Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Interior Minister here in Thailand Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul. His name apparently popped up as it looks like he's going to end up investigating some incident involving apparently a fairly large number of foreigners behaving badly up in the Pai region here in Thailand. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thai police chief vows crackdown on unruly expats. Quoting directly: "Thai Police Chief Kittharath Punpetch has set a seven-day deadline for officers to investigate foreign nationals living in Pai District of Mae Hong Son for alleged illegal activities and causing public disturbances." So for those who are unaware, if you go back about now 6 months, 9 months, a year - I  don't remember exactly when we started talking about this - but under the Police Chiefdom of Mr. Torsak, Pol Gen Torsak, they had already begun this more close-working together between standard RTP, the Royal Thai Police, and the Immigration Bureau wherein the Command of the Royal Thai Police began asking for updates, direct updates from the Immigration Bureau. That was a big deal, and we are seeing this continue to play out that the head of Thai Police is starting to ask things of Immigration and directing them to do things and setting deadlines for them to come back with reports or conclusions or report of what was done. Again, this is pretty new, and these are major developments in terms of procedurally how these things work. So, I think it's noteworthy to point that out. That said, quoting further: "The order comes amid a growing number of complaints directed at Israelis living in the northern tourist town, which has also led to misinformation circulating online." They get into all this misinformation, I'm really sick and tired of everybody going on and on about disinformation, misinformation. Look, we used to know that in the world, rumours pop up and you hear things, you go investigate and you figure out what the truth is. That used to be the metric. There's a rumour, we go figure out truth. None of this misinformation disinformation. My favourite is malinformation which they came up with which now Housing and Human Services Secretary Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought up actually, I think in prior Congressional testimony where he talked about “malinformation” is information that maybe true but they call it "Mal"-information because it might be inconvenient to the narrative. In any event, how about we just call things what they are. It's just information, data points, rumours and until you basically investigate, you don't know what the truth is. Stop using these Neo-Marxist terms, it's stupid. That said, quoting further: "Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday dismissed reports that any Israelis who settled in Pai had posted signs to ban Thais from entering their properties." Well okay, based on what? Did you go up there yourself? How can you dismiss it out of hand? Do you know? I mean maybe it didn't happen. But when I read that, I thought well did she go there? Why did she just dismiss that? Now I'm not saying it occurred but if it did, it's a real problem. There shouldn't be anybody, posting anything, anywhere in Thailand telling Thais they can't come in anywhere. That's just awful on a level I can't really put into words, articulate very well. But that being said, to dismiss it out of hand, it may not have occurred but what was that based on, that dismissal? What data points was the dismissal based on? 

That said, quoting further: "The actual population of Israelis in Pai is estimated to be around 3,000..” - and bear in mind, Pai is not a huge town so 3,000 although not a big number in the grand scheme of things, probably is a pretty disproportionate number of folks in that particular area. That said, quoting further: "..according to local media reports. The popularity of Pai with Israelis is such that a chabad - Hebrew for Community Center - has been built not far from the local police station. It serves as a multi-purpose gathering place where Jewish religious services are also held. Some local residents, however, have complained that a lot of noisy parties are held at the chabad of Pai." Quoting further: "Some Thai restaurants in the town have reportedly banned Israelis. Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul plans to visit the community next week to get a better idea of what is going on." Quoting further: "Pol Gen Kittharath, meanwhile, has ordered officers nationwide to look into reports of foreigners behaving badly in many areas." Let me state that again. I think that's worth repeating. Pol Gen Kittharath" - bear in mind, that is the Head of all Thai police - "has ordered officers nationwide to look into reports of foreigners behaving badly in many areas.

As I have discussed in many other videos, after high season we always see this in Thailand. There's always sort of a tightening up with regard to Immigration with regard to Law Enforcement here. We come off the high season, it's kind of free and easy, party, party and then, "hey What are you doing here? Are you living here? If so, why are you living here? Do you have a reason for living here? Are you somebody that is causing a lot of problems?” Thai police steam to be pretty intent upon for stalling any of those problems. That said, quoting further: "Some had violated the law by creating public disturbances as well as being involved in activities that might tarnish the country's image and national security, said Pol Gen Achayon Kraithong, spokesman for the Royal Thai Police. The National Police Chief ordered the Metropolitan Police Bureau and Provincial Police Regions 1 - 9 to work with the Immigration Bureau to investigate foreign nationals and groups who acted inappropriately." I read that again: "to work with the Immigration Bureau to investigate foreign nationals and groups who acted inappropriately."  And if you look above, it's not just for this incident, it's nationwide. I almost want to make an ALERT on this, but I don't think I will. Quoting further: "They have been told to report information to the Combating Transnational Criminals and Illegal Immigrants Centre.." - which is interesting. So, there is a Combating Transnational Criminals and Illegal Immigrants Centre somewhere. Quoting further: "..which would draw up an operational plan to crack down on them, said Pol. Lt. General Achayon." Quoting further: "All police stations were also asked to investigate whether appropriate legal action was taken against foreign nationals found violating the law, said the Police Spokesman. The Police Chief has given them a seven-day deadline to respond. The Immigration Bureau has also been asked to consider revoking permits of foreign national's whose behaviour posed a risk to society." I state that again: "The Immigration Bureau has also been asked to consider revoking permits of foreign nationals whose behaviour posed a risk to society, affecting peace and public safety." 

Again, I cannot reiterate this enough. The Interior Minister is now involved, the Head of the Thai Police and now they are telling Immigration Bureau directly, you have seven days so we can see some progress, and this is a nationwide initiative. Again it looks like this may have been sparked by whatever's been going on in Pai, but it looks like we are going to have to be dealing with this nationwide and we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as this situation evolves.