r/Thailand

https://preview.redd.it/96kppvzo5fkh1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=baed0c0cae6b3a41b5bd0f0f566e4760e2a9fb48

A Thai woman has been arrested in Taiwan after allegedly swallowing 72 heroin-filled capsules to smuggle the drug into the island, according to Radio Taiwan International (RTI).

The woman, identified only as Ms. A, was arrested at Kaohsiung International Airport on 6 April after investigators received information that a foreign national was suspected of smuggling drugs into Taiwan by concealing them in luggage or inside her body, RTI reported.

Authorities said the woman had swallowed 72 oval-shaped capsules containing a total of 289.1 grams of heroin, with an estimated street value of about NT$3.6 million.

The capsules were tightly wrapped in plastic. Investigators said the method posed a serious risk to her life because if the outer wrapping were damaged by stomach acid, the heroin could leak into her body.

She was taken to hospital, where authorities administered medication to help her pass the capsules naturally. It took 10 days for all 72 capsules to be recovered, according to RTI.

The woman, who works as a Muay Thai instructor, was placed under close 24-hour supervision during the process because of her physical strength, authorities said.

She has since been handed over for prosecution under Taiwan’s drug control laws. The Kaohsiung Prosecutors Office has filed the case with the court, which ordered her detention while legal proceedings continue.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2026/08/19/thai-woman-caught-at-taiwan-airport-with-72-heroin-capsules-in-her-stomach/

You old heads said this would quickly pass when this started, or is it normal for these things to last for months? I was in the housing market now I'm on a holding pattern, so I might need to settle for a condo, but of course I will rent instead of buy.

At first I thought the reason for the crackdowns was the frquently promised effort on enforcement, or to address the home affordability the issue that my Thai co-workers talk about. However, the housing crackdown hasn't touched greater Bangkok, as I havent heard of any efforts against Bangkok homes.

So is it a case of someone wanting the land in prime tourist spots? Corporations, rich Thais, or recent arrived foreigners with more money and pull than the retirement focused buyers of the past?

1. Samui Exotic Park is located on Koh Samui in Surat Thani Province. It is a small zoo or farm-style petting zoo where visitors can interact with and feed the animals. Most of the animals are exotic species that are not native to the area, such as raccoons, meerkats, iguanas, giant tortoises, and others.
2. The zoo has only been open for about one year and three months. It is owned by “Jin Jindarat,” a Thai woman, and her French-Italian husband, Kevin Dimino, from Lyon. He is a former boxer who has lived in Thailand for more than 10 years.

The Unacceptable Behavior of Some Tourists:

1. According to Jin, many Israeli tourists have behaved inappropriately. She said they have, among other things: ◾️ Refused to pay the admission fee, saying they wanted to look around first and would pay if they liked the place, or simply leave if they did not. ◾️ Refused to buy animal feed and instead took food from other visitors’ baskets, claiming it was not stealing because the zoo did not have a sign saying “Do not take.” ◾️ Teased animals, such as squeezing milk onto a pig’s nose and filming themselves laughing about it. ◾️ Allegedly abused animals, including hitting them on the head with spoons, slapping them, or kicking them to keep them from coming close. ◾️ Failed to supervise their children, disturbing other visitors and allowing children to misbehave and open cages, causing animals to escape. ◾️ Refused to wait their turn and took animals away from other visitors who were feeding them. On one occasion, someone grabbed a monkey away, causing it to become frightened and bite them. The person then demanded compensation and a refund from the zoo. ◾️ Visiting the lion area requires a separate fee. Some Israeli visitors allegedly refused to pay and instead tried to enter alongside paying visitors. ◾️ Allegedly removed their children’s shoes so that the children would step in animal feces, then demanded a ticket refund, claiming the zoo was poorly managed.
2. At first, Jin tried to be patient. Whenever Israeli tourists arrived, she would ask staff to follow them and pay particular attention to the group, which helped reduce some of the problems.

The Final Straw and the Free Palestine Flag 🇵🇸:

1. But the incident that finally caused Jin and Kevin to lose patience involved an Israeli tourist who said he did not like birds. Jin told him not to enter the bird area, but he went in anyway. When a bird flew onto his shoulder, he allegedly slapped it, causing it to fall unconscious.
2. That was the final straw. Jin and her husband decided to put up a Free Palestine 🇵🇸 flag at the zoo. Jin insisted that it was not politically motivated and was not intended to support either side, but was more like to discourage Israeli tourists from using the zoo’s services.
3. After the flag was put up, the problems decreased, but a new issue emerged. When Israeli visitors saw the flag, they became upset, allegedly organized Jewish groups to descend on the zoo’s page, and posted waves of negative reviews despite never having visited the zoo. The reviews reportedly claimed that the zoo abused animals, that the animals were starving and extremely thin, and that the staff were rude and the place was dirty. They also allegedly sent threatening messages and demanded that the Palestinian flag be removed.

Viral Video, Controversy, and Racism Allegations:

1. The controversy then reached a peak and the zoo’s story went viral worldwide when an Israeli couple told foreign media that, in mid-July 2026, they had taken their 6- and 9-year-old daughters on a trip to Koh Samui, and the children really wanted to visit the zoo.
2. The wife, Moran, said that the woman, Jin, initially welcomed her politely, but after learning that her family was from Israel, refused to let them enter. Moran said she tried to ask why, but Jin could not give her a reason.
3. Moran said Jin called a man, Kevin, over, and that he treated her family rudely, ordering them to leave and verbally abusing them. When she asked his name, she said he replied, “F**k you,” and attempted to headbutt her husband. Even after the family had left, she said he threw a piece of foam board after them. She had recorded the incident, and the video went viral around the world.
4. Moran and her husband viewed the incident as clear racial discrimination, saying that such conduct is illegal and should not be tolerated internationally.

"Tony”:

Tony is a French Jew who previously served in the French military and was a leader of the French branch of the Jewish Defence League (JDL).

Tony has since moved permanently to Israel and established himself as an influencer who campaigns against people he considers anti-Semitic. He frequently gives interviews to various media outlets about Israel and Palestine.

Social Media War, Harassment, and Incitement:

1. Tony discussed Moran’s case and Samui Exotic Park’s treatment of Israeli visitors on his platforms, and also gave interviews to Israeli and French media. This reportedly angered Jewish people in Koh Samui, Israel, and France.
2. In early August 2026, Jewish social media users whom Tony had allegedly rallied descended on the zoo’s page again, flooding it with one-star reviews and sending various threatening messages, including threats to destroy the business, physically harm the owners, and force it to shut down. The messages also allegedly included sexual harassment and derogatory comments targeting Thai women, such as threats to send Jin to work in a strip club for a few cents.
3. Jin said that on some days she and her husband received as many as 80 to 90 threatening messages. Some people reportedly invoked Israel’s aid to Thailand, saying that because the Israeli government had helped Thai people in many ways, they therefore had a right to have a say there.

You can continue with the uncensored story from this page. This has gone too far and is starting to look more like a feud between foreigners, with Thailand being used as a proxy --->

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14qBbHJjD98/

I'm curious about how people actually handle this.

If you bring homemade food to work, what do you normally do when there's no microwave available?

1. Eat it cold?
2. Buy lunch instead?
3. Use another heating method?
4. Bring something that doesn't need heating?
5. Something else?

And what's the most annoying part about your current solution?

On August 17, 2026, at 4:00 p.m., Phuket Governor Chotinarin Kerdsom assigned Pol. Capt. Khetrath Chansilp, Deputy Governor of Phuket who is serving as an acting security adviser at the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, to inspect businesses in Patong, Kathu District, Phuket, following a complaint that a foreign-owned shop had refused to serve Thai customers. Officials from the Phuket Provincial Employment Office and the Kathu District administrative office joined the inspection to establish the facts and ensure that businesses were operating in accordance with the law.

The inspection was part of the government’s efforts to regulate businesses and strengthen oversight of foreign-owned businesses, particularly those that may involve the use of Thai nationals as nominees or proxy shareholders. It also aimed to ensure public safety and boost tourists’ confidence. The inspection focused on establishing the facts concerning the businesses’ operations, those with management authority, relevant documents, and business practices, in order to prevent Thai nationals from illegally holding shares or acting on behalf of foreign nationals.

Pol. Capt. Khetrath Chansilp, Deputy Governor of Phuket, said that in addition to the business that was the subject of the complaint, officials had also been instructed to inspect businesses that appeared to cater exclusively to foreign customers, including shops that prominently use Hebrew in their advertising or promotional materials. He stressed that business operators must treat both Thai and foreign customers fairly, avoid discrimination, and strictly comply with Thai law.

Phuket authorities will continue to step up inspections and regulate businesses in the province. If violations are found or there is evidence suggesting the use of Thai nationals as nominees or proxies, legal action will be taken strictly in accordance with the relevant laws, with the facts and evidence serving as the basis for enforcement. The measures are intended to ensure fairness in business operations while strengthening confidence in public safety and Phuket’s tourism image.

On August 17, Rewat Areerob, president of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO), said he had submitted a letter to the Minister of Labour asking the ministry to consider addressing the issue and introducing urgent measures concerning the impact of foreign workers in Phuket. The Phuket PAO has received complaints and heard concerns from local residents, while its monitoring of quality-of-life development and public health found that Phuket currently has a large number of foreign workers entering the workforce. This has led to overcrowding in state medical and public health services.

Rewat said the issue was particularly serious in cases where foreign workers give birth at public hospitals in the area, which directly affects local residents in terms of the convenience and speed of access to medical services, limitations on staff and hospital beds, as well as the overall burden on household living costs and public health budgets. Other ongoing problems have also been identified, including some groups of foreign workers taking jobs from Thai citizens, overcrowded communities, and concerns over the safety of local residents and their property. These problems have had a significant impact on the way of life, local identity, and public order in Phuket.

The Phuket PAO president added that, as a large local administrative organization responsible for providing public services, promoting social development and public health, and maintaining public order, the PAO is concerned about the hardships faced by local residents. However, the management of foreign workers, regulation of employment, and administration of certain welfare measures fall directly under the supervision and authority of the Ministry of Labour.

He therefore called on the Minister of Labour to implement urgent measures as follows: 1. In terms of public health welfare, he called for a review and stricter enforcement of the health insurance system for foreign workers, including withholding coverage for childbirth-related care, imposing controls on childbirth, and pushing for amendments to laws governing childbirth by foreign workers so that they would not be entitled to give birth in Thailand. He also called for measures requiring dependents and children of foreign workers to fully enroll in the health insurance system, in order to prevent local medical facilities from having to shoulder the medical costs and to reduce the impact on services provided to local residents. 2. In terms of employment controls and competition for jobs, he called for stricter inspections and enforcement against foreign workers who illegally work or engage in occupations reserved for Thai citizens,” Rewat said.

Kinda lame now. Travel card expired and was told to apply their new travel card. Went into their branch and the bank clerk said that foreigners can no longer apply for the new travel card. Kinda lame since I have a work permit here and paying the country tax.

It was one of the banks that allowed foreigners to apply for their travel card. KASIKORN's YouTrip was also just for Thai citizens.

Have used this travel card everywhere, the system was handy and convenient to use as well as the decent exchange rate.

While casually researching the military equipments of southeast asian countries, I find that thailand produces almost no any weapons domestically beside a little jeep; even the most basic rifles are imported from the united states. (and they had two completely different rifles: one is the HK33, known as the Type 51, infamous for their crapy, yet inexplicably still in production and limited to use only for those freshy rookies.once they enter service, they use a completely different rifle the american M16—what a weird practice, isn't it?).

I remember in the 1980s, Thailand had a pretty decent industry, being a big car producer in southeast asia countries, so why couldn't it even manufacture rifles? what happened to this country?

Does anyone else feel that once you start living in Thailand, that perhaps the inequality was purposefully designed? Like, the ruling elites (Chinese Thai) have absoluetly no desire to educate or improve the lives of native Thais. Does anyone else get this feeling or is it just me?

On August 18, Worasis Liangprasert, Deputy Minister of Interior (Interior Ministry No. 4), together with Pol. Gen. Samran Nualma, Deputy Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police; Pol. Lt. Gen. Siam Boonsom, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau; Pol. Lt. Gen. Nopasilp Poolsawat, Adviser to the Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police; Pol. Maj. Gen. Chotiwat Lueangwilai, Commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s Investigation Division; Pol. Maj. Gen. Worasak Phisitbannakorn, Commander of Metropolitan Police Division 1; and officials from relevant agencies, mobilized more than 100 officers to raid seven locations in an operation dubbed “Clean House in the Capital.” The operation targeted Din Daeng flats over alleged corruption involving the fraudulent registration of foreign nationals in household registration records. Seven arrest warrants were issued: three for state officials, three for officials and brokers, and one for a witness who certified signatures.

The operation followed an investigation by the DOPA N.I.C.E. task force between April and June 2026. The team inspected the Din Daeng District Office and found irregularities involving large numbers of people being registered at just a few addresses. The investigation was then expanded to the Din Daeng flats, which contain 5,726 rooms. Authorities found that at least 1,366 foreign children aged 5 to 15 were listed in household registration records.

The investigation uncovered evidence linking state officials to a network of brokers. They allegedly approved the registration of large numbers of foreign children within short periods, even though the system had flagged addresses with more than 16 registered residents. Investigators also found that documents had been signed in advance and that the signatures of household heads had allegedly been forged before being used to support applications for identification cards for people without Thai nationality.

Investigators subsequently gathered evidence and asked the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases to issue arrest warrants for seven people:

Three state officials: Mr. Pitha, Mr. Suk, and Ms. Nee.

Three household heads, intermediaries and brokers: Ms. Na (household head), Ms. Si (intermediary), and Ms. Ya (broker).

One witness who certified signatures: Ms. Phae.

The operation resulted in the arrest of all seven suspects named in the warrants. They were taken into custody for legal proceedings, while authorities continued investigating to identify additional people involved.

Foreign nationals whose names were fraudulently entered into the system could receive a “Pink Card No. 7,” allowing them to live and conduct transactions in Thailand in accordance with rights provided by law, including access to basic education, healthcare and various financial transactions such as opening bank accounts. Authorities said this could potentially be linked to mule accounts, scammers or transnational criminal networks.

The operation was carried out in accordance with the policy of Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who ordered a serious crackdown on corruption involving civil registration records because it could affect national security and potentially be linked to various forms of crime.

The Royal Thai Police urged household heads and others involved in suspicious registrations of individuals at the Din Daeng flats to report to investigators at Din Daeng Police Station as soon as possible. Their cooperation would be taken into consideration in the legal proceedings. However, if evidence shows that they were involved and deliberately concealed information, authorities said they would face legal action to the fullest extent of the law.

Uncovering a 10,000 to 100,000 baht pink card scam. A closer look at why the "Pink Card No. 7" is so coveted by foreigners that some even resort to fraud.

1. The right to reside and travel in various areas like Thai citizens.
2. The right to conduct various transactions.
3. Children have the right to education.
4. The right to healthcare and the ability to purchase various health insurance plans.
5. The most desired benefit: after living in Thailand for 10 years and obtaining a bachelor's degree, the ability to apply for naturalization.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Te3BTSZnx/

ทลายขบวนการสวมสิทธิ์บัตรชมพู รวบ “ผู้ต้องหา-จนท.รัฐ” | Thai PBS news - YouTube

We are two German pensioners on Samui. We have one house, no business, no rental, no Thai income, and as of this year we are apparently a criminal enterprise.

[EDIT] because this has grown beyond what I expected. A number of comments here are using my story to make general statements about Thai people, or about Asians. I do not agree with any of it and I do not want it attached to what I wrote. My complaint is with one policy and how it is being applied, not with Thai people.

First our story, because it matters. Twelve years ago, after many trips to Ko Samui that we enjoyed, my wife and I decided to settle here. We built a house, and as it was finished we relocated here and sold our property in Germany.

Back then in 2014 it was more of a boots-on-the-ground process, at least for us. We found a plot with a "For sale" sign on it (in English!), we called, and it was an agent who put us in touch with a local lawyer. The lawyer told us that to buy land in Thailand we had to set up a special company. For everybody already screaming "it was illegal and you knew it": please read on, I will come to that.

The whole process at that time was very straightforward. 51% of the shares of the company were assigned to the lawyer himself and to one of his associates. That same associate sits as a shareholder in dozens of other companies. It was never a secret. It was the business model. He said it works more like a trust, that it is only for the land, and that we would have to pay for this service every year together with the audit and accounting fees. Which we still do today. Once the company was set up we had a meeting with the seller, a Thai family. We transferred the money and we all went together to the land office. The official checked the papers, took the fee, stamped it and wished us luck. It took forty minutes. Everybody in that room, the lawyers, the seller, the officials, knew exactly what was going on. We were not hiding. It looked normal. At the very same land office we even met another couple from the UK doing exactly the same thing through different lawyers, and we are still friends with them today.

Later we found a Thai architect and a construction company he recommended. We applied for and received a construction permit in my name. We never bribed anyone. After almost two long years (instead of the promised ten months), with the budget almost 150% over what we had planned, and after changing the construction company midway, our house was finished. We registered it, the house got its blue book, we got a yellow book with our names in it, and even foreigner "pink IDs". Again, the normal way, through the normal channels, without a single question.

We still live in this house. A couple of years ago we had to renovate it thoroughly, but for more than a decade it has been the only home we have. We built it the way we wanted to live in it, not the way you build something to sell. It is not a stack of bedrooms with ensuites. It has a very specific layout that only my wife and I understand, and I doubt there is a queue of buyers for that. We have never rented it out and never earned a single satang from it. We have never worked in Thailand, we have zero Thai-sourced income, and we have always been here on retirement visas.

Now, about whether we knew what a bad thing we were doing. I will not lie to you, I will tell you how it was and how it changed over time. At the time of the purchase it did not occur to me for a second that I was doing anything illegal. Firstly, in Germany the advice of a licensed lawyer protects you from legal mistakes to a certain extent, and it keeps the lawyer responsible. Secondly, believe it or not, at that time this was the standard way, offered everywhere, and it stayed that way until very recently. Nobody questioned it. It also looked fine to me logically. I still do not get why the shareholders my lawyer provided are called "nominees". For me a nominee is somebody you put in place to hide behind while you do something shady, and who might not even know that he is one. Mine are paid a fee they agreed to take, every year, with invoices. I sit in the same company holding 49% of the shares. I am on the building permit. My name is on the house. If I was hiding, I did the worst job in history.

But yes, I promised to be direct about "whether I understood". As Thai governments started to swap back and forth, I remember the first "crackdown". And yes, in expat circles the subject started to get discussed and I understood that it is a "grey" area. Not much more than that. To be honest, until very recently I was sure we were still on the safe side of it. We never did any rental, licensed or not, never any business, nothing like that. Quite the opposite: we kept investing and we even created a job. A wonderful Thai lady has been working for us as our maid for almost seven years now. We have maintenance contracts with Thai individuals and companies for the house. And we spend all of it here: our savings, and the returns they earn abroad. Our health insurance has paid a fortune into Thai hospitals for us. I must admit that we failed to learn Thai properly, but we tried twice, I swear! Overall, I cannot see the angle in which we did anything bad for this country.

I was sure that if a government tolerates this kind of setup for decades, allows people from all over the world to buy property this way and accepts their investment, it cannot suddenly become a criminal offence. The whole economy profited from it. I kept telling my buddies here: do not do unlicensed Airbnb, do not get involved in business, and you will be fine. My thinking even got its confirmation in June 2024, when the cabinet approved a study of a 99-year lease model. We waited for it. We planned to convert the day it landed. In September 2025 the new government quietly shelved it, because there was "insufficient time". So the legal door I was told to wait for was closed by the same people who now tell me that I used the wrong door.

It is important to mention that a 30-year leasehold in its current form would not be an option for us, and it is not an option for many families. As I said, in our case this is not an investment where we planned to take a quick return and then write it off, and it is not a holiday home. It is our only home. If I had leased in 2014 (and I swear, at that time nobody even discussed it!) my lease would run out when we are in our late eighties. That is not an age at which you can deal with something like this.

The last few months have been like a nightmare. When you read the numbers in the reports, and they say that of roughly 12,900 companies registered on this island more than 8,200 have foreign shareholders, that speaks for itself. I do not understand how a person with a brain can look at these numbers and not see what they say. It is not a hidden offence that somebody could overlook and that "offenders" could hide. It is not a case of bad foreigners tricking the government. It just proves my story: this was a multi-level government system, everybody knew, the officials allowed it, and everybody profited. But then I open the local Thai groups and read the comments, and people are celebrating. They are asking what kind of punishment awaits us foreigners who did this. They support it completely, and every next crackdown "report" gets more bizarre. Now I read that the authorities are going to look into the leasehold model, because it "allows foreigners to control land for decades". What the f*ck? Isn't that exactly what a lease is by design?

And it does not stop there. The Land Department's own screening list from May tells the land offices to look at Thai spouses, at minor children, at usufructs, at powers of attorney, and at companies with foreign-sounding names. This week I read that they have started investigating naturalised Thai citizens as nominees, and that changing the naturalisation law is being considered. So the answer to "then become Thai" is now also under review. And since the first of August the DBD stamps the shareholder list it issues with a note saying that the registrar does not certify that it is accurate. That is the state's own document, about the state's own register.

The anti-foreigner agenda is spreading like mould, and within a matter of months I do not feel welcome in the place I call home. I have a clear feeling that all of a sudden my wife and I became witches, and that a witch hunt is happening around us.

And let me tell you what happens if we lose, because I had to look that up myself. Under the Land Code the Director-General orders the land sold within 180 days to a year, and I get the money back minus a 5% fee. That is today. In February the cabinet took up a proposal to change it so that the land simply goes to the State and I get nothing. In July the Ombudsman proposed treating all of this as money laundering, which brings asset seizure with it. So the punishment is still being written while the arrests are already running.

And here is the part nobody has explained to me. The house is legally mine. Foreigners can own buildings in Thailand, the permit is in my name, that part was never grey. Only the land under it is the problem. So when they force the sale, some Thai buyer gets a plot of land with a German's house standing on it. With an unusual layout and a playroom for grandchildren. Good luck to everybody involved.

And I am not asking for forgiveness or a free pass. Give me a registered lease for whatever years I have left. Charge a fee for it. Tax it. Fine me. I will pay, and so will almost everybody I know in this situation. What I cannot do is comply with a rule that does not exist yet. There is no amnesty, no grandfathering, no window, nothing in any published draft. Name the price and most of us would pay it tomorrow.

So, as the title says, I really want to ask the Thai people of this sub a question. Even if you are not one of those celebrating on Facebook: do you understand what this policy has already done, and what is going to happen next? If our house gets taken, we leave, and we never come back. Neither we nor many of our friends in the same position will play games with another workaround or with bribes. We will simply be gone. And do not ask where we go back to. We sold that house to build this one.

And we will not go alone. To name just a few: our maid loses her job after seven years. The gardener, the pool guy, the electrician, the aircon company, the accountant who has been billing us every year for a company that the state now says should never have existed, all of them lose a customer. Our insurance stops paying Thai hospitals. And the Thai family who sold us that land in 2014, in front of a government official who stamped the papers and took the fee, what are they now? Criminals too? Or is it only us?

So tell me what you actually win. I heard a theory that foreigners pushed the prices up until locals could not buy any more. Nobody was robbed. Thai families sold this land, at prices they named themselves, to buyers they met face to face, in a government office, and they took the money and went home. Ours did. And it is the children of those families who cannot sell today.

Because when a forced sale happens, who is standing there with the cash? By most estimates nine out of ten villa buyers on this island are foreign, and foreigners have just been shown what their paperwork is worth. So a house like ours goes for a fraction of what it cost to build, and whoever picks it up is the one with money and patience, and let us be honest, sometimes the one who knew the raid was coming. That is not land going back to poor local Thai people. That is land changing hands cheaply.

One thing did make me laugh recently, in a bad way. This weekend the residents of Bang Rak, Thai people, not foreigners, stood in their own road holding a banner asking whether it could please be put back the way it was. Roadworks that drag on and on, dangerous for traffic, killing every business on that stretch. I drive it several times a week. It has been a mess for over a year. So the same administration that can put three hundred officers, five agencies and a press conference onto a villa raid in a single morning cannot finish one beach road. And that is the machine we are told will now take custody of a few thousand houses. Uff.

And what is really being destroyed here is not the property market. It is the worth of a Thai signature. A stamp from a Thai land office, a company registered by a Thai registrar, the written advice of a Thai licensed lawyer: all of it turned out to mean nothing twelve years later. You are not chasing away an enemy. You are chasing away the people who brought their money here, spent it here, employed your people, paid your hospitals and never asked your state for one single baht.

So what is the reason for all the applause and celebration on Facebook? I really do not get it. Take the house. Just do not act surprised in a few years when the only people left to sell to are each other.

P.S. And one thing for the foreigners reading this who are still thinking about buying here, or who believe a lease keeps them safe. At a press conference this weekend an official said that leaseholds need to be checked, because they allow foreigners to control land for decades (what a surprise!). Until now that was the absolutely safe way, and I cannot get my head around it. You already know my story. There was another setup that was widely offered and considered legal too, not long ago: the 30+30+30 leasehold. That one was killed by a Supreme Court decision. Now the Land Department circular from May puts usufructs, superficies, powers of attorney, Thai spouses and minor children on the same checklist. So before you sign anything, ask yourself not whether it is legal this month, but whether the same institutions telling you it is fine will still be saying that in twelve years. They told me.