Transcript of the above video:

Wow there is a lot going on in the political and public policy spaces here in Thailand, especially as it pertains to the sort of “reshuffle” of the Cabinet which I don't even know why we have still got the same Prime Minister at this point, but I made a lot of videos on that topic. Long story short, it looks like we are getting a new Interior Minister.

There was something in this in the past six weeks that has really been bugging me and that is that it seems like the “Core Coalition” Party was doing everything in its power to antagonize the Bhumjaithai Party which was the second largest member of the Coalition up until a few days ago. When they pulled out and Anutin Charnvirakul, the former Interior Minister, said ‘fine, we're out, we are now part of the opposition, we're done’. It bothered me because there was a stable Coalition and everybody was working together and you could have seen a situation where we could see years ahead in the future - another 2 years minimum - where that Coalition could have worked together and everybody could have benefited. And I kept asking myself why is that? I've talked to friends, some have said, "well it's Thaksin Shinawatra's ego". and I'm like yeah, maybe there is some of that and it might be, but the tone didn't seem right; it didn't seem like that was the issue. And then I was talking to somebody, and I was like why are they trying to get this Interior Ministry? What is behind this? And then a friend of mine said something that hit me like a ton of bricks. He said, "remember that Casino Bill where there's no provision in there that restricts foreign ownership." I made a prior video, it was actually titled: So now foreigners will own Casinos in Thailand outright, and in that video we actually cited from the Bangkok Post I believe - there was somebody we were quoting where they were talking about - they said, "hey there's still nothing in the Bill that would prohibit foreigners from owning the casino out right." and my friend said, "oh hey, that could be the reason for the Interior Ministry" because under Section 96 bis which we have discussed in other videos, under the Civil and Commercial Code here or under the Land Code I should say, excuse me, it is possible under certain circumstances for foreigners to own land if the Interior Minister signs off on it. Well the putative Interior Minister is set to be Ms. Paetongtarn's right-hand man to this point, Phumtham Wechayachai, and quoting directly from the Bangkok Post - and this is actually Bangkok Post print edition, New Cabinet Lineup 'almost finished'. Phumtham Wechayachai, who is currently the Defense Minister, will be named as the new Interior Minister, though he will remain a Deputy Prime Minister in the new Cabinet."

Now that was really interesting to me. He's going to be made Interior Minister. Interior Minister has the authority to sign off on land being transferred to foreign nationals and there is still no provision in the Casino Bill for foreigners not being able to own these Casinos. And I find it very concerning the idea of foreigners being able to own casinos outright in Thailand. To paraphrase Ross Perot in the debates of 1992, "I view that as a giant sucking sound of money out of Thailand". Now where it goes, who cares, it’s just not going to be here. But then the question is, "are they planning to allow these people to own the land on which these Casinos are built as well?" It's a good question and one that apparently is also of concern to the House Speaker. Again print edition of the Bangkok Post, Speaker tells Government to get its Act together. Quoting directly: "Mr. Wan Noor also recommended that the Government refrain from pushing ahead with controversial issues when asked if the narrow majority can derail the national budget and the Casino Entertainment Complex Bill." So the point here being is now with Bhumjaithai being out of the coalition - so presumably they may or may not be voting with the current Coalition in favour of the budget - can they pass the budget? And then Mr. Wan Noor Mattha seems to be sort of saying, "well you may be able to do it but do you really want to try to push this Casino Bill at the same time?" Quoting further: "The Entertainment Complex Bill is already listed on the House's agenda with a parliamentary session expected on July 9 to debate the Bill."

Real quickly here. I want to do a quick plug. We do have our Integrity paid news service; I've discussed this in other videos. I am doing longer form content more for an expat audience here in Thailand; Southeast Asian based, Thailand expat sort of centric. Generally speaking, I am making about two of these a week. They are coming out to about 30 minutes a piece. It's longer form content than what we do on here. Currently I am charging 2,000 baht for the remainder of the year and then we are going to kind of reassess things at the beginning of the year on how we're going to deal with billing and things on that. But paid news service, 2,000 baht plus VAT. If you are interested, [email protected]. Also, Pancake Palace. I have discussed in other videos, my better half and I have opened a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok between Silom and Surawong Road. Pretty much across from Bangkok Bank headquarters. It's Pancake Palace, it's American diner style food; we've got all day breakfast, we've got cheeseburgers, we've got buffalo wings, we've got great chilli. We hope to see folks down there, and let me now get back to our analysis. 

So again, this Entertainment Complex Bill has become, and I have talked about this in other videos, I was kind of open to the idea of legalization of gambling in Thailand if it was done right. But every iteration of this, the way that this has moved since we have seen any movement on it, it's not in a positive direction for Thailand. At one point I did a video where they are not even really showing us the Bill. Reuters got to see it and a bunch of foreign massive gaming conglomerates got to see the Bill, but we are just getting these sort of bits and pieces and sort of secondhand commentary on what the thing looks like. Meanwhile, as discussed in another video, it looks like there's still no provision in there that precludes foreigners from owning these things out right. And now I have to ask the question, is this new Interior Minister being put in there specifically to allow foreigners to then own the land for the Casino complex? And again, getting back to what we were quoting here, it seems like the Speaker of the House has his own concerns about this. Quoting further: "He said the Government and opposition Whips should hold talks if the Casino-entertainment Complex Bill remains the priority…" That's an interesting turn of phrase there. Is the Government prioritizing this Casino Complex Bill and are they putting in an Interior Minister that could sign off on allowing foreigners to not only own the complex outright, but own the land underlying it, in pretty much massive contravention of well-accepted public policy here in Thailand, okay? And if they're doing that, why? What is the inducement for that? And how does it benefit Thailand in any way, for foreigners to be able to own the land and the ongoing enterprise which as I said would be like a giant sucking sound of money out of Thailand, and lead to all kinds of social ills for the average rank and file Thai person. Quoting further: "…and stressed that a delay in the Budget Bill passage could cause serious problems." Yeah, that's a good call. 

Look, there are those out there that have said, "well, everybody is kind of putting up with the current Prime Minister because they want to get through the budget reading so that that can be enacted, so that everybody can basically get the money flowing." I understand the argument. My retort is, we have five people on a wait list right now in the Parliament that could become Prime Minister the moment she steps out. You can convene Parliament, vote on somebody new, and then move on and then go deal with the budget. So I don't really buy that okay, I just don't. I think if that could be dealt with if there was a political will there. Meanwhile though, of more pressing concern to my mind, especially for purposes of this video are, is this all being done in some orchestrated attempt to allow foreigners to not only completely own the Casino Enterprise, but the underlying land on which a Casino would sit here in the Kingdom of Thailand?