Bangkok's 'massage King' To Run For Governor

[george]

Bangkok's 'massage king' to run for governor

BANGKOK: - After a series of publicity stunts to expose corruption, a short jail term and a kidnapping he blames on policemen, Thailand's self-styled 'massage parlour king' is plotting to become Bangkok governor in the August election.

His campaign focus will be on morals in Thai society.

'I'm in the massage parlour industry. I clean bodies,' Mr Chuwit Kamolvisit said. 'And in politics, I'm going to clean some dirty people. I want to make Bangkok a city of happiness, a city of joy.'

A musty office in a warren of bedrooms at the Copacabana, one of Mr Chuwit's six massage parlours, serves as campaign headquarters for his First Thai Nation Party.

Windows are plastered with 'We love Chuwit' stickers that will take an anti- corruption message to voters in the hope of upsetting candidates put up by the governing and main opposition parties.

The central plank of Mr Chuwit's policy is to cut police numbers drastically to keep the men in uniform busy fighting crime rather than pushing paper.

He is undeterred by polls giving him just under 5 per cent of public support.

His nemesis, Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piumsombun, who heads the government's social order drive, leads with 36.7 per cent.

An accountant who graduated from one of Thailand's most prestigious universities, Mr Chuwit has made millions since hopping a decade ago from the property business to the sex industry, one of the few areas unscathed by the Asian economic crisis,

He led a campaign to scrap the government's plans to shut nightclubs two hours earlier at midnight. Now, he wants to contest the election.

He dismisses establishment politicians as hypocrites.

'We don't need dinosaurs,' Mr Chuwit said. 'And I know secrets about them no one else knows. They used to come here all the time before, but then suddenly they became family men overnight.'

-- Reuters 2004-03-18

[meemiathai]

A person from the sex industry talking about morals???

[Up2U]

A person from the sex industry talking about morals???

Why not?

He is open about what he does, where his money comes from, where it goes, and so on.

Would that other people were the same.

[thailien8]

I would dearly love to support Chuwit's cause to give an alternative to the tiresome "morality" of Purely Puratyrannical and Preacher Malcontent who of course are supported by Toxin--if only Chuwit had not been the driving force behind the atrocious overnight destruction of the thriving area of popular beer bars on Sukhumvit at Soi 10, last year. That area is still an unused wasteland, another real eyesore in the heart of Bkk.

[britmaveric]

Funny- he might makes some waves since he has some dirt on these so called social order politicians. However might be viewed as a Psuedo "Larry Flynt"

[ASIC]

Anything to keep Purachai away. Did anyone see a picture of that guy? Gives me the creeps.

ASIC

[george]

The Pimp Who Would Be Governor

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's biggest and most notorious massage parlor tycoon said he employed 20,000 women during the past decade and compiled a blacklist naming police who allegedly accepted his pay-offs.

Chuwit Kamolvisit, who chatters like a comedian desperate for laughs, is now squeezing Bangkok's people so he can become their next governor in elections scheduled for August.

Not everyone is chuckling.

Police accused him of staging his own fake kidnapping last year so he could appear persecuted.

More ominously, hundreds of small business owners claim he led a gang of thugs who looted and destroyed dozens of small shops, bars and other commercial establishments on Bangkok's trendy Sukhumvit Road.

Mr. Chuwit denied involvement in last year's destruction of the Sukhumvit Square complex, despite widespread suspicion that he wanted to oust the low-rent tenants and upgrade his property to maximize profits.

He accused army and police officers of running amok in the pre-dawn, January 2003 melee which blighted Sukhumvit Road, but Mr. Chuwit found himself arrested and spent a month in jail last May.

In September, hobbled by lawsuits, investigations and cancelled permits, he established the First Thai Nation party, with a logo showing a golden map of Thailand.

If elected governor, he promises to end corruption because it is too frustrating to do business while paying off a police force whose demands for cash have spiralled out of control.

He currently employs about 600 females, split into groups of 100 women at each of his six modern, airconditioned massage parlors in Bangkok, he said.

During the past 10 years, his six parlors employed about 20,000 female masseuses, Mr. Chuwit said, estimating the total "turn-over" who worked for a while before moving on.

Managing such a diverse work force at his venues -- which include the Copacabana, Victoria's Secret, Honolulu, Hi Class, Emmanuel and Julianna -- is complicated.

"It is difficult. That is why I handle the women very good, because they are not machines," Mr. Chuwit said in a recorded interview on Wednesday (March 17).

"The girls are always thinking every minute, and they always change their minds. They are doing this, they are doing that, so how can I control them?"

The secret to success in seedy, sweaty, sexy situations is to be a sweet boss, he said.

"We share the same house. We are like husband and wife. I accept that I make a profit," he added, smiling.

"You have to think of me as a businessman."

Service with a smile brought Mr. Chuwit to the brink, however, because he made so many enemies that he now wants political protection.

His quest to become Bangkok's next governor is widely seen as an uphill battle in this city of six million people who often appear torn between displaying virtue and enjoying vice.

Mr. Chuwit hopes to offer something no other candidate can -- the secret to peace, love and understanding -- which he learned from the women who toil in his parlors.

"My girls will talk to you and ask, 'What is the problem? Why are you so serious? Come on, I will relax you.' And the guy will say, 'Oh, I fight with my wife.' And my masseuse will say, 'No, no, no, don't worry. Relax'," he explained.

The man's wife also benefits from such ministrations, Mr. Chuwit said.

"He will come back [home], but not fight with his wife" because he will have "cooled down," said Mr. Chuwit who sports a thin moustache.

"Our society needs a psychologist. We don't have one in the Western style."

His huckster boasts about the curative powers of hedonism, however, appear to be a bluff against the real threat to his future -- his dangerous confrontation with authorities.

He claims to possess a list of corrupt police who he has paid off during the past decade while trying to keep his massage parlors open.

His list allegedly includes names, dates, amounts of money and other incriminating information.

Many people assume Mr. Chuwit protected himself by warning police that the list will be released if he is killed.

Asked if he made those arrangements, Mr. Chuwit replied: "The police are like my old friends. I know them, they know me. I know they are never going to kill me. Because why? Because I know they don't have any guts to do that."

And the existence of incriminating documents to be released in the case of his death?

"This is my insurance. I talked with them [the police] already. I told them. Last year, I brought the list to Thaksin," he said, referring to an unamused Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The prime minister rejected the list, Mr. Chuwit lamented.

"The people on the list are the people [police and other officials] who are on my salary, on my payroll, for 10 years," he said, referring to his alleged, unpublished blacklist.

Police and government officials to whom he gave bribes?

"I am not saying it is 'bribes'. I always say it is a 'convenience', to make my business convenient, to make my business smooth."

Critics contend he is merely whining about his own role in corrupting the police and government, and allegedly trying to blackmail them into leaving him alone.

Mr. Chuwit retorts he is simply being honest about widespread corruption so it can be exposed and stopped.

When he first spoke out against alleged police corruption in July 2003, Thai society and its feisty media were agog at his often theatrical willingness to embarrass the police.

After insisting he paid up to 300,000 U.S. dollars each month to keep the cops off his back, several police officers were disciplined.

He said he paid corrupt officials "about 200 million baht [five million U.S. dollars] in 10 years".

Mr. Chuwit said despite making huge payments, police continued to harrass him on trumped up charges, so he decided to go public and end the charade.

Police, meanwhile, have denied involvement in any wrongdoing.

He is also being sued for defamation, employing under-aged girls and demolishing Sukhumvit Square, he said.

Today, Mr. Chuwit portrays himself as someone who knows where the skeletons are hidden, and thus the best candidate to be Bangkok's governor.

He said he planned to spend about 500,000 U.S. dollars during the campaign and hoped to score "about 200,000" votes, though he probably would need at least one million votes to achieve victory.

Despite being dismissed by many as a buffoon, he may be starting a political career and run in future elections until he gains a seat somewhere.

"I will make Bangkok to be the city of joy...the city of happiness," he said.

--Richard S. Ehrlich, a freelance journalist who has reported news from Asia for the past 25 years, is co-author of the non-fiction book, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

His web page is http://www.geocities.com/glossograph/