thai press review on crackdown

[pattaya127]

Tuesday, 14 August 2001 (BKKPost thai press review)

A nocturnal experience

INTERIOR Minister Purachai Piumsombun has set a proverbial cat among the police pigeons by ordering the removal of a police station chief for allowing a bar to operate after 2 a.m.

Since the order was issued last Friday, a whisper has been heard at police stations around Bangkok that more police officers will get the axe if they fail to keep a tight rein on entertainment places under their jurisdiction.

Mr Purachai's get-tough policy is part of his plan to enforce entertainment district zoning in four prime areas of Bangkok, and later in the provinces, with the aim of curbing the use of drugs among teenagers. Nightspots that fail to close by 2 a.m. or grant entry to people under 18 years will be closed.

Of course his idea is not welcomed by nightspot operators. In a recent interview with leading vernacular dailies, Mr Somyos Suthangkoon, chairman of the Nightspot Operators' Association, said the plan to make nightspots close by 2 a.m. would throw a lot of poor people out of work.

In his opinion, youngsters who frequent bars and nightclubs usually go home before 1 a.m. Those who stay beyond 2 a.m. are mostly foreign tourists whose spending helps provide an income for thousands of nightspot employees, most of whom are rural people who cannot find any better work.

Voicing his support for Mr Somyos in Pim Thai on Sunday, columnist Mai Rammana said the enforcement of the 2 a.m. closing time is not the way to tackle drugs and social problems.

''The government should instead get tough with drug producers and traffickers,'' Mai wrote in his entertainment column. ''Nightspot operators are only making an honest living.''

Commenting on the same topic, Daily News agreed with Mr Purachai that night-time entertainment places are breeding grounds of crime and drug addiction among youths. But it would be difficult to put his idea into practice.

Businessmen have invested hundreds of millions of baht in entertainment places. The government may have to compensate them if they are forced to relocate in designated zones, the paper said.

Another problem is lax enforcement by government officials concerned, Daily News said, pointing to a law that bans the issue of new licences for massage parlours.

Since the law was enacted in 1990, new massage parlours have sprouted up all over the country, the paper noted. ''It is said that you can get a new massage parlour licence for 10 million baht (about $230,000).''

Over to you, Interior Minister Purachai.

[vinod]

I've been travelling to Bkk almost every month for the past 2 years enroute to Japan and spend a day or 2. My experience or what I've seen is that I do not see any Thais hanging around in the night spots frequented by tourists / foreigners as they find these bars far costly for them and also I did not find anybody taking durgs in these bars.

The government is trying to kill the golden goose.... it these bars or for that matters whole of Sukhimvit road economy runs on the trourists who frequent along these roads generating enouch employment / enonomy for the local people.

The bars generate lot of employment for the rural folks who come to work and the amount of $$ these nigh spots generate is quite a bit which adds to the foreign exchange.

The government should leave these alone and look into the places where the local frequent since it these night spots where lot of drugs & other things happen.

Is there any way we can meet the PM and give a presentation( high profile powerpoint) to tell him that it is not these spots that are bad but it these spots that generate $$ for the country. Ex. I spend around $ 1,000 every month (at CEP & NEP) and I know a lot of my business friends (350 plus) who travel every month and spend the same kind of money since most of us are on expenses account on the company.

Hope the government wakes up before it too late.

[jingjoh]

LOL, wouldn't that be a sight, a group of farang business men holding a power point meeting with Mr Thaksin on why the farang bars are not the problem!!

They know exactly what they are doing, another example of saving face, you dont really believe they would admit that the drug and underage abuse is primarily in the Thai nightspots do you??

For that matter, I would hazard a guess there are more drugs taken in the schools and universities than the Farang bars.

We can all make educated guesses why this crackdown is going on, there are obviously more reasons than you can poke a stick at, I dont think we will ever know exactly who, or why its so intense.

[pattaya127]

well,yes,we know. Most of the new technocrats in thai politics have been studying in the US, Thaksin definitely. and they've seen what US is not (a prostitute's haven, corruption) and what it is (drug culture), also been able to hear about Thailand's image abroad in their own ears. They are just a bit unsophisticated and tend to want to throw a net of police enforcement over the whole scene, thai and farangs, as well as playing the nationalist card as far as foreign business involvement goes. Not all their worries are unwarranted, but the real question is: how serious in the long run are they with such blanket policies? hard to get from one extreme to another.

[Flashermac]

There IS another higher authority than Toxin. They were stars on their shoulders and control a lot of guns. Supposedly, the coup days are over -- but one can never be 100% positive. But nothing could happen while Toxin's popularity is still so high. But if his promised miracles don't happen in another year or so ... Unlikely, but always a shadow lurking in the corners.

[Guest]

Monday night, a member of the royal family visited Papong, I think one of the princesses, so it may be true that His Highness is taking an interest in all of this.

Im sure some others must have heard about this, was around closing time, 12.30.

Suprised everyone ! Im out at Lar Phrao, everything closing 1am, out by 2 am.

supposed to be getting better in a couple of weeks, but who knows.