Dark sides

A reader sent us an article by Robert Jackman in The Telegraph, that follows on the from The White Lotus. “The dark side of Thailand” seeks to dispel some of the hype by suggesting problems.

It asks:

Is there any truth in the persistent rumours that the … island of Koh Tao – just a two-hour ferry from where The White Lotus was filmed – is run by a local mafia? The accusation was widespread 10 years ago, when the island – a popular backpacker destination – hit headlines following the tragic murders of two British tourists, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.

Clipped from Khaosod

Then there’s the cannabis (non) policy disaster where “government’s legalisation of medical cannabis has led to a wave of opportunistic businesses that are largely left to their own devices by authorities…, [while the] country still maintains some of the strictest penalties in the world…”.

Meanwhile, alcohol is strictly controlled: “A more obscure restriction on freedom of expression are the laws around promoting alcohol, which forbid anyone from displaying images of alcoholic beverages.”

And there is still the draconian lese majeste law:

… the country is regarded as having one of the strictest approaches to lèse-majesté (otherwise known as the crime of insulting the monarchy) and has repeatedly handed down long sentences to offenders.

Needless to say, Westerners aren’t exempt from such treatment. In 2009, an Australian writer, Harry Nicolaides, was handed a three-year prison sentence after court deemed that one of his novels [his only one, that distributed a handful of copies] had besmirched the Thai royal family [then crown prince Vajiralongkorn]. After a month in a Bangkok jail, Mr Nicolaides was eventually pardoned by the Thai king before being deported and banned from the country.