Long Live Her Majesty The Queen!

Queen Sirikit, Mother of the Populace

Pattaya Mail joins the Kingdom in wishing a most Happy Birthday to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.

Her Majesty’s selfless dedication has been evident and appreciated by her subjects throughout the nation. Her Majesty is also a mother highly regarded by her children.

The benevolence of Her Majesty the Queen bestowed upon Her subjects, including those living in remote rural areas, explains the love she has earned from her people who regard her as Mother of the Populace.

Thus, August 12 is more than just the day the nation celebrates Her Majesty’s Birthday, it is also observed as National Mother’s Day.

Happy Birthday Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and Happy Mother’s Day to all in the land.
Long Live The Queen!

Working towards eradicating child prostitution

Royal Garden stepping up efforts to solve the problem

Shopping malls the world over have become the meeting places of today’s youths. Unfortunately, certain adverse byproducts of this universal gathering have emerged.

With this large congregation of youths, the inevitable forming of youth gangs is prevalent, as well as the convergence of ill-intentioned adults who prey on the less fortunate children, using these children for the purpose of child prostitution.

Suphadit Maneeratcharatsri, the Managing Director of the Royal Garden Shopping Plaza, has been working hard to eradicate these problems from his mall. He realizes, however, that this aspect of his job is not an easy one.

"As a businessman, I am not able to forbid these people from coming into the shopping center," Suphadit stated. "We also have to be very careful about accusing people of wrong-doing, for if we are wrong, we could be violating their rights of freedom and be sued."

"Once the store had a group of police chase and arrest some of these bad people," Suphadit continued, "but the result was that the youths returned and caused malicious mischief, such as spraying paint on stores, defecating in the elevators, and other unmentionable things."

Suphadit also sees that the problem runs deeper than just a few delinquent gangs acting alone. "I don’t believe these gangs operate by themselves. There must be someone behind them who makes them do what they are doing. This becomes evident when gang members are arrested - within a short period of time they are all bailed out of jail."

Suphadit understands that a long term plan is needed, which requires a lot of cooperation between local businesses, organizations and the local police.

"Firstly, the Royal Garden isn’t the only place where these things happen. There are many other places where these illegal activities take place, but we have been singled out in the press. Why? The Royal Garden has always been, and will continue to be, happy to cooperate with police and other organizations in order to find policies to protect and suppress these gangs."

Suphadit is optimistic that these problems can be solved. "With businesses, the civil service, the police, the Social Welfare Department and others working together in a strict manner, the problems of youth gangs and child prostitution can be greatly reduced."

A spokesman for the Tourist Police stated that they are not sitting still. "We have sent out uniformed and plainclothes officers to keep gangs and child molesters under surveillance."

Suphadit Maneeratcharatsri added one final thought, "Let this be a warning to all those who think they can use our mall as a place for finding children to molest. You can’t. We are watching and you who are caught will be dealt with harshly."

Working to reduce child prostitution

Police vigilance and AIDS awareness affecting change

The Thai Department of Social Welfare and the Ministry of the Interior say that the foreign press’ estimate of 800,000 child prostitutes in Thailand is an exaggeration. The two organizations put the number at one-tenth that many, or 80,000.

The Ministry of the Interior also said that many of the prostitutes in Thailand are illegal aliens from countries which have common borders with Thailand. Thailand’s poor economic performance and the fear of AIDS are two reasons for the reduction in the number of prostitutes, the Ministry announced.

Dr. Vichai Chokevivat heads a working group set up by the Department of Social Welfare to determine the number of child prostitutes in the country.

The working group gathered figures and statistics and gave its report "How Many Child Prostitutes" on July 27, 1998.

Dr. Vichai revealed that the working group had done surveys of entertainment venues known to provide sexual services in 20 provinces in 1997. Figures show that the number of people engaging in prostitution is 10-16% of former statistics. Child prostitution has also decreased. The working group found that a large number of prostitutes were from countries which border Thailand.

Dr. Vichai said the reason for the decrease is Thailand’s willingness to accept and publicize the AIDS epidemic, which other countries in the region deny. This has kept the Thai people informed and wary of engaging in or patronizing prostitutes.

The Sena Patana Khunaphap Cheevit program, which sends representatives to rural areas, has had major success in educating rural people on the dangers of promiscuous sex. The new laws which require students to finish 12 years of school has also had a beneficial effect.

Another program, the "Educational Project for Young Women", provides vocational training to teenage girls who might otherwise turn to prostitution. This also lowers migration to urban areas such as Bangkok and keeps families together.

The laws against having sex with prostitutes under 18 has also been very helpful in Thailand’s fight against AIDS. The punishments for the customer, parents and procurers of child prostitutes are severe.

The sad state of the economy has also reduced people’s disposable income, which prevents them from frequenting prostitutes.

Many prostitutes have gone back to the fields and are working with their families in their native provinces.

Professor Dr. Kritataya Achawanitkul of the Mahidol University Society and Research Faculty says that at present there are approximately 4 million females in Thailand between the ages of 11-17. Of this number, approximately 18,000 are engaged in prostitution. Of this number 5,419 are natives of countries which border Thailand.

Pattaya Police have become very watchful and have recently arrested many people who frequent child prostitutes, both male and female.

A special center set up in Pattaya is now rigidly enforcing laws against the sexual exploitation of children. Arrests are made and the violators names and pictures appear in newspapers and other media. This is a warning to foreigners who wish to come to Thailand to engage in sex with children.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Tourist Police have also organized a campaign, with flyers handed out to tourists warning them of the severe penalties.

In the past, child prostitutes often frequented shopping centers, the tourist boat pier, beer bars in South Pattaya, the footbridge on Pattaya Third Road and Jomtien Beach.

When the police increased vigilance, child prostitutes had to move to new areas, coming back to the former when they felt it was ‘safe’. Other ‘methods’ and ‘fronts’ for prostitution have been devised but they are under constant surveillance by police officers.

Officers have been making arrests while prostitutes are in flagrante delicto so as to not be accused of harassment or false accusation. This also protects officers from accusations of entrapment in order to extort money from tourists.

The "service girls" at the many beer bars in Pattaya are very aware of AIDS, seeing many of their "sisters" succumb to the condition.

The Somdej Hospital in the city of Sriracha revealed that most patients who receive treatment for AIDS are 20-35 years of age. They are usually addicted to drugs. The average number of deaths per month from AIDS is 8-10 people. This number shows no signs of increasing.

Pattaya Police confiscate 600 speed tablets

Wife arrested, husband gets away

Pattaya police, in another ‘sting’ operation, managed to confiscate 600 methamphetamine tablets and nab the dealer.

At 3:00 a.m. on July 31, the Drug Enforcement Division of the Pattaya Police learned that ‘speed’ was being sold out of a house in Banglamung. Two plainclothes officers went to the house, pretending to be buyers.

Mr. Nuchanart Boonmee, 35, and Mr. Chao Sukhkasem, 43, a common law couple produced 10 tablets of the drug at the price of 100 baht per tablet.

Police showed their identification and told the couple they were under arrest. Oddly, even though police were in the couple’s house, Chao managed to escape the two burly police officers.

Officers did manage to arrest Ms. Wongthondee, 37, Mr. Nit Sukhkasem, 30, and Mr. Saishon Phakdeethawal, 21, who were also in the house.

Officers confiscated an additional 590 tablets of speed, hidden in the mattress of a bed, and two cellular phones.

Ms. Nuchanart confessed that the house belonged to her husband, Mr. Chao (the man who escaped).

She said they bought the drug from a major producer in lots of 10,000 baht per buy. Their usual customers were teenagers and motorcycle taxi drivers. Ms. Nuchanart said if she knew the two men were police officers she never would have sold them the drugs.

Police said that the head of this gang was Mr. Chao, aka, ‘Daddy Ott’.
The producer from whom they purchased the drugs is not known.

Young woman molested

Taiwanese factory owner arrested

A Taiwanese owner of a women’s clothing factory was arrested for molesting a 13-year-old girl in a Pattaya hotel.
Police received a complaint from the girl’s aunt, Ms. Suntree Phopak that Hoo Kung, 47, had sexually assaulted her 13 year old niece.
After the assault, Hoo fled in a motorcar. Police apprehended him on Pattaya Central Road.
The 13-year-old victim told police that she worked at a small ‘noodle shop’ in Sriracha. At 23:00 hrs. on August 1, Hoo and a "Ms. Ting", a neighbor from her native province, came into the shop. "Ting" was employed at Hoo’s factory. Both sat down and proceeded to become quite drunk.
Later "Ting" invited the 13-year-old and a friend to go for a drive to Pattaya and offered to pay them for their time. Seeing that the inebriated woman was a neighbor from home, the girls trusted her.

Hoo drove the group to the hotel in Pattaya and told them to take a rest. They would take them out for some fun later. The group opened two rooms.

Once in the room, Hoo tried to assault the 13-year-old but she resisted and ran out of the room. Jumping into a baht bus, she went to her aunt’s home in Pattaya.
Hoo was charged with molesting a person under 15 years old.
Ms. Ting has disappeared.

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Updated every Friday
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Created by Andy Gombaz, assisted by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek.