Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well we are discussing the notion of foreigners owning land in Thailand, or changes being made to things like the Thai Condominium Act which would allow for foreigners to own more than 49% of a given condo which is controversial because that would maybe allow foreign nationals to take control of condo complexes i.e. the real estate underlying the complex, and this is something that is very concerning to Thais. 

I thought about making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: A better property deal for foreigners could mean saving or selling Thailand. Quoting directly: "Reforming Thailand's property laws is not new." Well maybe they should say non-reformance or reformation of Thai property laws. Look, this comes up every now and then. It seems like it sort of comes up with spikes in like the high season, foreigners being here and the demand amongst foreigners to buy Thai land effectively, and there are certain opportunists in Thailand that maybe want to see that happen, but the result often, if it's not always, inevitably is yeah, it's not happening. That said, quoting further: "The military-backed Government following the 2014 coup approved a regulation for foreigners investing at least 40 million Baht might purchase a rai of land, but withdrew consent after a storm of protest." Yeah, including from people like me. Let's also be clear, that wasn't the military government. They came up with - and I mean this is kind of semantic - but they came up with that if I recall in 2021, tried to roll it out in 2022; we were dealing with subsequent governments at that point. Now they were primarily stacked with people from that prior iteration, but I mean to say that it's the same thing as the military government of 2014, not quite accurate. Now that being said, it actually came from the most conservative, one of the most conservative factions in Thailand the notion of "well for 40 million Baht, we might let you own a rai of land." Thais including myself are like no, we don't want that, we don't care about the money, okay? It's about the integrity of the nation. I think that's what foreigners aren't really understanding especially those that come from countries that quite frankly have already sold out their own property to foreigners, they just don't seem to be able to understand the paradigm, well that's the paradigm. Nobody cares about the money particularly, or the folks that are against it, don't really care what price you put on it. What price do you put on Thailand? Explain that to me. Quoting further: "The resistance to the junta," by the way, I have never liked them using the word "junta". That's like a South American thing. I like Shogun, like the Shogunists. I mean I think that's more appropriate; it's East Asia. In any event, "The resistance to the junta was sparked by several groups, including the then opposition Phue Thai party which is now in the driving seat." Well sort of in the driving seat. They are a party within the coalition. Quoting further: "Whatever proposals are adopted by Thailand's Parliament in 2025, if any, one feature is already very obvious. The devil will look in the detail."

Well, you know what? I am here to tell you, I hope I Parliament adopts no measures allowing foreigners to own land. I'm sorry, it's not good policy for Thailand, okay? Thailand needs to maintain her own integrity. Look at all the countries that allowed foreign ownership. How's that working out for everybody? I mean folks from the UK, what does London look like these days? I mean no offense to anybody, but you let a bunch of people in that aren't from where you're from, and you let them buy land, how's that going to work out? Again, this is a non-partisan issue in Thailand. This has nothing to do with party politics. I think pretty much all Thais agree, yeah we don't want foreign nationals owning land or controlling land in our country.