thailand the best country in ASEAN

You think Thailand is moving forward more than its neighbours?

Can I borrow those rosy tints please. Thailands neighbours are liberalising and starting to motor along.

Thailand has been navel gazing about its politics for nearly 7 years now and currently has no constitution. So much for progress huh.

Are we comparing Laos, Vietnam, Burma and Cambodia and Thailand on democratic institutions? This I gotta see...

Burma is rattling along thank you very much. Its all relative. Thailand has been stepping away from democracy for a while now, the others are starting to embrace them slowly. It isn't all about politics. FDI into Burma is going to be 5bn up from 1.2bn the year before, Thailand will be 12bn but that is down from 20bn in 2012. So, Thailand has been losing some of its lustre.

Or do you believe that Thailand can just have this seemingly endless political turmoil with absolutely NO consequence?

Yes. It has had endless political turmoil since the 1930's. It is not relative at all. Burma is a poor backward country and Thailand is not.

This Thai at Heart guy is so hopelessly anti-Thailand that it's really impossible to get an objective/reasonable assessment out of him. Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, PI....they're all so far behind Thailand by virtually every measurement and will never catch up. Malaysia is becoming more Muslim by the day. Indonesia is way overpopulated. Etc. Yes, Singapore is the most advanced society in ASEAN, but it's expensive, over-regulated, and mind-numbingly boring. Thailand, with all its faults, is still the place to be.