Thai Xenophobic Nonsense from Land Dept.

Lumphini Park 2007
Lumphini Park 1990

Thailand seems at war with foreigners who wish to live in the Kingdom with their Thai wives. And it seems like Malaysia is now the enlightened country with regards to their treatment of farangs. Here's a letter from the Bangkok Post.

Xenophobic nonsense from the Land Dept

Really amazing battle talk from our Land Department Director-General Anuwat Meteewiboonwat, who says that houses can be confiscated if the funds used to buy them came from a foreign spouse.

Logical, isn't it? Because that's like sleeping with the enemy; we must protect ourselves at all times! I'm saying ''we'' because that's how I consider my status after 15 years living, working and paying tax in this country.

Also, after 15 years I am well aware that every once in a while somebody crawls out from under a stone to start yelling xenophobic nonsense. Normally nothing bad happens, which is why nobody needs to get really nervous about the noise from Mr Anuwat.

But considering the public relations impact or the current economic status of Thailand, perhaps Mr Anuwat should take notice of the statements coming from the Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Ng Yen Yen.

Miss Ng Yen Yen was last week on a promotional visit to Holland, where she told the following things to the press. ''I understand that people in Holland get about 950 euros in pension every month. With that kind of money you can live very comfortably in Malaysia. No more Spain or Italy, because we in Malaysia have made things very easy for you and we offer anybody older than 50 years a 10-year visa. Also, in the olden days you could not own more than 70% real estate; now we've changed that to 100%.''

Does Mr Anuwat hear who's talking? This is coming from a neighbouring country just next door. Perhaps Mr Anuwat should issue a new statement, saying things were misunderstood by the press and that he was talking theoretically and was in no way trying to be threatening. Maybe then the damage can be controlled and everybody's life can continue happily _ the Thai lives and the ''we'' lives.

Bangkok Post