Like many other Southeast Asian nations, Thailand was exposed to western legal influence as a result of western colonialism in the nineteenth century. This led to the seven-century old indigenous system being displaced by a westernised legal system. This article surveys the historical development of Thai criminal law since the nineteenth century, especially the importation of western concepts of criminal law at the turn of the century. A comparative survey of the ways in which western criminal law was received by several eastern countries during the colonial era provides a backdrop for a critique of the Thai experience. The article then proceeds to survey the subsequent developments in Thai criminal law, and concludes by advocating the indigenisation of modern Thai criminal law.