Thai defamation laws

[timewilltell]

There was in interesting question in the Ask the Lawyer Forum

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/802752-showing-video-footage-of-someone-committing-a-criminal-act/?utm_source=newsletter-20150227-1142&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

The nuts and bolts of the story is can you post a video of someone committing a crime on a social site and the answer questioned why you would want to and advised against it.

The problem with the defamation law, which has two branches, criminal and civil, is that a person can willfully cheat steal or commit fraud without fear of being exposed. Let's say a lawyer defrauds you - you cannot let the world know to avoid the lawyer or do anything except report the matter to the police, bring a criminal claim yourself or a civil claim. These procedures take years to pass through a system designed and run by lawyers. In the meantime the criminal can continue defrauding and cheating with alacrity against an unsuspecting and uninformed public.

Why does the law protect the guilty and prevent this? I wonder if it is that the trait of deceit and theft runs very high in Thailand and the rich and powerful are the main culprits. Seeking to avoid detection and do as to make the maximum advantage whilst preventing any publicity a law such as this is passed.

A civil law is needed of course to prevent unsubstantiated accusations to damage a competitor or slur someone's name but if the act is true there should be no law to punish such exposure. If you don't want exposure then you should not do the wrong thing in the first place.

The law seems to be contrary to the public good. Anyone else feel the same way?