Although stock investors may know Jrarat Pingclasai as a big-time investor who bought heavily into shares of Dragon One, Jrarat insists he is not a share manipulator. Otherwise, his reputation would not have earned him a new role - as honorary consul of the Consulate of the Republic of Surinam in Thailand, for which he received royal endorsement on November 3.

Jrarat says the South American country of Surinam announced two years ago that it would establish a consulate here, and wanted a Thai to be its honorary consul. He decided to apply for the position. Over the past two years, he was interviewed and his personal information inspected thoroughly by the officials from Surinam's Foreign Affairs Ministry, as an honorary consul must have a clean profile.

"Whatever people think about me, this post guarantees that I cannot be a bad guy," says Jrarat. "It is a high honour for me to receive royal endorsement as honorary consul. I will never destroy my reputation and my home country. No way."

He is now in the process of obtaining the national flag of the Republic of Surinam. The next step is to invite foreign embassies and consulates in Thailand to join in the opening ceremony of the Consulate of the Republic of Surinam.

Beside conducting his normal business activities, Jrarat now has a mission as a representative of both Thailand and Surinam. His main role is to boost trade and economic ties between the countries.

"From now on, I have to pave the way for Thai investors who want to do business in Surinam. One business that I think is very interesting is the wood industry. Surinam has plenty of forests and its government gives tax privileges to foreign investors. Meanwhile, I have to help Surinam's investors to bring money to invest in our country too," he says.

Asked why he wants to be an honorary consul, Jrarat says it is an honour for him and his family. Most of his life was spent in the computer industry as a professional executive in many companies. Today he has his own business, so he thought he should also do something useful for his motherland.

"I do not receive any salary from this post. I intend to dedicate myself for our country," Jrarat says.

Jrarat adds that he had to spend his own money to establish the consulate. Fortunately, his former chief at the Foreign Ministry, whom he asked not to be named, allowed him to rent an old royal residence from King Rama VII's reign, situated in the heart of Bangkok. He will use this gorgeous royal residence as both the Consulate of the Republic of Surinam and his own Dragon One office. He has spent around Bt10 million on decorating the building.

Jrarat has become very well known in the Thai bourse over the past six months, since taking over Diana Department Store from the former shareholders and changing its name to Dragon One. Afterwards he sold the core business of the department store and turned the company into a holding company, which invests in computer, software and IT service firms. This took place in the middle of the year and Jrarat is now the CEO and managing director of Dragon One.

When he was in the process of buying Diana Department Store, the share price of the firm rose sharply. And whenever he announced the purchase of IT firms, Dragon One's stock price would increase - even though the transaction had not yet happened.

Dragon One is now under close watch by the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) due to volatile movements in its stock price.

Jrarat is in the bourse's focus as he is the company's major shareholder, but one who has sold off much of his holding, despite his insistence that he will do no harm to the company. Holding 80 per cent of the company at first, he now holds about 30 per cent. Recently, the SET placed a ban on major shareholders, primarily Jrarat, from selling their shares in the next six months.

Previously, Jrarat used to be CEO at both BNT Entertainment and International Engineering (IEC), whose stocks both also witnessed price swings during his tenure. It is no surprise, then, that he is perceived by other investors as a possible manipulator.

"I have never manipulated any stock, let alone Dragon One. While I was the CEO at IEC, I increased the company's profit. For BNT, I was an executive for only six months. Today I have left these two firms, but I do not understand why people usually involve me with the two and regard me as a bad guy," he says.

As for Dragon One, Jrarat says he will by no means destroy the company through share manipulation.

He points out that he spent all his savings on the company and gave it a very good name. He fell in love with the name "Dragon One" when a Chinese person he respected proposed it while he was unemployed and was on holiday in China. The person told him to start his own business and name the company "Dragon One".

"The Chinese call their prime minister Dragon One," he says. "It is a good name and very favourable for me. I spent all of my savings on this company, so I have to do my best for it."