Thai Legal System

[astral]

The Bangkok Post, Sunday 15th Feb 2004, carried an article about censorship of the Internet - a subject worthy of discussion on its own.

However they refered to a web site that carried information about the way the Thai legal system has deliberately discriminated against foreigners, in one case without even hearing the evidence.

If you are an investor here, or planning to invest check out:

http://pws.prserv.net/studies

http://www.camblab.com/thai_02.htm

both addresses seem to lead to the same site.

Please read and then add your comments here.

[opalhort]

I dare say the Thai legal system is not biased against foreigners. Some laws may be, but not the judiciary. The judges go by the law.

There may be problems at the police level and with witnesses, but once a foreigner stands in front of a judge he/she'll be judged based on evidence and according to the law.

opalhort

[parryhandy]

I dare say the Thai legal system is not biased against foreigners. Some laws may be, but not the judiciary. The judges go by the law.

There may be problems at the police level and with witnesses, but once a foreigner stands in front of a judge he/she'll be judged based on evidence and according to the law.

opalhort

i take it you didnt read the links then . Court cases won by foreigners in Thailand will be very few if they can get it that far.

I read some of the article even though it is blocked in Thailand and it actually describes the Thai legal system as one of the worst in the world.Enough for a california retirement investment fund with over a billion dollars worth of assets to put the country on their no go list.

[alanw]

Are we sure what we are discussing:

- Is the discussion about the written letter of the law. and uthe nderlying original spirit of the law, or

- Is the discussion about the application of the law?

[simon43]

Interesting. I can read access this article/website from my base in the UK but its blocked in Thailand. Why? I thought the legislation in Thailand was to block porn websites. On what legal grounds do they block access to a site that is critical of the Thai legal system??? Thai democracy???

Simon

[dkstoney]

The whole society is based on telling people what, why, and how to think. Any dissention is not tolerated beyond a certain level of successful disemanation.

[bmanly]

I have just spent the best part of an hour reading these cases. It is something that I always thought was going on and reading these articles only reinforced my opinions.

I have so many ex pat friends in Thailand, some who have lived there for up to 15 years and who are quite wealthy people. They have always said to me never ever invest in Thailand as the system and Government is so corrupt. I tend to agree with this theory which is a shame really. Even my own wife said no to any kind of business there and her reasons were "everyone, Government and Police are so corrupt there, you can't win"

My ex pat friends and I invest all of our money offshore, in my case in Australia but there are several decent Countries where you can do a lot better with a 100% safe investments and get good returns and have a good judicial system to support you. By doing this you can get a good income from your investments offshore and live a comfortable life in Thailand without having to worry about corrupt Government officials.

Is there any wonder why there are so many hard case farangs walking around Thailand who refuse to even part with a baht for anything that smells like a business opportunity. I quite often have well meaning Thais approach me asking why I don't buy a condo or a business here and I always reply by saying when I can get a Thai ID card and I can own land I might and even then I would think twice about it because as you have pointed out you can still be swindled out of it.

Thanks for the reminder/wake up call.

[Dutchy]

I can't get these files through the proxy, could anyone post these textfiles here or mail them to me?

Regards,

Dutchy

[bmanly]

Dutchy they are 4 seperate PDF files and they are rather large with scaned documents attached. How can I send them to you? maybe you can send me your email address and I will try. Via this website I did not notice how I could attach such files when I try to email you. Anybody help with the above difficulty?

[marquess]

Interesting. I can read access this article/website from my base in the UK but its blocked in Thailand. Why? I thought the legislation in Thailand was to block porn websites. On what legal grounds do they block access to a site that is critical of the Thai legal system??? Thai democracy??? 

It is extremely difficult to get hold of, even using the proxy server. I have been trying for the last 30 mins, but have only managed to read the first couple of paragraphs,. Would therefore be grateful, if someone could post the salient points here.

On the subject of the Thai justice system, justice is rarely served here, and if you are a foreigner, then forget it. Let us keep our money in our foreign bank accounts and they can keep their "justice system". The fact that the article is blocked sums it up. I just feel sorry for both Farang and Thai alike who are caught up in it. Remember the man who got 40 years for stealing 80k? I would say that in a case like that, the real criminals are the people doing the sentencing.