From the above link:

Bangkok Post columnist Atiya Achakulwisut said Thammanat’s case showed politics and ideology had become more important than truth. “Apparently we have arrived at a time when facts are meaningless and legitimacy is irrelevant,” she wrote.

When every appointment to every important government position is filled by favoritism, nepotism or cronyism a country really suffers. Look at some of the stupid statements made lately concerning the Coronavirus. Too often read the Bangkok Post in disbelief someone was stupid enough to say whatever they did. When a real crisis happens there's no one competent to handle it.

"No problem" says Thai court ruling:

Thailand court allows minister to keep post despite drug conviction
5 May 2021
Thailand's top court has allowed a government minister to keep his job, dismissing a bid to disqualify him over a past conviction for drug trafficking in Australia.

Thammanat Prompao was jailed for four years in 1994 for his role in a heroin smuggling case.

Opposition politicians urged Thailand's constitutional court to declare the minister "unfit for office".

But in a ruling on Wednesday, the court rejected the complaint.

The court said it did not recognise Mr Thammanat's conviction because the verdict was delivered in Australia, a foreign country.

"The verdict of any state only has effect in that state," the court said. Therefore, Mr Thammanat "is not prohibited from holding office" under Thailand's constitution, the court said.

The ruling meant that Mr Thammanat could remain a member of parliament and keep his post as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's government.

The conviction was brought to wider public attention in 2019 after Mr Thammanat's appointment as deputy agriculture minister.

Mr Thammanat has denied reports of his imprisonment for conspiring to import 3.2kg (7lbs) of heroin - worth about AU$4.1m ($3.1m; £2.2m) - to Australia.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57001674

Munts!

I am going to smuggle some pot INTO Thailand next time.
And if they bust me i am going to highlight to the world just how low Thai drug standards have fallen compared with the golden days of old.
They used to export the finest smoke the world has ever seen.
Nowadays they have to import the second worst pot in the world (the infamous Koh Kong Lowland-Wetland Ragweed) because that is better than theirs.

Agriculture Minister, ffs, he needs to be shamed for the shit that country produces today.
And don't sell me no crap about Thailand's new "modern" pot production. Their new offerings will look as bright - and be as plastic - as their world famous faked smiles.


and ps - your King may be able to repress his homosexuality but he will never repress the revolt that his debauched reign will spawn.

clutchcargo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:54 pm Thai minister who pleaded guilty in Sydney heroin case now says 'it was flour'

During the censure debate:

“I violated Australian law, not Thai law.”

“Australia has common law, not civil law like Thailand ... We are not a colony.”

“I worked on a farm.”

“It was flour.”

Full story: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/thai- ... 546g4.html

Whatever the case, at least it wasn't cigarettes. Those things kill exponentially more people than heroin does.

The problem with that Thai white was that the withdrawals were so severe.
(actually the best, 95%+ pure, Thai No4 was often a chalky very very very light grey, not actually pure white - and certainly not crystally, more like cement in fineness and texture)

Hanging out was much worse and for a longer period compared with rocks or any other type of SEA heroin - no matter the level of physical dependence or the quantity you had been using.
Apart from the simultaneous chills and fevers, muscle aches that went thru your bones, and not being able to sleep for a week - you had a pack of live rats in your guts trying to claw their way out.
lol, Only the best, i always used to boast.

Fine work Mr Thai Agricultural Export minister!
yo just the man fo the job



('been a long long long time now tho')

SMH: World; Asia; Politics
Michael Ruffles and Michael Evans
September 9, 2021 — 9.01pm

Thai minister jailed in Sydney for heroin importation finally ousted

The scandal-plagued Thai minister who spent time in an Australian jail for drug importation has been forced out of his cabinet post after succumbing to an internal party brawl.

Thammanat Prompao, a former factional heavyweight in the coalition government who once served as a bodyguard to the Thai royal family, said he was upset over rumours he was plotting to undermine Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

He was reported to have tried to broker an alliance with an opposition party to oust Prayut, and alienated members of his own party in the process. Prayut survived a censure motion on Saturday, with rumours the PM was offering up to $200,000 per vote – a claim he denied.

A decree from the Prime Minister said that King Maha Vajiralongkorn agreed Thammanat and another minister should “leave” for the betterment of the country.

Thammanat said he was unhappy with politics and was hoping to return to his northern province and work for the people. (cool!)

Thammanat was ousted two years to the day since The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed he spent four years in a Sydney jail in the 1990s for his role in trafficking 3.2 kilograms of heroin into Australia.

He pleaded guilty and was deported on his release from Parklea prison.
But he has spent much of the past two years telling a different version of the story to the domestic Thai audience.

After initially denying being jailed in Australia, Thammanat’s version of events shifted several times since this masthead uncovered the Sydney court files that revealed the extent of his involvement in the heroin-trafficking operation.

He claimed in the Thai Parliament to have been a witness in “state-sponsored accommodation” and, during a censure motion that he survived, forcefully declared he was arrested with flour not drugs.

After he was released from Parklea prison and immediately deported, he rejoined the Thai army under a different name. He has gone by at least four identities and had a colourful life in the army and business before entering politics.

After the Herald and Age’s 2019 revelations about Thammanat’s past, questions also emerged about whether his PhD came from a fake university, and evidence surfaced that large parts of his doctorate had been plagiarised. At the time, the Prime Minister defended Thammanat and said the Australian jail time was a “small matter”. In the blizzard of negative publicity, Thammanat threatened to sue 100 people.

The Constitutional Court ruled the conviction was no barrier to keeping a cabinet post, his four years in a Sydney jail was not a breach of the Thai constitution.
“We cannot implement the verdict of foreign courts, and we cannot interpret the verdict of foreign courts as having the same power as our courts,” the full bench found. “The verdict of any state only has effect in that state.”

Until he was ousted on Thursday, Thammanat was a key ally of top generals in the coalition government and helped secure a large number of votes in crucial elections.