i think you are missing a word or two in your first sentence. In Thailand the government will close in on someone for saying something disparaging about the country or government or especially the royals. In this particular instance though the government is actually encouraging it because it takes the focus off of their abject failure to maintain tourism levels. With some sort of foreigner resentment the government can actually convince some of the population to not actually want tourism, even though they are really dependent upon it.