I am the last person to have automatic respect for a countries laws, of course I will respect anyone's laws if in my opinion they are fair.
Let me put it this way. When I came to Thailand to stay, I was required to go to the border every 90 days for a stamp in my passport. I did due diligence and saw that this was a fair way of staying in the country, I did that for a couple of years and then was a school teacher for a few more years.
So I did everything legally and had a work permit. So when that finished I thought I could go back to the way things were when I first came to stay in Thailand. No chance, of course I could put 800,000Bt in one of my bank accounts, but I did not agree with that, so I had to go to an agent 500 Ks away in Pattaya to get sorted out , of course this came at a price.
Compare that to when I first came to live in Thailand a few years previous, better still compare then to now when I have to make regular runs to pay an agent, do 90 days reports. Is it any wonder I have no respect for Thailand or some of their laws.
It is so, so different to when I came here 20 years ago, and very much for the worse.