‘Pattaya Model’ plan to tackle previously taboo
subject of police ‘tea money’
Mayor
Itthiphol Kunplome will lead a panel of officials who will devise a plan to
cover all aspects of late night entertainment in Pattaya.
Thanachot Anuwan
There will be no official change in Pattaya bar closing
times until at least 2012 as a host of city, provincial and national
government officials draft a “Pattaya Model” project to revise zoning,
operating hours and tax systems for entertainment venues.
Speaking at the first meeting of the “Pattaya Model”
board, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome dashed the last hopes of bar owners and
party lovers hoping to see closing times pushed back this season to as last
as 4:30 a.m. when he said the draft plan will take a year to complete and
even longer for the Cabinet to debate and approve.
Spearheaded by the National Counter Corruption Commission
- whose criticism of the Pattaya Police Department’s lax enforcement of
national bar-closing times prompted a November crackdown - the new zoning
plan is being eyed as a possible model for tourist-centric cities around the
country. It would not only cover operating hours, but business zoning, tax
collection, security, and advertising.
Even the usually taboo subject of under-the-table
payments to police officers is being discussed.
Publicly acknowledging the illegal “tea money” bar owners
pay to police to stay open past legal closing times and put on nude shows,
the mayor said the goal to make the bribes legal, with bar owners tipping
off officials on competitors breaking the law and paying into a fund to have
regulators enforce them.
“This will reduce the police department’s obligation to
control the bars and focus more on other burdens,” Itthiphol said. “It also
generates confidence in tourists regarding the safety of life and property
as well.”
With such a sweeping scope, the draft plan runs the risk
of never being completed, both because of the difficulty of re-regulating so
many matters and winning agreement of so many agencies affected.
Sitting on the “Pattaya Model” board are the mayor,
Banglamung District Chief Mongkol Thamakittikhun, Pattaya Secretary-General
Sunthorn Rattanawaraha, Police Superintendent Nanthawut Suwanla-Ong, Pattaya
Entertainment Association President Bandit Siritanyong and representatives
from government offices regulating taxation, immigration, hotels, the media,
labor, public health and welfare.
Despite this autumn’s string of street protests by bar
owners, operating hours appear now to be a minor consideration in the
overall plan. The issue Itthiphol stressed most was revenue collection.
Entertainment venues generate a lot of revenue and public officials believe
the government is not getting its fair cut.
Collection of labor taxes and excise duties on beverages
and food will be among the nine matters focused on by the draft plan,
advertising and signage, which also generates tax revenue, are two more.
Other items on the agenda are zoning permits, noise pollution, security, the
“appropriateness” of shows and operating hours round out the list.
The current system, Itthiphol said, has to change. The
city is a hodge-podge of zoning conflicts which only leads to conflict with
police and government officials, as well as between business owners.
The hope is that if the draft plan is successful, it can be used in
Phuket, Chiang Mail and other locations, he said.
