Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing "Big Joke" yet again. He has definitely been the topic on a lot of videos we made lately; a lot of information coming out about him. For those who are unaware Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn that's his sort of nickname, he was the Head of Thai Immigration. He has had a rather interesting career. You can basically just go to the search function in this channel, type in Big Joke go all the way back to the oldest video and watch up to now and you can see sort of see the history. It is kind of why we continue to talk about him because he came on my radar when we were dealing with him in an Immigration context and then we sort of kept pace with what was going on with him and now it looks like he is in the running to be the next National Police Chief, although that remains to be seen. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: PM likely to pick new top cop. Quoting directly: "As the formation of a new government coalition drags on, the appointment of a new National Police Chief, which must be finalized by the end of this month, is likely to be overseen by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in his capacity as Chairman of the Police Commission. The successor to Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, who is due to retire on September 30, will be appointed under Section 78 (1) of the National Police Act. This section empowers the Prime Minister to appoint a Police Chief from a list of deputies based on seniority, calibre and experience, especially in investigation or suppression." Quoting further: "There are four Deputy National Police Chiefs who are in line to be nominated for the top job. Ranked by the most senior, they are Pol Gen Roy Ingkapairote, Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol, Pol Gen Kithirat Phanphet, and Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, (that's Big Joke as we have discussed in the past.)" Quoting further: "According to police sources within the police ranks, only Pol Gen Torsak and Pol Gen Surachate, both high profile figures, are considered strong contenders for the top post, thanks to their work experience." 

So interesting there. It remains to be seen who exactly will be the next top cop here in Thailand but it does appear that a familiar face is sort of in the running as it were. Now again there's no foregone conclusions with respect to this; I have no idea how this will all play out. Quite honestly it's something of an accident that we ended up reporting on "Big Joke" to begin with because again he came to my attention when he was the Head of the Immigration Police and since then he has been a topic that folks that watch this channel do like to keep up on, so I do periodically make videos. 

Now recently he made a lot of comments about the Thai Retirement Visa for example and certain aspects of Immigration and issues associated with foreigners coming in from abroad, committing crimes and the necessity to deal with that accordingly. So we have talked about him a lot lately but yeah this is kind of a different development insofar as, again remains to be seen if he will ultimately end up being the National Police Chief but we will keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.