Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome (left) and Pattaya Police Superintendant
Nanthawut Suwanla-Ong (right) meet with bar owners about the possibility
of extending closing hours within Pattaya.
Thanachote Anuwan
With Bangkok-based police again enforcing national
laws requiring entertainment venues to close at 2 a.m., Pattaya bar
owners and Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome are again trying to get the city
exempted.
At a Nov. 15 meeting with Pattaya’s police chief,
Justice Ministry and Royal Thai Police officials, Itthiphol repeated his
frequent point that Pattaya is a special administrative zone and a hub
for the country’s tourism industry. Closing down the town for
holiday-makers hurts the city’s reputation and the income of its
business owners.
The meeting came near the end of a week-long
crackdown by Royal Thai Police officials from Bangkok that saw all of
Walking Street closed up tight at 2 a.m. nightly, angering both tourists
and business owners. Bandit Siritanyong, chairman of the Pattaya
entertainment entrepreneurs association, said additional raids by Public
Sector Anti-Corruption Department officers were causing even more
problems.
The crackdown, which seems to come at the start of
high season every year, again prompted business owners to ask that
closing times be extended for Pattaya, a matter the mayor again pledged
to take to the city council. However, now matter what the council
decides, the final decision still rests in Bangkok.
