Transcript of the above video:

I don't often issue one of these videos, make one of these videos where we put "ALERT" in the title. I hope folks that routinely watch this channel understand that hyperbole is not something I am striving for on this channel. A lot of people ask me, they say you could do things, my colleague for example Andrew, he's in a very different part of the YouTube space and this channel was set up in a very different time and for a different purpose than for example what he undertakes in his YouTube endeavours albeit he does stuff, he collabs with us on our Integrity Legal Network channel, but I didn't make this channel because I was interested in YouTubing per se. I really appreciate YouTube as a platform. The reason for the channel is to provide information to foreign nationals who are looking to live and work and do business and reside in Thailand and over the years, I have found in roughly the first 10 years I lived here in Thailand a lot of the forums, a lot of the platforms that are putting out information to foreigners, it's a mixed bag. There is information which in my mind is completely dubious, then there's other information out there where I think people are operating in good faith but they are not really putting out overly accurate information and then there is some information that is just intentionally misleading. And what I have strived for with this channel is to provide again insight to foreigners living here in Thailand primarily and how the system sort of operates, general insight basically.

The purpose of this video is this recent case involving this foreign man down in Phuket and these negative interactions with some Thai people, at the end of the day it really is a property case, it arose in a property context and it quickly branched out to other things as there is an alleged assault involved. I'll let people just go to the relevant articles. We will cite one here that's going to have a lot of information but I will let you go to the internet to really get the full story because at the end of the day we are not exactly News on this channel, I'm here to provide insight regarding analysis, sort of from the standpoint of just kind of general expat analysis from the standpoint of an American Attorney's perspective, I guess that's the best way to put it.

The long story short though is I think this case is very important. Foreigners should keep an eye on this, that is why it is worth the alert. There's a lot going on here: scrutiny of business is a big one; scrutiny of foundations as we have discussed in other videos made contemporaneously with this one. Also as I'll get into later in this video, scrutiny of foreigners owning property in Thailand I think is going to be heightened in the aftermath of this and on top of this, the immigration ramifications which I have discussed at length in other videos as well. There is a lot going on here. All of it is directly relevant to foreigners looking to live and work and do business and just reside here and maintain their own property benefits etc. 

Quoting directly from a recent article in the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Immigration to review Swiss man's visa after beach assault. Quoting directly: "Immigration police will review the Visa of a Swiss national at the centre of an assault case in Phuket said Deputy Phuket Governor Adult Chuthong, adding they are the ones with the authority to make any decisions on Visa-related matters." Quoting further: I'm going to say name redacted, I don't like using people who are accused names on this channel but, name redacted, "so this foreigner came under intense scrutiny after he was reported by 26-year-old Thandao Chandan, a doctor at Dibuk Hospital, for assault after he kicked Dr Thandao and her friend in their backs as they said stargazing on the beach in front of the villa rented by him on Feb 24th."

First off let's be clear, that's the accusation. As of now that remains an allegation, we have yet to see due process fully play out and see a conviction in this case regarding the underlying facts. We have yet to see a Judicial Authority here in Thailand make findings of facts and conclusions of law so for now but we should consider those allegations. Quoting further: "He claimed the pair were trespassing on his property, but a subsequent investigation determined the steps were built on public land. Mr Adul said this foreigner had been given 30 days to remove them. If he did not comply, local authorities will dismantle them and charge him the cost of the work." So again, the thing to take away from this video is this fundamentally arose as a result of effectively a property dispute if we are to believe the fact pattern that's being presented and the allegations that have been made. Let's presume that they are all correct for just hypothetical purposes for the educational purpose of this video, let's presume that they are correct. At the end of the day this resulted from a property dispute. One person saying "hey you are on my property" and it turns out that this person wasn't but on top of that, even if there's a property dispute, it's never okay to engage in assault. In this case again that is what is alleged; we haven't seen an outcome regarding an adjudication but presuming that that is what happened, it's never okay to assault anybody as a result of a property dispute. 

But set that aside, understand, I think this is ALERT worthy because I think we may see some heightened scrutiny generally across the board of foreigners who are living and working in Thailand long term. The other thing to keep in mind is look these issues of encroachment are not small matters. I have often dealt with foreigners here in Thailand that take a very almost cavalier approach to the Thai Legal system, "oh it's nothing to worry about at,” “oh, it's just some formality." That is how the law works.  "Technicalities" and "formalities", that's nonsensical verbiage when you are talking about the law. If the law says something and if you are clearly, again property demarcations, they use laser guidance from satellites here in Thailand to demarcate the division between property in a real estate context. They are very well aware of where property lines begin and end and again taking this sort of cavalier attitude is just generally not a particularly good idea; nor is it a particularly good idea for Foreigners in Thailand to behave badly generally speaking; nor is it a particularly good idea to believe that Thai Law is something that can just be sort of dismissed or shirked off without any kind of consequence to the foreigner in question.