajin has considered allowing more operators of duty-free shops at five major airports to break the grip of King Power International Group, according to a source in the ministry. They are Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Hat Yai airports. The contracts at each airport last 10 years and can be renewed for another four years.
While the transport minister insists this is just a plan, not a policy, he admits he is strongly in favour of the idea that there should be competition in the duty-free business. A committee has reportedly been set up to study the details.
ACM Prajin is concerned not only by King Power's monopoly, but also a lack of access to information on actual figures of daily duty-free transactions.
There have been doubts about King Power's sales figures which are used to calculate AoT's share of revenue. Under the revenue-sharing contract, the company is required to give AoT a minimum amount of 1.4 billion baht plus a 15% share of its sales revenue annually.
Attempts to install an online system to supply the AoT with information on King Power's sales have faltered.
The installation of the system has been raised by the board several times but nothing has happened.
In light of ACM Prajin's plan to end the monopoly, South Korea-based Lotte Group has emerged as a strong contender. Lotte operates Lotte Duty Free, one of the major duty-free operators at Incheon International Airport.
It has reportedly shown strong interest in running duty-free shops at Thai airports and has the potential to do so when compared with the operators of local department stores such as The Mall Group and Central Group.
Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin was said to have been among leading South Korean businessmen attending a meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha during his visit to South Korea early this month.
The businessman wanted to show how the company was prepared to invest in Thailand, but as usual Gen Prayut enjoyed talking so much that by the time he had finished there was no time left for anyone to speak, according to a source in the Transport Ministry.
The source said Lotte is determined to expand its business to Thailand and has made some preparations, including signing a contract to rent plots of land near RCA in the Rama IX area. And even if its duty-free shopping plan fails, the company has a Plan B, which is to launch a retail business, possibly a department store, here.
However, tapping into the duty-free business will be no easy task for the South Korean firm.
Mr Vichai is known to have established good political connections over the years, earning him the nickname Mr Connection.
His empire is said to have grown on the support he received from politicians and some influential figures including the late former transport minister Montri Pongpanich.
His present ties include Deputy Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, AoT chairman and Revenue Department director-general Prasong Poontaneat and, most important of all, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, a key figure in the National Council for Peace and Order.
There is no doubt the duty-free tycoon will fight to maintain his title as the "king of duty free" when King Power's contracts at Suvarnabhumi, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Hat Yai airports expire in 2016.