2025, the year that shook Thailand: earthquake, scandals, war

The year 2025 exposed the fragility of Thai institutions through a series of unprecedented shocks.

Deadly earthquake in Bangkok, religious scandals, police corruption, historic floods, and border war: this year has exposed all of Thailand's weaknesses, as if the country had been hit simultaneously on all its vital points.

A review of the year without concession by the Thai PBS World newspaper:

Fragile foundations

Collapse of a building under construction in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok during the earthquake on Friday, March 28, 2025. Photo taken from a video.

The ground is shaking, and we Thais know that it's not just one pillar collapsing, but the entire structure of our society.

In retrospect, the troubles began when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit the region in over a century, shook Bangkok.

While the physical tremors eventually subsided, they revealed deep-seated "fractures" in the nation's integrity.

The collapse of the State Audit Office building not only cost lives, it also triggered investigations that uncovered a downward spiral of corruption in the construction sector and non-compliance with safety standards.

See: Tower collapsed after earthquake in Thailand: a Chinese official arrested

The Thai public saw the wreckage reveal the truth: taxpayers' money had evaporated and the country's tourist reputation had been sacrificed for cheap and dangerous shortcuts.

Watching the footage, many tourists thought that staying in Thailand could be risky.

A fragile moral

Phra Thep Wachiratheeraporn, abbot of Wat Phra Phutthachai in Saraburi (left) receives secular clothes after being defrocked for having an affair with a woman known as Sika Golf (right).

As the country struggled to rebuild, the moral fabric of the nation began to unravel.

Two major religious scandals shook public confidence.

It all started in the middle of the year with monastic scandals involving more than a dozen high-ranking monks in highly publicized affairs of sex and extortion involving a woman.

See: Thailand: Arrest of the woman who seduced and blackmailed monks

It was a dark chapter in the history of the Sangha, but it was just the first 'Pandora's box' to open.

In August, the arrest of Luang Phor Alongkot of Wat Phra Bat Namphu sent shockwaves through the Buddhist community.

For a man once revered as a hero by AIDS patients, being accused of embezzling billions in charitable donations and allegedly stealing the identity of a deceased friend was felt to be a betrayal of the soul.

See: Scandal in Thailand: AIDS hero monk arrested for fraud

For many, the sacred act of doing good deeds will never be the same.

A fragile legal system

Police General Torsak Sukvimol. Photo: Thai PBS World

The kingdom has not known a single month of respite.

In October, the crisis shifted from temples to police stations.

A massive investigation into corruption has implicated over 200 officers, including the former national police chief, General Torsak Sukvimol.

See: Thailand: former police chief accused of massive corruption scandal

Allegations of multi-million-dollar bribes from the BNK Master online gambling network painted a picture of a law enforcement system in total disarray.

Just like the monastic scandals, it was a systemic collapse, a house of cards where top officials controlled a fortune beyond imagination.

See: Police corruption in Thailand: new revelations shake the country

Fragile disaster management

Rescuers are helping a family of several people who were stranded on the roof of their home due to flooding in Hat Yai in November 2025. Photo: Thai PBS World

The year reached a breaking point in December when the 'Great Flood of the South' submerged Hat Yai and displaced millions of people.

See: Thailand: families break through their roof to survive the floods in Hat Yai

It was not an unprecedented natural phenomenon; the disaster was amplified by the failures of leaders, unregulated urban expansion, and dangerously unreliable public communications.

The 2025 floods highlighted systemic fragility at both the local and national levels, proving that our security is often secondary to poor management.

Unstable relations with neighboring countries

A bridge and a Cambodian mortar position were hit by Thai artillery fire near Ban Nong Chan, in Sa Kaeo Province, on Friday, December 12, 2025. Photo: Thai Army Military Forces

A violent border conflict with Cambodia also erupted this year, intensifying in the last quarter.

Thai borders have become battlefields, with fighter jets and artillery fire transforming the border into a war zone.

With over 100 dead and half a million people displaced, this conflict has become the bloodiest in decades, surpassing the clashes in Preah Vihear in 2011 both in scale and tragedy.

An unstable politics

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, center, addresses journalists after chairing a cabinet meeting at the Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. Photo: Chanat Katanyu/Bangkok Post

Of all the storms Thailand faced in 2025, our political instability was the least shocking.

In just two years, the country has had three prime ministers, including two in 2025 alone.

We essentially changed course along the way when Anutin Charnvirakul replaced Paetongtarn Shinawatra in September, just as the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia flared up.

Although Anutin took office promising to wait until January to dissolve the House, the instability of his government and the pressure of an imminent censure debate forced him to act.

On December 12, he dissolved the lower house, diverting the nation's attention to the upcoming elections, which are of considerable significance.

An unstable year ahead?

Elections in Thailand.
Photo: Fortify Rights

As 2025 comes to a close, a fragile ceasefire with Cambodia offers a moment of peace, but not a solution.

Thailand now awaits the February 8, 2026 elections as a day of truth.

In a highly anticipated decision, the electoral commission will combine the general elections and the constitutional referendum, allowing Thais to vote for a new government and a new supreme law on the same day.

This is our chance to pull the country out of its downward spiral.

However, an election is just a coat of paint on a crumbling wall.

The events of 2025 show that our country is on the brink of collapse, just like the Audit Office building, from the inside out.

Greed breeds corruption, and corruption fuels an unnatural alliance between businessmen, officials, and monks.

The next election will only make sense if we choose to eradicate these chronic problems.

If we don't repair the foundations now, the next shock won't just shake the house, it will make it collapse.

See also:

2025, the dark year of tourism in Thailand: the machine has jammed

In the face of global shocks, Thailand accelerates its economic transformation

Thailand: the real estate market is on the brink of collapse

Source: Thai PBS World