Halleluja! Cabinet Review Bar Times Today

[wowpow]

I copied this from a poster on Lonely Planet Thorntree site but caanot now trace it there or in The Nation when I search. if it is a troll it's a brilliant one so:

Bar opening times - another Cabinet review today! - implimention delay look likely

from The Nation

Review of zoning draft tomorrow

Published on Feb 16, 2004

"The Cabinet is scheduled to review draft legislation on closing times and entertainment zones tomorrow. The result will determine whether the authorities will be able to enforce a midnight-closing rule on all entertainment venues outside designated zones starting March 1.

"We will have to stick to the old rule until the ministerial regulation on entertainment zones comes into effect," Local Administration Department's director-general Prasart Pongsiwapai said yesterday.

The current rule allows entertainment venues to remain open till 2 am, depending on their type of services. Nightclubs can operate until 2 am, discotheques until 1 am, and lounges, bars and massage parlours until midnight.

"We will wait and see how the draft will come out," Presart said.

The midnight closing time, which is scheduled to take effect on March 1, will require all entertainment venues outside "designated zones" to shut their doors by midnight

Venues in the designated zones will get two more operating hours.

However, the enforcement of the new rule will be possible only after the entertainment-zoning draft legislation becomes law.

The draft, if approved, will regulate the designated zones. It is being prepared by Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piumsombun and has already won approval from Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.

Meanwhile, massage-parlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit urged the government to rezone entertainment areas and award more operating hours to tourist zones.

"Areas with large number of tourists like Patpong and Sukhumvit should be allowed to remain open till 3 am," he said. He recommended that the number of tourists in an area should be a major factor in determining at what time places must close.

However, even in areas with a light concentration of tourists, Chuwit called for a 1am closing time.

Chuwit planned to submit his proposals to the Office of the Prime Minister tomorrow".

TIT = This Is Thailand - An increasingly Amazing and Astonishing country.

Smiles from Time Magazine's 'Verbatim'

"The most appropriate word is 'screwup' "

Jakrapob Penkair spokesman for the Thai Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra blaming beaurocratic incompetence for the Govt. slow response to Avaun flu.

" There are many degrees of how you tell the truth...That is why we don't speak straight-forwardly, beacause we read minds and we speak what the other side wants to hear"

also by Jakrapkob Penkair on the Avian flu crisis.

[Edited on 17/2/2004 by wowpow]

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[george]

The article was actually published in yesterdays The Nation:

http://nationmultimedia.com/page.arcview.p...93669&usrsess=1

I will hunt for some more updates to this story, if it's true...

Edited February 17, 2004 by george

[Rinrada]

Bit of common sense needed here chaps otherwise I will have to bring my own beer with me on March 1st and my suitcase is heavy enough....1 pair U/ps and 1 pair sox plus tic, pp, and ATM cards....of course

[samran]

told ya this revision would happen....

The people who govern Thailand are a bunch of clowns. Any talented civil servants who are able to think issues through have been sidelined, which is why blunders are begining to mount.

Plus, me thinks that letting these regulations go thru will give Purachai too much of a public profile (cause he'll actually try to enforce them)....exactly what Dear Leader hates.

[piet pompies]

Excellent observation.

Are there any Thais viewing this site?

Could Purachai start an even more conservative TRT equivalent?

On my visit to Chaiangmai yesterday I found people much more reserved about Thaksin than before, many saying he is going to far.

BUT remember Thais elected him, we are only on the side.

[ovenman]

I've always felt that the powers-that-be announced the early closing times as a done deal with no real intention of seeing through its implementation. This allows them to score major babyface points when they finally anounce that they've re-thought this decision and they come off looking all jai dee to the masses.

[Guest IT Manager]

Excellent observation.

Are there any Thais viewing this site?

Could Purachai start an even more conservative TRT equivalent?

On my visit to Chaiangmai yesterday I found people much more reserved about Thaksin than before, many saying he is going to far.

BUT remember Thais elected him, we are only on the side.

Can someone explain to the stinking masses, the difference between electing someone and being paid to vote for them.

My son doesn't understand.

[samran]

I've always felt that the powers-that-be announced the early closing times as a done deal with no real intention of seeing through its implementation. This allows them to score major babyface points when they finally anounce that they've re-thought this decision and they come off looking all jai dee to the masses.

You are right, it makes TFT (yes that is an "F") look good.

Thats the way policy is done these days. Senior civil servants have come to expect it, and have adjusted their ways to fit in.

[marquess]

Does anyone have and update on this topic?

Judging by the anxious looks on the bar owners face's last night. I would say that not many of them have gotten wind on any delay; or review.