Chalerm vows to get rid of mafia in tourism businesses

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung Friday has vowed to get rid of the mafia groups in the tourism business within three months.

Chalerm spoke of the threat posed by mafia gangs in tourist destination towns following a meeting with tourist police, senior officials from the Tourism and Sports Ministry and governors of tourist-destination provinces at the Royal Thai Police headquarters. Attending the one-hour meeting were the governors of Phuket, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Sukhothai, Tak and Kanchanaburi. Representatives from the Land Transport Department and the Harbour Department also attended the meeting.

Chalerm said he held the meeting because he has been assigned by the prime minister to step up security for both Thai and foreign tourists.

He said the government wants to increase revenue from tourism to Bt2 trillion within five years.

The deputy prime minister said from now on he would ensure that all government agencies concerned would integrate their efforts to step up security for tourists.

He said the government would solve problems specific to each tourist destination province and would deal with the organised gangs that have been preying on tourists.

For example, Phuket faces problems with unlicensed taxis and local mafia overcharging tourists for beach seats and jet skis, Chalerm said.

He said local officials would have to crack down on these gangs or he would visit the provinces himself to deal with the problem.

"Within 90 days, the people and tourists will see that the situation has improved," Chalerm said.

-- The Nation 2012-06-22

hear hear

"Attending the one-hour meeting were the governors of Phuket, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Sukhothai, Tak and Kanchanaburi."

where was the Pattaya governors...???

you will never get rid of them in 90 days, the maths doesn't add up, that means you need to get rid of 500,000 a day haha

ANd i will grow wings and fly .

Chalerm has started happy hour on the ear medication already then!

This will be great to watch. Now if this was the UK, you could actually get odds from Ladbrookes or William Hill to place a bet on this. I would stick 10 grand on for sure

I think the 'Mafia' will have alternative ideas about being eradicated. I can just see the russian mafia gangs in Phuket allowing this to happen without a little fight back. Keep taking the ear medication Chalerm, it will help nullify the pain when the Mafia try to whack you!

Guess there is only one response to this OP.... ......not in the life time of the vast majority to TV posters

"Attending the one-hour meeting were the governors of Phuket, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Sukhothai, Tak and Kanchanaburi."

where was the Pattaya governors...???

He spoke to them last week.

sent from my Wellcom A90+

Was he drunk... again?

Just spat my coffee out all over my keyboard. Chalerm, clearly not taking his meds again

LOL! Didn't he vow to get rid of drugs also?

here we go again. it's almost like comedy. i wonder who these stories are really for. are they written in thai for a thai audience and then translated or are they written for english speaking foreigners?

Must be a misquote.....

Not, mafia will get rid of tourism business within three months?

Wishful thinking and hope it happens....but!!!!

Is he really that naive that he expects the police to assist him in any way? They would all have to take massive pay cuts if they didn't get their tea money

For example, Phuket faces problems with unlicensed taxis and local mafia overcharging tourists for beach seats and jet skis, Chalerm said.

He said local officials would have to crack down on these gangs or he would visit the provinces himself to deal with the problem.

Are they so blind to see, that it all begins and ends in the government department called POLICE.... without official help and renegade cops, it probably would be paradise....

here we go again. it's almost like comedy. i wonder who these stories are really for. are they written in thai for a thai audience and then translated or are they written for english speaking foreigners?

Maybe there wrote soley for the members of TV and someones reading all the replys and picking out the best ones and then using them in there campaign to fight corruption and the Mafia and hopefully from replys about Thaskin will be able to decide what to do about him in the future.

TIT.

I figure the old fox is going after the objective of "increasing tourist money to 2 trillion" to do this he doubles the size of his BIB. This doubles the police shakedowns and his organization will take over the mafia, just by overwhelming them with numbers. This will get the tourist dollars in circulation, plus provide protection/strength for the return of his boss, upon return. The 3 month thing is whiskey talk.

How is that for a theory on what was really meant/planned?

90 days? Hehe, maybe he's gonna have to do a 90 days report then.....He will see how it feels !!!

"Within 90 days, the people and tourists will see that the situation has improved," Chalerm said.

That's not the same as theNation's article title "Get Rid ... Within 3 Month". An improvement might be possible.

Now let mes see. Only order 'to start cleaning up' or should we first setup a committee to study the matter, do some investigation in how other countries approach the problem (is Miami nice this time of the year?) and ... ...

BTW did we get a special budget allocated?

If he gets rid of all the mafia groups, who is he going to put in police uniforms when they're gone?

The reason the meeting only lasts for an hour is that the average memory span of Thai politicians only lasts for just over an hour. So, anything longer than that and they would have forgotten what the meeting is all about.

Why is everything in 3 months in modern Thailand? Used to always be tomorrow and as we very well know, tomorrow never comes but in three months? Maybe because most foreigners in Thailand have left in two or three months and Thai memory span only lasts three hours.

Does this mean Chalerm is going to get rid of the BiB who are on the take and turn a blind eye to the mafia activities, what about the BiB who are directly involved with the scams and protection rackets?

Chalerm spoke of the threat posed by mafia gangs in tourist destination towns following a meeting with tourist police, senior officials from the Tourism and Sports Ministry and governors of tourist-destination provinces at the Royal Thai Police headquarters. Attending the one-hour meeting were the governors of Phuket, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Sukhothai, Tak and Kanchanaburi. Representatives from the Land Transport Department and the Harbour Department also attended the meeting.

Sly. Very sly. The wily old bugger has rounded the biggest culprits up in one room on the pretext of a "meeting"

LOL! Didn't he vow to get rid of drugs also?

yawn........yeah i think hes currently munching his way through them....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What an absolute waste of skin...

I figure the old fox is going after the objective of "increasing tourist money to 2 trillion" to do this he doubles the size of his BIB. This doubles the police shakedowns and his organization will take over the mafia, just by overwhelming them with numbers. This will get the tourist dollars in circulation, plus provide protection/strength for the return of his boss, upon return. The 3 month thing is whiskey talk.

How is that for a theory on what was really meant/planned?

Good point......Just think of all the thousands of new police academy applicants at 350,000 Baht each....WOW

Wow is it April already, what happened to Christmas?

Of course the scams will reduce now, as it's the low season

I figure the old fox is going after the objective of "increasing tourist money to 2 trillion" to do this he doubles the size of his BIB. This doubles the police shakedowns and his organization will take over the mafia, just by overwhelming them with numbers. This will get the tourist dollars in circulation, plus provide protection/strength for the return of his boss, upon return. The 3 month thing is whiskey talk.

How is that for a theory on what was really meant/planned?

" his organization will take over the mafia"

What are you talking about? How can an organization take over itself?