Pongpol Adireksarn is a Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 politician of the Thai Rak Thai

Thai Rak Thai

The Thai Rak Thai Party was a Thai political party that was officially banned on May 30, 2007, by the Constitutional Court of Thailand due to violations of electoral laws during the 2006 legislative elections. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under Prime Minister and its founder Thaksin...

 party. Using the pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 Paul Adirex he is also an author of several novels.

Adireksarn received a BA from Lehigh University

Lehigh University

Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...

 in 1964, and an MA from the American University

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

 in 1966. Upon returning to Thailand, he took a position at the Department of Economic Relations Ministry of Economic Affairs, followed by a position in the Thai Department of Central Intelligence.

Between 1973 and 1991, Adireksarn worked in the private sector with such positions as Managing Director of Royal Mosaic Exports Co., Ltd., President of Thailand Leatherwork Co., Ltd., and President of Express Transport Organization.

Pongpol's father, Praman Adireksarn, was one of the co-founders of the Thai Nation Party, as well as a brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan

Chatichai Choonhavan

General Chatichai Choonhavan was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 1988 to 1991. He was the only son of Field Marshal Phin Choonhavan, and is of Thai Chinese descent with ancestry from Chenghai District...

. Pongpol's brother Yongyol was also a politician. Praman was also the son of a Chinese

Thai Chinese

The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...

 immigrant father and a Thai mother, and in 1989 he made a much-publicised trip to his ancestral homeland in Chaoyang. By all accounts Praman found out that he had a half-brother, (Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 name: 马升典), who died in 1950. The descendants of his half-brother were aware of Praman's existence, who was identified as "马升平" in Chinese to these descendants.

Political appointments

• 1983 - 1986 Member of Parliament, Saraburi
• 1992 - 1992 Member of Parliament, Saraburi, and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1995 - 1996 Member of Parliament, Saraburi and Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister
• 1996 - 2000 Member of Parliament, Saraburi and Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives
• 2002 - 2003 Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Education

Royal decorations

• Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand
• Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant
  Order of the White Elephant
  The Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant is the most awarded order of Thailand. It was established in 1861 by King Rama IV of the Kingdom of Siam.The Order consists of eight classes:...
  
  
• Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of The Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand
• Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant

Writing career

After losing the 1992 election and being out of politics temporarily, he started writing novels. He chose to use a pen name as he considered his Thai name to be to difficult for a foreign readership.

• Mekong, 1995, ISBN 9748668223
• Until the Karma Ends, 1996, ISBN 9748638218
• The Pirates of Tarutao, 1999, ISBN 9748904696
• The King Kong Effect, 1999, ISBN 9748962030
• Rattanakosin, 2004, ISBN 974926066X
• Chameleon Man, 2006, ISBN 9789749414170