"The Invisible Handshake" by tomp4129 There has always been what I’d call an “invisible handshake” between Thailand and long-term foreigners. We accepted the deal. We’d pay more to enter national parks. We’d report our address every 90 days. We wouldn’t demand a vote, interfere in Thai politics, or expect the country to remake itself around us. We’d navigate an absurd amount of bureaucracy, accept that some rules were selectively enforced, and use the legal grey areas and informal workarounds that everyone quietly knew existed in order to invest, build businesses, employ people and create a life here. We demanded very little. And in return, Thailand largely left us alone. There was an understanding that if you contributed, behaved yourself, spent money here, created jobs and respected the country, the authorities generally weren’t going to crawl through every corner of your private financial life looking for another reason to make living here difficult. That was the invisible handshake. And I think Thailand is slowly breaking it without fully understanding what it is breaking. Because the foreigners most affected are not necessarily backpackers or people here for six months. They are exactly the people Thailand says it wants: long-term residents, entrepreneurs, investors, retirees, business owners and people willing to move substantial parts of their lives and wealth into the country. For decades, Thailand could almost take those people for granted. I don’t think it will be able to for much longer. Malaysia wants them. Vietnam wants them. Indonesia wants them. The Gulf wants them. Southern Europe wants them. More countries are going to compete aggressively for internationally mobile people with money, businesses and skills. Thailand’s greatest danger isn’t that foreigners will get angry. It’s that one day they’ll simply shrug, move somewhere else, and Thailand will realise the people it assumed would always tolerate the friction were actually some of the easiest people in the world to lose. The invisible handshake worked because both sides understood the bargain. Once only one side is expected to honour it, it isn’t a handshake anymore.
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