Chuwit To Paint Town Red

[george]

Chuwit to paint town red

BANGKOK: -- A "red" campaign is going to hit almost every corner of Bangkok promoting former massage-parlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit as a gubernatorial candidate.

"Our election campaign will have a red theme. We are going to set up more than 4,000 billboards soon," Ton Trakul Thai Party executive member Pinij Janthorn said yesterday. Chuwit is the party's founder.

Pinij said the campaign would highlight the fact that Chuwit understands the problems Bangkok faces and is ready to tackle them.

"Our team has now been fully prepared for the gubernatorial election," he said.

The Ton Trakul Thai (First Thai Nation) Party plans to announce Chuwit's candidacy officially early next month and will also unveil his nine-member team.

Meanwhile, Deputy Bangkok City Clerk Suttichai Tassanasarit said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) was going to launch a Bt20-million campaign to boost voter turnout in the gubernatorial election.

"We will have signboards, posters and leaflets to inform Bangkok residents of the importance of casting ballots," he said.

Suttichai is the public-relations chief for the gubernatorial election.

"We will put special emphasis on Klong Toei and Dusit districts because fewer than half of their eligible voters went to the last gubernatorial poll," he said.

--The Nation 2004-06-14

[john b good]

If I were a Thai and eligible to vote Chuwit would get my vote.

At least he is not pretending to be someone / something he is not.

"what you see is what you get"

And that doesn't happen all that much here in the realm.

[stumonster]

If I were a Thai and eligible to vote Chuwit would get my vote.

At least he is not pretending to be someone / something he is not.

"what you see is what you get"

And that doesn't happen all that much here in the realm.

except he is not likely to install people that will do the job in positions.

will still be useless mates.. will stilll be surrounded by yes men.

all those new bill boards runnind up beside the vivahldi/don muang expressway, they have a sign at the bottom saying SPA.. anyone know who owns this marketing company... or know the name of mr T's son oaks marketing company?

[john b good]

And you might get a free massage ++ as well if you give him your vote.

[Up2U]

except he is not likely to install people that will do the job in positions.

will still be useless mates.. will stilll be surrounded by yes men.

But in the massage parlours the employees can always assume the position and are not useless.

He may be surrounded by yes men, but as long as there are some yes masseuses in the background .....

[george]

Thai massage king on trail for votes

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's massage parlour king Chuvit Kamolvisit has launched his campaign for Bangkok governor, vowing to sell off his six establishments in the city and push for better lives for those in the sex industry.

Chuvit, one of at least 10 declared candidates in a colourful race to become governor of the Thai capital on August 29, said he would not campaign to legalise prostitution, but wanted to raise awareness of the plight of sex workers.

"I give up," said Chuvit, standing in an empty jacuzzi and raising his hands in surrender as he posed for photographers in the "Paradise Suite" of the Copacabana massage parlour, one of the businesses he says he has sold.

"Even after I've sold all my business premises, I will still be in the red," Chuvit said, symbolically removing a picture of a curvaceous nud_e blonde from the lavish three-bedroom suite, which comes complete with its own sauna.

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, even though Bangkok has the dubious reputation of being the premium flesh-pot of Southeast Asia, a tag it gained in Vietnam War years when hundreds of go-go bars sprung up to cater for recuperating U.S. troops.

An accountant who graduated from one of Thailand's most prestigious universities, Chuvit has made millions since hopping a decade ago from property to sex, one of the few industries to have emerged unscathed from Asia's 1997-1998 economic crisis.

After a series of publicity stunts to expose corruption, a short jail term and a kidnapping he blames on bent policemen, the self-styled massage parlour king said his business has gone into freefall due to regular police scrutiny.

"After a year of exposes, I've stopped bribing officers. My massage parlours have suffered heavy losses. We have had few customers," Chuvit said. "To protect over a thousand lives of my staff, I am happy to quit and have new investors to run them."

UNDERCOVER RAID

Undercover police had sex with five masseuses at one of his clubs last September and arrested them for prostitution -- dubbed the "get laid and raid" sting by Thai newspapers. Another club was shut down because it had more rooms than its licence allowed.

In the "good old days" Chuvit said he was making 30 million baht (400,000 pounds) a month from each massage parlour, which all gave a full return on investment within two years.

Chuvit said he had already sold three salons -- Honolulu, Copacabana, and Barbara -- to another massage tycoon and was talking to the same buyer and others to sell the other three -- Victoria's Secret, Hi-class, and Emmanuel.

Chuvit said he expected to make about one billion baht from the sales, which would leave him "somewhat" below his bank debts.

He declined to confirm a television report that the first buyer was connected to a senior national politician, but said this business needed a "shield" from senior police officers or politicians. "You can't run this business unless you bribe."

Citing traffic, pollution and social issues as the city's first three priorities for a new governor to tackle, Chuvit said he would seek ways to help hundreds of thousands of people employed in the night entertainment industry.

"I am not going to encourage new people to work in this industry nor campaign to legalise prostitution," Chuvit said.

"But these people pay tax and they need to be protected under the government's social security scheme and I will fight for it."

Apart from Chuvit, who claims to be running second or third in opinion polls, candidates include an ex-manager of a national soccer team, a controversial national politician, a female minister-turned-child rescuer, and a marketing expert.

The ruling party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has not endorsed any candidate to run for the poll.

--Reuters 2004-06-17