mike williams commented : I strongly disagree with the tactics and methods being used by Suthep but I do agree that Thailand would be a better place without the Shiniwhatra clan with their fingers in every pie, Democracy cannot really happen here unless the rampant corruption is drastically reduced,I wonder how well the PT party would fair in an election free of vote buying and intimidation of the poor by village elders? My wife is Thai and her parents have a farm in Udon,in the last election they were paid 400 baht for their vote,so when people talk about silent majorities I wonder why they stay silent? Maybe there is a fear factor involved here of not wanting to enrage the village elders who have enormous power over the poor.

mike williams commented : Andy781 I wonder how long you have been living here? this is perfectly normal practice for Thais they do it all the time it is part of their industrious nature and culture, where I live we have a hairdressers, Internet cafe,massage parlour, 3 grocery shops and others all around me. If you do not like it then I suggest that you move to be in an uninhabited area as you will not stop this from happening especially if the person has paid their tea money to the relevant government official.

mike williams commented : Chaem, there is no such thing as logic in Thailand it does not exist. A certain hotel group who were suffering from falling numbers of guests decided to put their prices up so they got the same amount of income with less guests, guess what happened next?

mike williams commented : Having now actually checked that the comments made by Anuwat are true this is a very disturbing development, what he is basically saying is that no Foreign funds can be used to purchase Thai land therefore all expats here who have properties using company structures or owned by their spouses can have those properties confiscated legally by the land dept. A very worrying development to say the least and I am not convinced that giving the money in a roundabout way would actually overcome the problem as they could trace the original source of the funds back to the foreigner no matter how you try to dress up the transaction. I would guess that his comments have now destroyed the Thai house construction industry at a time when it is on its knees anyway.

mike williams commented : Alex 77, with Thai money laundering laws the onus of proof as to where the funds came from is not with the authorities but with you, this is how they took Thaksin's 74 billion they froze it first and asked him to prove where it came from, they could do the same with house assets they believe were purchased with foreign funds, you will then have to prove it was not purchased with foreign funds before they release the house back.