Tweet
More graft on the way?????
Thailand may back off plan to curb nightlife
BANGKOK (Reuters) - The Thai government looks ready to back off its plan to curtail the country's lively nightlife and notorious sex industry, officials say.
On the day the nightclubs, bars, discos and massage parlours were due to have their opening hours shortened, the officials said the cabinet would be given a new proposal on Tuesday which would allow existing institutions to open and close without change.
"The new regulations will not have retroactive impact or hurt existing bars," Vichien Chavalit, an Interior Ministry official who helped draft the rules, told Reuters.
They would be applied only to new ones, officials said.
"We forwarded the draft to the cabinet a while ago. If the cabinet discusses and approves it tomorrow, it will become effective by March 15," Vichien said.
Under the plan due to go into effect on Monday , massage parlours -- previously allowed to operate 12 hours a day and close by midnight -- would have been restricted to opening just eight hours a day and close at midnight.
Discos, nightclubs, go-go bars and massage parlours in specially designated zones would have been allowed to operate for seven hours a day.
Some would have been allowed to stay open until 1 a.m. and the rest would close by 2 a.m. -- the current limit.
Those outside the zones would have been able to open only three to six hours a day and should shut their doors at midnight.
The new draft was to be discussed by the cabinet on Tuesday and the plan was for the rules to become effective by mid-March, officials said.
The original cabinet decision had enraged club owners who said hundreds of thousands of jobs would be threatened and had lobbied the government publicly and privately to reverse it.
Bar owners, who had complained the regulations threatened to drive them into bankruptcy, now told Reuters they were satisfied with the government compromises.
"We've talked to senior people in the government and they have assured us that existing bars will operate as usual," said Somyot Suthangkool, owner of a popular Bangkok nightclub and chairman of an industry body with 50,000 members.
"Only the new bars will have to follow the new rules," said Somyot, who complained last month millions of waiters and singers would lose their jobs if the regulations took effect.
But some operators said the distinction between existing and new bars was likely to offer opportunities to corrupt officials.
"How could police officers keep track of all bars in their districts," asked Chuwit Kamolvisit, who owns six upscale massage parlours in Bangkok and has alleged publicly he paid $300,000 (160,000 pounds) a month in bribes to senior policemen.
"The new massage parlour owners will have to bribe officers to have operating hours the same as their rivals," he said.
--Reuters 2003-03-01
Thailand may back off plan to curb nightlife
BANGKOK (Reuters) - The Thai government looks ready to back off its plan to curtail the country's lively nightlife and notorious sex industry, officials say.
On the day the nightclubs, bars, discos and massage parlours were due to have their opening hours shortened, the officials said the cabinet would be given a new proposal on Tuesday which would allow existing institutions to open and close without change.
"The new regulations will not have retroactive impact or hurt existing bars," Vichien Chavalit, an Interior Ministry official who helped draft the rules, told Reuters.
They would be applied only to new ones, officials said.
"We forwarded the draft to the cabinet a while ago. If the cabinet discusses and approves it tomorrow, it will become effective by March 15," Vichien said.
Under the plan due to go into effect on Monday , massage parlours -- previously allowed to operate 12 hours a day and close by midnight -- would have been restricted to opening just eight hours a day and close at midnight.
Discos, nightclubs, go-go bars and massage parlours in specially designated zones would have been allowed to operate for seven hours a day.
Some would have been allowed to stay open until 1 a.m. and the rest would close by 2 a.m. -- the current limit.
Those outside the zones would have been able to open only three to six hours a day and should shut their doors at midnight.
The new draft was to be discussed by the cabinet on Tuesday and the plan was for the rules to become effective by mid-March, officials said.
The original cabinet decision had enraged club owners who said hundreds of thousands of jobs would be threatened and had lobbied the government publicly and privately to reverse it.
Bar owners, who had complained the regulations threatened to drive them into bankruptcy, now told Reuters they were satisfied with the government compromises.
"We've talked to senior people in the government and they have assured us that existing bars will operate as usual," said Somyot Suthangkool, owner of a popular Bangkok nightclub and chairman of an industry body with 50,000 members.
"Only the new bars will have to follow the new rules," said Somyot, who complained last month millions of waiters and singers would lose their jobs if the regulations took effect.
But some operators said the distinction between existing and new bars was likely to offer opportunities to corrupt officials.
"How could police officers keep track of all bars in their districts," asked Chuwit Kamolvisit, who owns six upscale massage parlours in Bangkok and has alleged publicly he paid $300,000 (160,000 pounds) a month in bribes to senior policemen.
"The new massage parlour owners will have to bribe officers to have operating hours the same as their rivals," he said.
--Reuters 2003-03-01
Comment