Who was Thaksin's Minister of the Interior

[Acharn]

OK, this is embarrassing. I can remember that the guy sent his kids to school in New Zealand, and after leaving office moved there himself. I can remember he was a close ally of Chamlong, the leader of the Phalang Thamm Party (sp?), and particularly active in the "church wing," the part of the party that was most involved with the dhammakaya sect. I remember his xenophobic announcements had me worried. I remember that he essentially held up all applications for permanent residence and citizenship because he had an intuition that people were paying bribes. I can even remember that during his tenure the Royal Thai Police Department was taken from the Interior Ministry and put under the Prime Minister's Office. For some reason I can't dredge his name out of the storage stacks. Anybody recall?

Edited September 8, 2016 by Acharn

[Barty]

Purachai Piemsomboon

[Acharn]

Ah, thanks. I knew that. ;-)

[DeaconJohn]

Yes, Purachai "Mr. Clean" Piumsomboon was a law-enforcement zealot with an animus toward farangs.

Back in the mid-1990s he was elevated to a top post in the RTP and gave an interview to the BKK Post where he proclaimed that foreigners must carry their passports with them at all times. Photocopies were unacceptable because they were too easy to alter.

He's been out of the news for a while... hope he never comes back.

[Acharn]

8 hours ago, DeaconJohn said:

Yes, Purachai "Mr. Clean" Piumsomboon was a law-enforcement zealot with an animus toward farangs.

Back in the mid-1990s he was elevated to a top post in the RTP and gave an interview to the BKK Post where he proclaimed that foreigners must carry their passports with them at all times. Photocopies were unacceptable because they were too easy to alter.

He's been out of the news for a while... hope he never comes back.

 I read that he moved to New Zealand, where his wealth would make him stand out more than here. Don't know if he's still alive. He was a year or two older than me, IIRC, so he might easily have already passed away.