I meet people that fall into the category of your Koh Phangan friend on a regular basis. People with substantial amounts of money and as you might expect, these powerful people don't take very kindly to being treated like children by government officials. Many of them have already moved over to the Elite VIsa, which as you may have heard is basically a "pay to play" system.
I think that this was the government's intention all along: To frustrate the rich folks into paying a fee to be left alone.
"I think that this was the government's intention all along: To frustrate the rich folks into paying a fee to be left alone."
Exactly! I wish Thailand was like Ecuador in that manner. Ecuador has a large expat community too but they are way friendlier. In fact I actually got my permanent resident visa there and it's very rewarding to do so as well. You just have to put at least 25k in the country and you get about 9% interest on it!... and Ecuador uses the US dollar too.