Since staging a coup on May 22, the military has led a crackdown on crime as part of what army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha describes as a morality cleansing. Before democracy can be restored, he says, corruption and lawlessness have to stop.
Prayuth has repeatedly talked about returning the Buddhist country to a place of moral standing where people respect the law — including the politicians, police and other authorities who readily take payments to ignore crime.
Kicking out corrupt politicians was part of Prayuth's justification for overthrowing an elected government and suspending a range of democratic freedoms.
“Foreign tourists should not have a perception that they can come to Thailand to commit illegal activities as often portrayed in the movies,” he said in one of his weekly televised speeches. “I am ashamed. Do you not feel the same when this is portrayed in foreign films?”
“We have to change this perception.”
Whether or not the crackdown has lasting effects, it has shined a light on Thailand's underworld and highlighted just how far-reaching lawlessness here really is.
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