It’s been almost two weeks since we reported on Polwat Chinno, the 18-year-old Bangkok man who claims that GTA IV inspired him to rob and murder a 54-year-old cab driver, and, while the story may have died down here in the States, the Bangkok Post has taken issue with the government’s response in an editorial in today’s paper.  The article is relatively scathing in its assessment of the government’s response to the killing, calling them out for “latching on” to the alibi of an admitted killer:

“it is most troubling that authorities and the media latched on so quickly and conveniently to the alibi of a confessed, vicious killer.

They were far too quick to accept the word of Mr Polwat. He is an adult who told police he planned and carried out a reprehensible killing for a small amount of money. His claim that the video game Grand Theft Auto made him commit the crime sounds more like a novel legal defence than a credible motive.”

The editorial goes on to blast the government for its knee-jerk response of banning the “Top 10 Violent Games”:

“The Public Health Ministry quickly assembled a list of Top 10 Violent Games - not by research or reason, but by a quick Googling in which bureaucrats accepted the first hit, an obscure list from a local US politician trying successfully to get his name in the newspapers and his face on the TV news in an election cycle.

Such a ban is also self-defeating, since new games come on the market regularly. In any case, a police ban is only another business hitch to the video pirates and shop owners involved in underground distribution.”

In a country like Thailand, which is essentially run by a military junta, writing an article like this is both necessary and courageous, and should be applauded.  Not coincidentally, the editorial is uncredited, at least on the website.  Regardless, Thailand’s handling of the incident has been less than stellar, and shows how uninformed their government is about the world of gaming in general.  One has to wonder if the American government is much more knowledgeable about it.

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