Fearing military, Pattaya rushes to eradicate sin

[empireboy]

Prostitution, it is the oldest profession in the world.

If they want to reduce it (they will never eradicate it), they need to look at the root causes and eradicate poverty, and the root cause of that in Thailand is corruption.

Yes agree, put serious pressure on the corruption and ramp up education and the whole place will have a different sparkle about it.

[eeworldwide]

"Mr Ronakit said since laws regulating the beaches came into effect in 2000 the situation had swung out of control."

This is what I find so hilarious - since the laws were put in place - everything went out of control. It's bonkers.

Implement a law and watch it be immediately ignored - only in Thailand.

OK - we have a year of these kinds of operations and crackdowns - as I have mentioned in an earlier thread. OF COURSE they are going to tackle prostitution - and it's gonna hit BKK very soon - which I have on some authority.

BUT - when a non-military government is put in place - things will change again.

You can't ever really eradicate prostitution - especially in a place like Thailand where it's a very big part of the culture - and has been even before Tourists came and it flourished.

Tea-houses and giks and infidelity has been the way in Thailand for hundreds of years.

Blame the Chinese.

Even if all the places like Nana etc are closed down to a greater or lesser extent - the discos will flourish more and more (topless bars are going to end btw) and it will be a free for all in that respect.

They can't shut the massage parlours down, since they are legit, but all these places are going to be heavily inspected.

Edited August 31, 2014 by eeworldwide

[zaZa9]

The police are as aware as anyone can be that prostitution will not go away.

This is their attempt to force it behind doors before a very critical army inspection , thereby making their income stream less visible , but maintaining much of it whatever happens.

Meanwhile , they can waive the flag and say that they have been "trying".

Im not sure they are silly enough to think this will head off the arrival of the army.

The army will come , and they will be 'accompanying' the police in their daily duties and reporting what they see up the ranks just as they are still doing here in Phuket.

The irony is that the army has left Bangla road streetwalkers and bar owners pretty much alone ...

[petercool]

A post speculating on Royal family etc, removed

[maoro2013]

The story says eliminate ALL prostitution.

Go for it out will kill Pattaya

[maximillian]

I think Thailand should legalize prostitution. To claim there is no prostitution in Thailand is such a blatant lie to the rest of the world.

Legalize it, control it, collect tax. It's there anyway and it is already accepted, so why worry ?

As long as they don't do it I don't believe they are seriously fighting corruption.

[slygeeza]

so is the army only big enough to tackle one place at a time? what will happen in Phuket when the army comes to Pattaya?

[MobileContent]

50 years ago it all started with the GI but the GI's are long gone but Pattaya became the sin capital of the world.

The whole operation is billions of Baht per year and the hookers DO NOT PAY TAXES AND ARE LITTLE VALUE in the tax collection chain of the government. I mean their are some hookers that make daily 3000-5000 Baht a day and they should be taxed accordingly. If they report the wrong numbers and the government finds out they could loose the license. Currently everything is controlled by the police who pockets all the cash. If the government wants to start cleaning up influential figures they got to start with the police and collect taxes.

Edited August 31, 2014 by MobileContent

[moonseeker]

Prostitution, it is the oldest profession in the world.

If they want to reduce it (they will never eradicate it), they need to look at the root causes and eradicate poverty, and the root cause of that in Thailand is corruption.

I don't believe that poverty is necessarily the main driving force for much of the prostitution in Thailand, despite what prostitutes may tell their clients. In Pattaya there is a big problem finding and keeping workers for jobs like waiters, sale staff and cleaners etc. The turnover is very rapid and there are job vacancies advertised all over.

Prostitution is more of a cultural way of life for some - it is an easy way to make a living and can be much better paid than real jobs. It is sometimes a temporary solution to a financial crisis in a family but that is not saying it results from poverty and saying it does does not do justice to those who work very hard in low level jobs in Thailand for low pay and they still manage to support families. Likewise, eradicating high levels of poverty will not I think eliminate much of the prostitution. It's much more complicated than that.

+ 1, very good and valid points. It is often a face-saving excuse for not making an effort to work a real job and live a regular life. MS>

[The Deerhunter]

Yes i agree. The visible needs removing. A beach full of free lance pros is a big problem. Get rid. 6 foot tall lady boys blocking you on the road. Get rid. In fact anyone who leaves the confines of their place of work to stop you in the street. Get rid. I for one just do not like it. We know who you are, we know where you work. We are not stupid! We who have been here a long time know what the majority of the working girls do when they finish their shift. They gather in a group and arrive at one of the many cute young Thai boy hot spots dotted all over town. You know the ones! the little pretty boys with the jelled weirdo looking hair cuts. What are these guys? Yes male prostitutes. What do the girls go there for? Yes to bar fine them. So in hindsight it is the pretty boys who end up with your short time money. Amazing Thailand. In their defense they black out the bar and do not show case themselves in the street in general. You may get the odd advertising campaign where they all go around town in the back of a truck all bannered up advertising a new establishment. you know how it should be girls, you take a leaf out of their book and stop pestering people in the street.

Even the "visible" are OK as long as they are not aggresive, doing bag snatches or stand-overs. Lots of tourist DO come to look at the the ladyboys & hookers and say they have seen them. Touting and talking to the tourist people is ok as long as they are polite, have a smile & step back if the people don't want it. In Bangla Rd, Patong/Phuket, you see tourist couples stopping and talking to the Ladyboys sometimes for several minutes. It is some peoples' idea of living vicariously. I personally know people who come to Phuket regularly (2-3 times a year) & do little more, night after night. Not your idea of fun? Not mine either, but differnt strokes etc. I wandered around with them one night & saw others doing the same thing (and a hell of a lot of other hilarious things, besides.) Interesting to do one night! People watch. There no more interesting people to watch than those you will see in Walking street, Soi 6 or Bangla road, Patong.

[mikemac]

Maybe bit unrelated but i type this from Hua Hin. One of my favourite get aways from bkk.

Point is they have made it sterile. One example.....the walkway down to beach used to have tables umbrellas food drink etc.

Now its a barren nothing.

In the past we would walk way past all the lay back chairs to what we called "regee bar" magic spot few tables and friendly thai guys bringing you a leo for 70 baht. Guess what...GONE.

My gf loves the current political situation and gets sulky when i talk about all these crackdowns.

I left victoria , Australia, because we call ourselves the NANNY STATE. Far too many rules and regulations.

Thailand is heading down same path. I love living here and rarely criticize a country that i am not from.

Who said ...."be careful what u wish for"

I agree with you about the Nanny State business, I work in Australia from time to time and it is not much fun.

I hope whoever is in power cracks down on some things, like crooked touts, crooked taxi-drivers etc but I kind of like the chaos on the sidewalks, the stalls and food vendors, being able to buy a cold beer just about anywhere you go.

Have never been to Pattaya and never plan to go there but a lot of people do go there and spend a lot of money which flows into the economy so that has to be a good thing.

As far as eradicating sin goes, I would rather see the Shins booted out than the hookers. The hookers don't siphon the money off into offshore bank accounts.

[moonseeker]

Ermita, Manila used to be a centre for clubs and prostitution in the city in the late 1900"s, and I should know, I spent very happy times in the clubs and bars along del Pilar Street and surrounding areas

A draconian purge saw the complete closure of this 'entertainment' area and clubs and sex workers were driven north to places like Olongapo.

This could, and perhaps should, happen to Pattaya. If Thailand must appeal to sex tourists and provide a 'reservation' for sex workers, it should be developed somewhere in it's heartlland away from family friendly locations. The equivalent of South Africa's 'Sin City'

A mammoth task but it would be worth it in the end. Wouldn't it be refreshing to watch a travelogue or documentary on Thailand without constant references to Pattaya, Patpong, Walking Street etc.

It sure can happen. It has happened in the PP, Brazil is hardly fun anymore, DR very limited fun etc. etc. A friend tells me many Europeans, also younger guys now heading to 24/7 party in some Eastern European countries like Romania, Hungary etc.. MS>

[maoro2013]

Goodbye Pattaya if ALL prostitution is finished. ALL as the story says.

[SGD]

I agree with Kenny. Yes I met my gf in bar in bkk. Only strange thing is she was not born in Issan but bkk.

Had a roll in hay at 15. Baby daughter. Daughter had thai bf at 15. Guess what.....yes correct. My gf is a grandmother at 30.

Mind u she is one of the most intelligent ladies i have met in my life. Thats saying someyhing from the mouth of 60 yr old.

Point is some aspects of their education needs to become a focus.

Few months ago i had to return to AU for few weeks. My gf (yes the one i referred to as so clever ) stopped taking contraceptive pill. I returned we shagged a bit. Then she comes out with this....."teerak i no take pill while u Australia. But no you worry, i take today so we no have baby, trouble you"

I sat down and openned a leo, looking skyward to Buddha

Far more insight in this than the moralising of others on here.

Simple mistakes, often due to a lack of education and generations of just putting up with and making do.

[rascalman]

We are arresting anyone for whom we have evidence of trying to trade sex for money, he said. Ladyboys happen to be the majority of people we arrest.

Seems like a sex worker cleanup... Nice to hear about time in my opinion

Agree, however hard to stop oldest trade known to man!

[soalbundy]

Isaans economy will take a big dive!

but the population will soar with all those girls returning.

[SGD]

Any Walking Street bar that allows prositution to take place on the premises is asking for trouble. That's why the barfine was invented. All perfectly legal and a nice Thai solution.

I guess you've not been around long but not that many years ago it was the norm for dens of ill repute to offer onsite rooms. If my memory serves me correctly, the problems which led to this being phased out were changes made during Thaksin's first official leadership.

The barfine has nothing to do with either. It was notionally invented to compensate the business for the loss of the girl (her salary, inability to attract new customers etc.) when she was servicing her customer. That illusion was broken permanently in the early to mid 2000s as barfines rose to much higher levels. If you ever meet some of the few remaining souls from who arrived during the Vietnam era and just afterwards, they will recount the complete lack of barfines.

[Ianatlarge]

The only reason I come to Pattaya is for the hookers. Why are these people ruining paradise?

[tomyumchai]

well if theyre arresting mostly ladyboys that will save a lot of unsuspecting punters from landing up in the s**t at the end of an evening............

[cedel]

Prostitution, it is the oldest profession in the world.

If they want to reduce it (they will never eradicate it), they need to look at the root causes and eradicate poverty, and the root cause of that in Thailand is corruption.

They need more to change the mentalities ! This begins with education ! The beautifull girls don't have to serve as a sex machine or to earn money for the family and western men are not ATM !

[csabo]

We are arresting anyone for whom we have evidence of trying to trade sex for money, he said. Ladyboys happen to be the majority of people we arrest.

Seems like a sex worker cleanup... Nice to hear about time in my opinion

They should add a mandatory HIV test to the booking process when a person is brought in for prostitution. At 100 arrests a day, it could have a valued impact on the health of foreigners and Thais alike.

[BlackJack]

the oldest profession in the World to be stopped?

Just legalise it like many countries do as it will never be wiped out - never

I like to sit on the beach and watch the sunset and so 6.30PM is a bit early can we please sit on the beach till 7.30 PM or pretend that its daily saving? The authorities put up these huge lights so that people can sit on the beach at sunset and so it would be a shame not to use them.

What you need to stop is the drunken idiots in their mobile disco cars that put out 500 watts and annoy the F out of everyone around, including residents 1 klm away.

What about the rest of the corruption ie the big corruption ? Why not talk a walk down beach road Jomtien and see how many buildings are to close to the foreshore, forget the mean level and all that, just think about the 150Mtr rule that everyone adhered to to many many years. This is worth looking at. the EIA studies har har har - have a look at View Talay 7 and Cetus building - just monster buildings on the beach.

Start pulling a few of these down then we can see some teeth.

Good luck all

[chrisinth]

How to destroy the economics of a holiday destination...................

Implement strict alcohol rules, notably early closing, followed closely by

Cleaning up prostitution, by setting arrest standards that must be greater than previous.

That'll do it.......................

Of course, the above is fantasy, it won't happen. It has been tried too many times and this time. IMHO, will be no different. What Thailand needs to be careful off is the ideals that are coming from the ivory towers where the new middle class are residing. The people who are proposing half-thought out ideas with no reality of what is happening on the streets.

The root cause has been identified, but there has been no thought put into the corrective or preventative actions that would lead to the problem being solved.

In the interim period, watch the tourist numbers drop off. I know the drive is directed at overt prostitution (in the open) but if there is any seriousness to the drive, the bars and clubs will be next. Supposedly, there are no backhanders anymore to the BIB for protection?

We'll see.......................... Don't write Pattaya off just yet, especially based on an article from the Phuket News (??)

[pchansmorn]

Why can't they take out the Mafia that runs the drugs and sex trade???

[amse]

Ladyboys happen to be the majority of people we arrest. Sounds like someone really dislikes ladyboys, sorry dude, there's plenty of regular boys and girls there into the racket to. Trying to clean up that monumental mess will take much longer than thay may think being much will go underground. To much lip service here.

[cracker1]

The PM / General has said on many occasions that the Thailand beaches are "Public" property but this story suggests that in Pattaya the local authority has a different set of rules that will allow them to stay on smaller plots ?

“There are now 216 operators on Pattaya beach and 467 operators on Jomtien beach. None of them strictly follows our rules,” Mr Ronakit said.

467 on Jomtien taking 7 meters each is more than 3 km of beach space !

Have also read that on Hua Hin beaches private operators have had their businesses inspected but still permitted to sell food, deck chairs etc.

Has the General backed off a bit ?

[Orac]

.......

Don't write Pattaya off just yet, especially based on an article from the Phuket News (??)

.......

I think the Phuket News version is to get round certain other issues - it did originate elsewhere.....

[jimn]

They have to be seen to be doing something. In reality prostitution in Pattaya and the entertainment scene is a major contributor to the Thai economy. There are plenty of other beautiful places in Thailand for tourists who want a scenic or a beach holiday. Leave Pattaya alaone, of course clear up the scams, but the bar girl scene is why the majority of people come to Pattaya and these are thousands of people, take the bar scene away and Pattaya is nothing. You cannot turn it into a family beach resort, impossible.

[Miami Bob]

What caused me to laugh was the part about using Falang volunteers to help identify the prostitutes. All the volunteers I've known in Phuket where heavily into the bar girl scene. As soon as they get off "work" that's where most of them all go!

[bushwacker]

So, am I understanding this correctly:

The beach chair guy that does take up all of the beach and is a pain in the ass, does not want to limit his space because he has a 60 or more chairs just sitting there each day ... empty. It would be a hardship to him to move these empty chairs.

The local police think that the all tourists come here to buy beer at a bar for 3 and 4 times the cost than the local 7-11 which is 20 meters away because we want to be in an environment that does not sell sex.

If we could get rid of the prostitution and all of the related professions like massage, beer bars etc. then tourists would be happy and feel safe and come back to Pattaya. Why? Because we would enjoy the polluted beach of course.

Suggest efforts be focused on robbery, crimes against tourists, jet skis, food safety, cleaning up the beaches, drugs and the list could go on for quite some time.

If you get rid of the willing ladies then you will create a low, low, low season that is followed by ..... the same.

Just saying.