Mr Meeseeks

The RTP are taking the opportunity to send a message and make some money from the assets the foreigners will have now donated.

Changed days now though mate, a lot more people here now, and a lot more lower-class people thanks to budget air travel.

As expats and long term residents, what happens in Thailand could directly affect us. As a taxpayer, business owner and employer, I am entitled to voice my opinion on Thai politics should I wish to do so. You are also very free to ignore our opinions, and this thread.

Deep down they know it all too well, but they don't like the truth, unfortunately. Thailand is a very dirty and polluted country, which is still very much developing from 'Third-World' status. Cambodia and in particular Phnom Penh is worse! A quick drive around the back roads of Pattaya will reveal fly tipping everywhere, refuse in large piles outside accommodation blocks, people discarding litter out of their car windows etc. Again, it comes down to lack of enforcement and punishments for offenders.

Chalerm? Chuwit? Chan-o-Ocha!

Inadequate driving skills and an almost total lack of responsibility kills tens of Thais every day. Nothing is done. RIP to the poor woman.

Correct.

A government affiliated company I used to work for had dealings with this 'person', and ended up appointing one of his subordinates to the board. The subordinate, completely useless in the business development role he was appointed to, then stole tens of millions of the farang owner's personal assets and company assets from under the owner's nose, in corroboration with the owner's 'trusted' Thai director. The farang owner was a complete mug though, could not get over his own ego and hubris.

This. ☝️

Most of the locals and some expats are on a different planet right enough!

Wow, you do get around. ????

The vast majority of Thais would disagree with you on that one. As an expat, the 10 years from 1996 to 2006 were the halcyon days imo. Yeh, it got a bit worse under Thaksin in terms of visas and bar closing times, but the country modernised significantly under his tenure and you could still get a drink if you knew where to go.

They are wrong 'uns to be sure, but that doesn't confirm if they had criminal records in Germany.

Did they have criminal records in Germany?

Logistically, impossible to implement, and it would destroy the tourism industry which is already struggling to recover from Covid. If they did implement it, it will be restricted to retirement visas only, as that is the visa this murdering criminal was on.

I thought it started when the money ran out?

Even they are not that stupid to implement something that would cripple their tourism industry. They cannot get access to other countries' criminal databases either, so sharing data is another non-starter. Retirement visas, different story. Fewer applicants, and longer term stayers so less work overall. Difficult to manage but not impossible. I could see it being implemented for new applicants or renewals.

He may even get off, similar to the accomplices in the body in a freezer murders in Bangkok, not so long ago. They were definitely involved, but got off after grassing and providing evidence on the main suspect.

It's impossible to implement and would cripple tourism overnight. Not many people will bother to get a criminal record check for a two week holiday to Thailand.

Retirement visas going to get a lot more difficult to obtain in the near future I reckon.

They always do.

Just as Sondhi and the Yellow Shirts did. Politicized a revered institution and get the people emotional. Same playbook.

How deliberate the murder was, will depend on how large the brown envelope is.

Stuff like this serves as a stark reminder what this place really is underneath all the shopping malls and gogo bars. And it will never change.

It's seemed almost unbelievable just a few days ago, but it's possible. Fatty Watchbuckle at the head of a minority government with no power. Stalemate. "This is what happens when you don't vote for the good people". The traditional contempt for the Thai electorate by the elites and military to continue. If this happened, it would confirm what many think but don't say, that Thailand is just as much of a basket case as the rest of the countries in SEA, perhaps even more so, but with more bells and whistles.