Thailand’s child sex trade and the cultural division of labour

[rooster59]

Thailand’s child sex trade and the cultural division of labour 

By John Draper, 
Peerasit Kamnuansilpa
Special to The Nation

 

The ongoing case of child sex trafficking in Mae Hong Son, with its allegations of police and bureaucratic involvement, is a national disgrace.

 

Thailand’s sex trade is worth an estimated Bt217 billion (US$6.4 billion). Yet the number of offenders arrested, prosecuted and convicted is woefully small. Furthermore, senior members of syndicates remain protected. Although police investigations are now expanding into Phuket, Thailand’s culture of impunity means modern slavery constantly threatens to engulf our children.  

 

The Mae Hong Son case illustrates, in the worst possible way, Thailand’s internal colonisation of its ethnic minority communities: the “cultural division of labour”. Thailand’s colonisation of its own people, following the British imperial model, has even been acknowledged by the Thai military: in 1976, General Saiyut Koetphon, former head of Internal Security Operations Command, stated: “Avoiding colonisation by Europe simply meant that we colonised our own people. This internal colonialism, in which officials appointed from the metropolis rule and drain the countryside like conquered provinces, has led to obvious differences among the Thai.”

 

The term “cultural division of labour” was popularised by Professor Michael Hechter in the 1980s, to describe the relationship between England and the UK’s Celtic fringe (Cornwall, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland). England’s internal colonies were both the first of its acquisitions and the last vestiges of its empire. 

 

Broadly, cultural division of labour is the use of ethnic communities to serve the state capital. In Bangkok, one prominent example is the historical use of Thai Lao people from the Northeast as construction workers, maids, gardeners and taxi drivers.

 

The cultural division of labour also has a long history in the child sex industry. In World War II the Nazis promoted the kidnapping of Polish and Russian girls as young as 15 to fill German military brothels, while Japanese forces used young Korean, Chinese and Philippine women as sex slaves. In the contemporary era, the cultural division of labour in child sex trafficking is found across Asia. The most prominent example is Cambodia, a notorious haven for paedophiles. For years, Svay Pak, a Vietnamese village outside Phnom Penh, was the centre of Cambodia’s child sex trade. Here, Vietnamese and Cambodian girls from 5-16 were offered to paedophiles. While local men are the most prevalent customers, other Asian men and Westerners also frequent Cambodia for child sex tourism.

 

Illustrating this cultural division of labour in Thailand is the case in Mae Hong Son, which is a Karen area. The case now involves 29 instances of modern slavery, seven of buying sex services, and one gang rape of a minor. Local girls here are regularly offered to VIP officials from Bangkok, with the 11 brothels in Mae Hong Son allegedly being owned by a police officer. In fact, the “welcoming tradition” or “serving dessert to the bosses tradition” appears to exist throughout Thailand, though is more widespread in tourist provinces. Sanphasit Koompraphat, former committee member for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, alleges the practice is widespread and even extends to rural female state schoolteachers being offered in exchange for budgetary support.

 

The view that upland minorities are available for sex originated in the 1950s with the publication of “30 Nations” in Chiang Rai by Boonchuay Srisawaddi, which mistakenly characterised senior Akha women initiating young men into sex. This was the birth of upland minorities as an erotic “other” for Thais. The insecurity of economically depressed ethnic minorities attempting to obtain citizenship, and a lack of democratic oversight in Mae Hong Son, only compound the situation, as ethnic minorities seek to ingratiate themselves with appointed bureaucrats. The refugee camps are also a source of children for prostitution.

 

The relationship between Bangkok and the North has been one of full-blown internal colonialism for decades due to the relative underdevelopment and political subordination of local communities, with the Lanna (Northern) identity being eradicated by the suppression of local culture and burning of manuscripts. However, officials only started leaving Bangkok to inspect the North in any number in the 1960s, and mass tourism only took off in the 2000s. Visiting officials expecting sex from young women and minors is thus a recent development.

 

Children being forced into prostitution occurs daily across Thailand, with mainly ethnic minority, Myanmar and Lao victims. For instance, the 2016 police raid on the Nataree Massage Parlour discovered 15 mostly Myanmar children in forced prostitution. Copious evidence was found incriminating local police and immigration police. This echoes the evidence of high-level, extensive police involvement in the Mae Hong Son case, where nine police officers have been sacked or transferred, 

 

The Civic Council of Mae Hong Son has called for the prime minister to designate the province as a pilot area for a crackdown on human trafficking, corruption and illicit drugs. In its three-phase plan, the first should include protecting and helping victims, transparent and honest investigations, and punishment for perpetrators. Phase two should include a follow-up audit process, campaigns against human trafficking, promotion of whistle-blowing, and oversight of establishments potentially involved in modern slavery. Finally, campaigns should promote proper values, and the government should support provincial socio-economic development.

 

Unfortunately these common-sense solutions risk being ignored under the prevailing mentality of internal colonialism. Thailand’s imperial phase is far from over, with every case of children forced into prostitution, enforced disappearance and torture emphasising the plight of Thailand’s colonised ethnic minorities. 

 

Thailand desperately needs a decolonisation process, one backed by legislation addressing economic, social and cultural disparities, specifically a National Language Policy recognising Thailand’s ethnic communities; legislation countering racial discrimination; legislation to empower the National Human Rights Commission; and legislation on decentralisation for accountable democracy, including elected governors. Nothing else will save our children.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/sunday/comment_letters/30318307

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-17

[clockman]

As long as, Do you know who iam, exists. No change?

[jobsworth]

what a ridiculous load of twisted contradictory statements.

with attitudes like this no wonder the problem continues to grow,

 

[hobz]

I've always been curious about corruption and mafia, having read several books about sicilian mafia etc...

 

In thailand it seems like the mafia have gone one step beyond bribing police. They ARE the police. They ARE the government. Thats another level of corruption...

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Avoiding colonisation by Europe simply meant that we colonised our own people.

[hobz]

2 minutes ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Avoiding colonisation by Europe simply meant that we colonised our own people.

They always find a way to blame farangs dont they 5555

[hansnl]

15 minutes ago, hobz said:

They always find a way to blame farangs dont they 5555

You might also, or instead, pose the question if the country would have been better off, in the long run, with external colonisation?

That said, what about the countries in Asia that have been colonised?

Any real difference with Thailand?

I don't really know about, Laos, Birma, Cambodia or Vietnam.

But from friends and relatives in Indonesia and the Phillipines, I more or less hear the same stories.

The story about internal colonisation to stave off external colonisation seem to be right from the Grimm brothers.

[crazydrummerpauly]

One of the best pieces i've read on the site for a long time.

[Stargeezr]

Well written article, with very disturbing content.  It is no surprise why there have been very

few changes over the years.  Even today there are people in Thailand with 2 or more legal wives,

another disturbing practice.  I think that child and underage sex abuse will continue to plague

Thailand for more years to come, as well as most of the Asian countries that have very

similar attitudes towards children and young adults.

Geezer

[sawadeeken]

This report tells it as it is........

No blame laid on the 'farang' here..............

Wouldn't be at all surprising to find the names of 'Top Generals' on the 'client-lists' of those young girls..... 

All the while trying to put on a 'show' of cleaning up all the sex available for tourists........ LOL.......

[ratcatcher]

Thailand’s sex trade is worth an estimated Bt217 billion (US$6.4 billion). 

 

Does that figure include the value of the ancillary services provided in the "sex trade" areas?    Hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. 

Must do, surely...................