Woman Crusader Guns For Bangkok Governor Post

[george]

Woman crusader guns for Bangkok governor post

The MP, who campaigns against forced prostitution of young girls and abuse, is contesting the elections in July

BANGKOK - Through the work of her foundation, Ms Pavena Hongsakula has seen much of Bangkok's darkest underbelly - a world of forced prostitution of young girls far from home, battered wives and babies, crooked police and predatory mafia.

Ms Pavena, a minister in previous governments and currently the secretary-general of Chart Pattan party, is running for the post of Bangkok governor in July.

She has run for the governor's post before but had lost.

Bangkok has never had a female governor. This could be the year.

The ruling Thai Rak Thai party has yet to announce its candidate. If popular Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piumsombun joins the race, he is tipped to win. But if he is not fielded - because he is reluctant to run - Ms Pavena could be the favourite.

In a Suan Dusit Poll conducted last week, more than 52 per cent of 2,026 respondents said they would vote for Mr Purachai if he contested the election.

This compared to 13 per cent for Ms Pavena and 9 per cent for Democrat Party candidate Apirak Kosayodhin.

But if the Thai Rak Thai fielded a candidate other than Mr Purachai, about 28 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Ms Pavena.

A visit to her office shows why she is well-liked and why many children in her constituency call her 'mother' and do drawings for her which are pinned on the walls.

Her foundation maintains an integrated team which can rush within minutes to rescue a victim in response to a telephone call even in the middle of the night.

There is a safe house and a panel of lawyers who fight cases for free.

Ms Pavena, who in opinion polls consistently rates very highly in honesty and integrity, is looking forward to getting a new law passed.

It will enable a powerful new committee to raid premises where underage girls are being abused and exploited without waiting for a court order.

Her team is sometimes held back by red tape. There have been occasions when, summoned by anxious neighbours, they arrived to find battered babies already dead.

Photo albums and a picture gallery in the office paint a grim picture of bruised babies and girls in their early teens who are prostitutes, lured from Laos and Myanmar and coerced into brothels by vicious trafficking gangs.

The foundation deals with about 4,000 cases of abuse every year.

Ms Pavena - a former bank manager and, for seven years, the assistant managing director of the Accor group - entered politics 15 years ago and has been a Member of Parliament for five terms.

A divorcee with a 23-year-old son, she is pragmatic and has a firm belief in the law.

'Why should anyone be above the law just because they can pay under the table?' she said in an interview with The Straits Times.

'Thailand has to stop these activities, then people everywhere, especially children and women and the poor, will finally have justice.

'In many of these massage parlours, if there are individuals who want to do this work and get paid, that's up to them. But many are kids who are slaves, the traffickers take all the money. They are forced into doing the work because they are terrified.

'That has to stop.'

Police cooperate with her because some of them support her, but most do so because they fear inviting bad publicity if they refuse.

It is difficult not to cooperate with her.

She is fair in her assessment of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, saying that although he liked to push things through perhaps too quickly, his bloody war on drugs was justified.

'A lot of his policies are very good but often they are rushed through with little follow-up, and when the analysis comes in, they do not accept bad news,' she said.

Ms Pavena predicts she will get votes mainly from those in the low- and middle-income groups who see her as a fighter for their rights.

--The Straits Times 2004-02-03