Thank You Prime Minister Thaksin!

[Sunbelt Asia]

Time called on early bar closing

Published on Feb 28, 2004

Leave the bar at midnight? Just wait and see.

The government's plan to impose midnight-closing on nightspots outside designated zones from Monday might be postponed or even aborted because of a new draft regulation that maintains the current closing time.

The Interior Ministry yesterday sent the draft ministerial regulation for Cabinet review, possibly next week, said Vichien Chavalit, chief of the Department of Provincial Administration's Investigative and Legal Affairs Bureau.

The draft, which was written under a Cabinet resolution on February 10, sticks to the present closing time stipulated in the latest version of the Entertainment Act, which came into effect on January 13, Vichien said.

This requires that all entertainment venues licensed before January 13 close at 1am, nightclubs and bars must close at 2am, and lounges, tea houses and massage parlours at midnight.

He said that only entertainment venues licensed after January 13 and outside the designated zones would be subject to the midnight-closing time.

There are only three designated entertainment zones in Bangkok - Patpong, New Petchburi, and Ratchadaphisek.

Vichien denied that the draft was a policy reversal for the Ministry. It had pushed for early closing of nightspots as part of its social-order campaign, but the move has come under intense criticism from the night-entertainment industry and disgruntled club-goers.

The guideline for keeping the status quo on closing times came from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"The draft follows the Prime Minister's views," Vichien said.

Thaksin said on his weekly radio address on Valentine's Day that the midnight-closing time would not be imposed on businesses that were open before the new rule took effect.

The recent changes in opening hours and zoning policies has left the night-entertainment industry in limbo, with business owners unsure what the new rules would be and what effect they would have.

When contacted by The Nation, several high-ranking metropolitan police officers and owners of major entertainment venues yesterday declined to comment on the issue, saying that they needed to see the final decision from the Cabinet first.

A source in the Metropolitan Police Bureau said that the police would make sure that nightlife businesses strictly comply with the closing time stipulated in the new ministerial regulation.

Phermsak Lilakul

THE NATION

[tutsiwarrior]

Sunbelt...you sure you know what you're talking about?...don't see anyone taking up the thread

[Axel]

Sunbelt...you sure you know what you're talking about?...don't see anyone taking up the thread

well, they quoted the NATION The only newspapaer I believed in '92.

[tutsiwarrior]

axel...a lot of water under the bridge...I'll believe it when I see it in the BKK Post.

[marquess]

axel...a lot of water under the bridge...I'll believe it when I see it in the BKK Post.

Todays Bangkok post, makes no mention of anything. It seems like it is full steam ahead. But we shall see!

[mbkudu]

I have heard that very few, if any bars or entertainment venues have licenses

at all. Bar owners simply "apply" for a license with an "application fee". They are then allowed to operate the business during the "application process". Apparently the licenses are never granted; the propriters just reapply each year and business humms along. So all this talk of businesses that were licensed before a certain date that can close earlier, sounds like absolute rubbish. The government needs to wipe all the laws and regulations on this off the slate and start completely fresh.

There are so many conflicting regulations that no one seems to know what is going on. A big, bodacious case of TIT I might add.

[tutsiwarrior]

mbkudu...if what you say is true regarding licensing then the cops are simply free to act at will. I'm wondering why this has never been brought to the attention of local journalists that have been reporting on the debate.

[mbkudu]

Tutsiwarrior, I am 99.9% sure that what I have stated is true. I lived in Thailand from 1991- 1999, so it's been a few years since I've lived there on continuous basis. If you ask any saloonkeeper in Pat Pong, Soi Cowboy or Nana, especially the

Farang owners, they will tell you the same. It is one of the reasons the local police can demand bribes on a regular basis; because they don't have licenses.

Where I live in California, it's pretty much the same with building permits.

If you want to add on a deck to your house, the proper way is to get a permit, but no one does because it's a hideously long process. So you just build it and if the county "red tags" it you just pay a fine and submit an application for a permit and forget about it.

I think for these bar owners it much worse because they've got the Federalies breathing down their necks almost constantly. I don't have much sympathy for any of them. If they know what they're doing, they're making money hand over fist. It's a rough business and they are dealing with rough employees and customers.

They've chosen this way to make a living, so they have to deal with it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no puritan. On occaision I enjoy the gogo bar atmosphere and have paid a few "bar fines". I just hope that the government, owners and customers can all come to some compromise to satisfy everyone.

[Rinrada]

Had my last pint in the Dogs B****x pub on Soi 3* this morning /last night at 2 am.Thought...o well never M.P.R

[et33.com]

i say...

where's the party babe....

[andreasbkk]

Dear Mr. Taksin,

Thanks for making work permit so difficult. I have SAVED lots of money because I could not pay tax because I could not get a work permit before now.

Thanks for changing closing time to 12. Now I can get a young girl at 24:00 already WITHOUT barfine. And nobody will protect her, so I can do what ever I want...

And thanks for your lack of supporting farang chambers. Now we know that we should not invest in Thailand. Thailand is not for business but for Thai Rak Thai only.

And thanks for interfere in Thai peoples private affairs. Now we know that Thai Land i.e. Land of Frees is wrong and Siam i.e. Land of Browns is right

Welcome back Siam, a name made of Cambodians...

Chohk D Taksin,

Andrew

(Pls ThaiVisa.com do not delete my reply... I respect HM King, the Lord Buddha, and the Land of Frees, Thai-Land).

[Suzy]

As an ex bar owner in Bangkok I can tell you it doesn't matter one iota whether you have the correct licences or not, the parasites in brown will extort as much as they can from you using threats, blackmail or simply locking you or your staff up until they get what they want. What they can't squeeze out of you the other local authorities will, taxing anything they can think of, from the sign hanging outside to the lights on after 2 a.m. Don't forget the bottles of whisky for birthdays, high days and holidays, the collection for a new Italian leather chair for the police chief presented by those wishing to lick round his backside, or compulsory donations so the big boss can send his son for education overseas!!

[Foggy Bottom]

I owned a small bar restaurant in Chiangmai during 99/200o and DID get all the correct licenses in the name of the limited company I'd set up for the purpose - admittedly I had to hire a para-legal to push it all through because my lawyer kept dragging his heels and talking of "putting oil in the engine".

Anyway, with corporate registration, business permit, alchohol and tobacco licenses etc displayed on the wall behind the bar, one night around midnight we got a visit from a large squad of boys in brown and a couple in civvies - they ignored me completely and surrounded my 19 year old Akha cashier who "interpreted" everything they were saying (I've made the English clearer) ......

"where's your pool table license"

"we don't have a pool table"

"where's your license for having ladies working bar"

"we have a cashier, a cook, and two waitresses - are these jobs that have to be licensed"

"Does a farang own this business"

"no it's a Thai limited company but three of the seven director's are farang"

"are they rich"

"one of their father's has a diplomatic position at the British Embassy in Bangkok"

"where are they now"

"standing right behind you with their American friends from the Cobra Gold special forces exercises"

(Senior ranking American)"Are you just looking for trouble or is there an official complaint"

............ bye bye police, never to return