Around the world Government officials go to the same school. They wear the same clothes. Their families are interconnected by marriage. This inbred clique has produced a strain of humanity whose intelligence rivals a collie and back in 2009 the Phuket Land Director revealed his venal acumen by announcing that any foreigners using their wives as Thai nominees to buy land anywhere in the country will have their land title deeds revoked if caught. This statement was issued during a 30-province tour aimed at improving the public image of land officials by insuring they washed their hands after going to the bathroom and wore the right clothing for dealing with the powerless masses from Bannok, who have complained that the process of obtaining a land deed can take up to a year instead of a day.

The former governor of both Phang Nga and Samut Prakan provinces was satisfied by the officials’ promises to speed up their work by 30%, meaning that applicants will only have to wait for 9 months if all goes well, but not wanting to rest on this success he ventured into unknown territory by raising the the old chestnut that farangs were to blame with the hold-up.

“If the Thai spouse has enough money to buy the house that is fine, but if the Thai has no money and uses money given to him or her by a foreigner to acquire property, that is against the law. If we check and find out later that a Thai person has been using money from a foreigner to buy land anywhere in Thailand, we will revoke title deeds.”<

That announcement did wonders for the moribund housing market and boosted condo sales.

In the following years the Interior Minister has been promoted to a high posts where his inadequacies can further the cause of economic instability like Overseer of Land Deeds.

Now that’s Purgatory.