"The Rounds" May 21, 2003

There are worrying indications that corruption in the government and the private sector not only continues to be rampant but actually on the increase. One story in the Bangkok Post today reports in general terms on the problem, with National Economic and Social Advisory Council chairman Sangsit Piriyarangsan quoted as claiming that up to 40% of monies used for funding state-sponsored projects is being lost through corruption. [To read the story, click here.] As I am not an economist, I can only muse of the long-term effects of corrupt practices on the Kingdom, nor am I in a position to make specific recommendations -- but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that wasted funds could be used to help alleviate poverty throughout the country and increase salaries for government employees, especially those involved in reviewing bids for public contracts and in any enforcement activities, to list just a couple examples. Even more worrying are claims in the story that theoretically independent agencies such as "the Election Commission and the National Counter Corruption Commission were exposed to political influence." In the 9 years I've been here, it has seemed -- based on anecdotal evidence, true -- that as our Thai hosts have become more politically aware, they have also become more strident in their insistence for honest government. If the story in the Bangkok Post is true, one can only hope that for their own sake the Thais are stirred to increase pressure for an end to the parasite of corruption.

Apparently bars were ordered to close this past Thursday (May 15th) in observance of Visakha Bucha Day, one of the most significant and auspicious of all Buddhist holidays, the day that simultaneously celebrates the three most important days in the life of the Lord Buddha: his birth, his enlightenment, and his death. One of the owners of a bar located in the Lumpini Police District here in Bangkok had his Thai wife telephone Lumpini police headquarters to ask about it and was told that bars would indeed receive official notice to close for the day. Presumably the order went to bars and related entertainment venues Kingdom-wide. (For a complete list of U.S. and Thai holidays for 2003, click here -- but be aware that there is no way to be sure which Thai holidays involve closure of entertainment venues.)

Since writing the above I have been told by various people that bar closures for this important religious holiday occur only in Bangkok. I went to Jomtien the evening before and spent the night there, and indeed all the bars I saw coming back on the afternoon of Visakha Bucha day were wide open. Further, friends have told me that Soi Cowboy was just as wide open.

This is just another example of the often mind-boggling inconsistency one encounters here. One friend did point out that perhaps the police commander of a district in which a bar was open was in desperate need of yet another new Mercedes Benz!

Regardless of one's view, it is a fact of life in Thailand that in a great many entertainment venues, the ladies can be "rented" -- i.e., a customer pays a fee to the bar for a lady to be free to go with him (or her, for that matter, in some instances).

Should the customer choose to remain in the bar where the lady works or to return with her later in the day or evening, or even during the following day prior to her scheduled start of work, disputes often arise between the customer and the bar's manager or owner over whether or not he is required to have the lady drink a so-called "lady drink" or he can offer her an ordinary drink; the former is invariably higher, often MUCH higher, than the latter, increasing the profit for the bar. It is true the lady will receive a commission for each lady drink she consumes, while she receives nothing for drinking an ordinary drink.

I find it unacceptable to require a customer to buy lady drinks for the lady, regardless of the fact her employment is in the bar in which they are drinking -- often the reason ("excuse" is more like it) given by the manager or owner. The true reason is pure greed, of course.

Even worse is when a bar tries to hit a customer with a bill for a lady drink when he treats a lady to a drink just because the lady in question is Thai -- even if she is not a bar girl at all! I once had the face-losing experience of being not only presented with an outrageous bill for lady drinks when I went in the company of a Thai lady university lecturer to a bar, but of having the waitress haughtily ask me in the lady's presence in which bar I had bar-fined my colleague. My colleague was mortified, of course, and has ever since refused to go with me to any bar, period. In fact, she was so humiliated she wouldn't go anywhere in my company for well over a year. I did later return to the bar and raise the roof with the owner, a very nice Thai gentleman with whom I have been friends for years, and he did sternly lecture the offending waitress, but the damage was done.

I had a debate with a bar owner the other day, an owner who also is one of my best friends in Thailand, about this topic. He was resolute in his position -- until I turned up the heat and told him that when my Sister comes for a repeat business over the Christmas, 2004 holiday (as she plans to do), I expect to be charged for a lady drink for each and every drink she has -- and for the owner to be sure to pay her the standard lady-drink commission for each and every one. He was shocked, of course, and said he couldn't charge me for a lady drink for a foreigner, especially not my Sister. I countered point-blank by saying I found such a position completely morally indefensible and entirely racist -- and added were that to be his firm policy, not only would I make darned sure my Sister goes nowhere near his bars again (he has 3), and not only would I not bring any lady into them, but that I myself would never return to any of his bars again -- and would urge my many friends among his patrons to follow my example. I did say that *if* I choose to buy one of his employee's a drink while she is on duty, then I would expect to be charged for a lady-drink. He was shocked, of course, eventually relenting -- but only after first asking me what he's supposed to do when a customer orders a drink for the lady, even if the customer specifies an ordinary drink and not a lady drink, but the lady herself tells the server, unbeknownst to the man, to serve her a lady drink. My response was that it was bad enough for the lady in question to give contrary instructions to the server -- and even worse for the bar to allow the server to follow the lady's instruction without first specifically asking the man if he will agree to buy the lady a lady drink instead of an ordinary one. I added that when that happens to me -- as it has -- I have refused to pay for a lady drink, and would continue to do so.

A practice related to wrongly charging for a lady drink is that of requiring a man who becomes the boyfriend of a girl in a bar to "buy out" the girl should she stop working. The amount ranges from 5,000 baht up to the low 5-digit level, depending on the establishment. The logic is that the bar is "deprived" of income from lady drinks the girl in question would have been given by customers were she still in the bar's employ, not to mention any bar fines that would have been paid for her. This smacks strongly of trafficking in women, even more strongly than prostitution, in my opinion (and that of a great many other people). Most bar owners I know refuse to admit the obvious -- that for them to insist a customer "buy out" a girl is every bit as evil as it is for them to "buy" girls to work in their bars. True, most owners I know are just as appalled at the latter as I am, but even so, they don't see the parallel, or at least claim they don't. I personally know of instances in which a girl has left a bar for reasons having nothing to do with a boyfriend, much less with becoming the girlfriend of a customer of that bar, but who later indeed got a boyfriend, only to have the bar manager or owner demand the boyfriend pay a "buy out" fee when the manager or owner learned of the liaison and knew or met the boyfriend in question -- but only when the boyfriend isn't Thai, which makes a scant defensible practice reach even higher levels of unacceptability, not to mention idiocy and horrible customer relations.

The annual celebration of American Independence Day will be held Saturday, July 5th this year on the ground of the New International School of Thailand (often referred to, simply, as "NIST"). All the proceeds go to charity, making this a worthy event -- and one need NOT be American to attend.

One of the activities at the Independence Day celebration is a chili cook-off, regarding which I'm pleased to print the flyer below:

Even if you don't wish to be a competitor, chili-lovers will be sure to want to drop by this happening!

One can only hope that the SARS outbreak is contained and then eliminated in short order. And that the hysteria surrounding it is reined in to sobriety even sooner.

Vietnam and Toronto have been declared SARS-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). Reported cases in other SARS-hit places are getting fewer by the day, except in Taiwan, where it appears the virus has moved out of the north as it now is being reported in the area of the island's second city, Kaoshung, on the southern extremity of Taiwan. (Incidentally, there was some silly political posturing from Beijing with the WHO over whether or not to report Taiwan cases together with the mainland's -- since Beijing is adamantly insistent Taiwan is just a renegade province of The People's Republic of China -- Communist-ruled China -- and not the independent nation of The Republic of China.)

Mainland China is sure having a bad day with SARS. Villages around the country have been reported to be putting up blockades against anyone coming from the outside. Though Beijing was far too slow getting off the starting line and coming clean, it certainly has moved rapidly and with draconian measures over the past month, introducing harsh penalties for government officials who try to hide information about outbreaks of the virus in areas under their jurisdiction and threatening execution of SARS carriers who knowingly infect other people with the sometimes deadly virus. Happily, the number of new deaths and infected people has been generally dwindling day by day there, a trend all hope continues.

Singapore had a bad scare when it appeared a number of patients and medical personnel at a mental institution there recently came down with SARS-like symptoms, but it now appears the victims may have no more than ordinary flu, according to media reports.

As of now, Taiwan seems to be suffering worst of all from SARS in that the number of cases there is on the rise.

[I ran the following last time, but because I have had *4* inquiries since then by e-mail, I decided to run it again.]

No, none of the site's galleries have been taken away, though access to them has been modified. Now if you go to the box containing BangkokAtoZ.com's Regular Features, you'll see text links to the galleries. [Khun Ae's Photo Gallery and Khun Aom's Photo Gallery]

Although I remain convinced the sample pictures previously shown on the site's homepage are very attractive, with Ae in lovely office-girl clothes and Aom attired in beautiful traditional northern Thai dress, a handful of people might suspect the links lead to sex photos (which they do not!). A friend in the American military familiar with the site said he had talked to the appropriate people at his regular duty station about getting BangkokAtoZ.com listed in a military directory of websites, but that the people there who looked at it and got back to him said it probably would be blocked along the way for listing because of those two photos, though those people had explored the site and knew it is not a sex site -- but they, familiar with the way of things in their field, asked my friend to pass along that information to me. My friend did so some months ago, and I've been mulling it over, discussing it with various people, especial my partner "Doctor" Dennis. While the general consensus is that it would take a really puritanical person of the most extreme feminist to leap to the conclusion the site is sex-oriented after seeing those two excellent photos, I was on the horns of a dilemma. I in fact know a fair number of American military personnel, and they all recommend the site to their fellow servicemen regularly, but also urged me to go along with the recommendation. So I have -- at least for now.

I'll be monitoring traffic to the site to plot any changes, and if appropriate, will restore the photos. But rest assured -- the galleries ARE still here!

In my last column I commented it appears tourist numbers are down, after previously reporting those numbers appeared up. The feeling that they are indeed probably dwindling is reinforced by a plan tourism authorities have drawn up to have hotels and related businesses voluntarily take part in June at a sale in the Queen Sirikhit Convention Center (Rachadapisek Road, south of the intersection of that road and Sukhumvit Road -- Rachadapisek temporarily chancges to Soi Asoke north of that intersection). Room discounts of up to a staggering 80% will be offered by numerous hotels across the spectrum -- from 1-star to 5-star ones. Some aren't offering an actual discount, but throwing in services and facilities for free that normally are fee-bearing, such as use of the business center, health club, etc.

Some places haven't waited, instead already offering attractive packages, especially in areas particularly dependents on tourist money for local livelihood; Phuket is one example.

Let me repeat: Thailand remains the excellent travel destination it has been for years. The appeal of warm weather is fading as the Northern Hemisphere moves through spring on towards summer, true, but warmth is hardly the only attraction the Kingdom offers.

Last time I commented on the case awhile back of a young boy here in Thailand who was unfortunate enough to be set upon by a pack of wild dogs (commonly known as "soi dogs" here, because the side sois generally are their homes) and rather badly injured, amd whose family is reportedly quite poor, without means to meet the child's mounting medical expenses. Now the news media is reporting that some of the more than two dozen reported declared donors are actually government departments that said they would contribute to pay for the injured child's medical bills.

But at last report some days ago, no one, neither individual nor government department, had stepped forward to meet the child's medical expenses, reported to have reached about 150,000 baht by the time the boy was released -- thank goodness for that! -- from hospital.

True, for readers who live in countries without inexpensive/free health care (especially readers in America), a bill for a moderately long stay in hospital with treatment for bad dog-bite wounds of about US$3,640 [at last Friday's exchange rate] is incredibly cheap. But in Bangkok terms, that represents an average worker's income for 18¾ months' income, the average income here reported to be 8,000 baht per month. For government agencies to volunteer help then to welch is beyond merely reprehensible.

Indeed, it calls down upon the heads of those who shot off their irresponsible, self-serving, glory-seeking mouths the most severe moral censure.

It is widely believed, rightly or wrongly, that the current administration seeks to control the news media, though in fairness to the government, no one has produced a smoking gun. But an experience of mine just yesterday suggests that whatever the truth may be, perhaps the media is loosening again, whether from self-imposed controls put in place for whatever reason of from any "suggested" controls by the government.

The venerable English-language daily newspaper The Bangkok Post has not published any of the fair number of letters-to-the-editor I have written since November, 2001, with one exception -- and that was a letter I wrote that had absolutely nothing to do with Thailand in any way, shape, or form. About mid-2002, a friend of mine met a foreign editor of the paper who formerly held final authority on which letters to publish, and my friend asked him why none of my letters appeared anymore. The foreigner told him that he had lost that authority to higher-ups, and that his direct boss told him I was rather controversial and that the paper out to run letters from a more diverse span of contributors than it had previously done. [Never mind that perusal of that part of The Bangkok Post during the time-frame mentioned shows that other regular contributors' letters, including equally -- in my view -- controversial and critical ones, continued to appear.]

But a few days ago I wrote such a letter, one regarding the debate surrounding the legality of police killings of suspects during the recently concluded campaign against the illegal drug trade. Immediately after hitting the "SEND" button, I thought to myself, "What a waste of time -- that paper hasn't published any of my letters in nearly a year at all, even ones not having anything whatsoever to do with Thailand." For those who followed media reports about the war on drugs and may be interested in reading my letter, I am reprinting the letter below. [Here is a hyperlink to the paper's Saturday, May 17th Letters-to-the-Editor page for any of you who prefer to read it there; my letter is the next-to-last one.] I was not pleased with the headline under which the paper ran my letter, "Enforcers must act within the law" -- which was not my argument at all. Even so, I was surprised -- indeed, stunned -- by my letter's appearance after so long a hiatus.

Editor:

Much has been written by editorialists, columnists, and contributors to letters-to-the-editor section of many newspapers, magazines, etc. regarding the Thai government's recently concluded campaign against the world of illicit drugs -- a campaign indisputably praise-worthy in its goal of reducing -- ideally, eliminating -- drugs from Thailand.

Particular attention has been focused on the deaths of 2,274 suspects during the campaign. Though I served in law enforcement in one way or another in the US for about a decade long ago, of course I have no way of knowing the likelihood of the innocence or guilt of even a single one of the dead suspects (nor, for that matter, any of the wounded ones or the unwounded but arrested ones).

As a former lawman, I do know this, however: if a jurisdiction has a set of laws in place that its law enforcement personnel ignore, for whatever reason, then by definition those personnel are operating outside the law. Whether this is acceptable to society is entirely divorced from whether this is legal or illegal.

I continue to read letters, primarily from non-Thais, stating the writers don't know a single Thai at all even questioning of -- let alone disturbed by -- the deaths resulting from the recent crackdown on drug dealers. I happen to move in a relatively limited circle, so my exposure to Thai public opinion is relatively narrow, but it is interesting to me that in that limited -- but fairly representative -- circle, a clear majority of my Thai friends question whether all the deaths of suspected drug dealers were indeed warranted. Several have brought up the case a few years ago of a well-known police general leading an attack on suspected criminals which resulted in the deaths of those handcuffed suspects and the almost immediate cremation of their bodies.

I'm not about to criticize the Thai government nor Thailand's law enforcement personnel for the conduct or results of the recent anti-drug campaign, including not the deaths of 2,274 people. But neither will I support them, other than to note that in those cases in which police reacted to protect their own or other people's lives because they had to do so, and had to do so immediately, then even under the most liberal state such a reaction would be adjudged to be what American police call "a righteous shoot."

I will, however, dispute anyone who wants to try to have it both ways -- i.e., to say Country X is a country based on law BUT it's okay to ignore its laws when the observance of them is not convenient. And I'm no longer talking about the recent crackdown here in Thailand; I certainly wasn't present at any of the 2,274 killings, for for all I know, each and every one of them may have been entirely justified by law, by circumstance, and by morality itself. I'm talking about logic. Don't disingeniously argue that stepping outside the law doesn't make actions conducted beyond legal boundaries acceptable. One writer of a letter to the editor suggested the drug menace has brought numerous societies to the border of anarchy. I fail to see how to unleash public authorities to themselves engage in extra-legal activities helps to limit or eliminate anarchy. Quite the contrary; such extra-legal activities are not, in the first place, "legal" -- that's a matter of simple definition which all but the dimmest observer will grasp. And in the second place, history around the world shows the wisdom of the question "Who guards the guardians?"

If the Thai populace wants to have the nation's law enforcement agencies free to step outside the bounds of Thai law when it is desireable (with no implied reference to law enforcement activities during the recent anti-drug campaign), then that is entirely the business of the Thai people. If there is clear evidence of anybehavior conducted in disregard of generally acceptable laws, then neither our Thai hosts nor anyone else can dispute the logic of anyone else calling such behavior extra-judicial or extra-legal. (By "generally acceptable laws" I mean laws by nations around the world which are themselves generally regarded as being civilized nations.)

As one can see, my argument revolved around word meaning, not around restrictions on police behavior.

A story in the May 18th edition of the Bangkok Post reported that the District Chief of Chiang Mai's Mae Ai District has refused to reinstate the Thai nationality of a family in his district -- his refusal directly opposite what he was ordered to do by national-level authorities. [For the full story, click here.] It is amazing how often -- and with apparent immunity, since no punishment is ever reported to be imposed -- local officials blithely ignore orders, exhibiting a fine and utter contempt for higher authority. This story reminds me of a letter to the editor a year or two ago from a Thai lady complaining that a local official refused to register her and her husband's marriage with her name listed as her maiden name, an option written into law as the result of provisions of the new constitution, instead telling her he didn't care what the law said, and that he refused to comply with it, because the law and the constitution themselves "violate Thai tradition," as I recall she claimed he told her. Whether a rule or law violates "Thai tradition" or not is immaterial to an official's compliance with the rule or law in question. Were I the Governor of Chiang Mai -- the District Chief's boss through whom the national order went -- I would dismiss the District Chief immediately, with prejudice, and pursue any other disciplinary and legal punitive measures available against him. But I dream, foolishly, of course. . . . after all, we are in Thailand. . . .

The annual monsoon season has been playing hide-'n-seek this year, hiding far more often than not. About a week ago 2 consecutive days saw welcome downpours here in the capital, welcome in no small measure for the far cooler temperatures they brought than those broiling us on clear days -- the temperature has been averaging in the 36-37 degree range [about 97-100 degrees, Farenheit] with the relative humidity running in the range of 85%, making the air a sauna. Yet the first rain of the calendar year came in April -- greatly surprising everyone, no one able to recall ever having seen rain in Bangkok so early, ever -- not even Thais who have lived their entire lives here.

The lack of rain has been felt in many ways, in the form, for example, of destructive wildfires in the North, fires which led to the second problem of visibility reduced by smoke to such low levels that Thai Airways was forced to cancel its flights between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son. There also have been scattered reports of reservoirs running distressingly low. The agricultural sector remains under threat should the normal monsoons not come -- and come sooner rather than later.

The clear weather is good news for tourists, especially those who don't mind the high temperatures and high relative humidity, but anyone should be able to see that the potential for loss and suffering of the Thai people outweighs the benefits of holiday-makers -- though of course for tourists not to come has its own significant economic impact, if on different sectors than on those affected by a lack of rain.

I ran across a website, quite by coincidence, that has links to the Armed Forces Radio Network, including streaming media -- and also including a link to the long-gone American Forces Vietnam Network. I was entirely unaware that the radio services of the American military are available over the web, and feel it will be a boon to any of our friends visiting the site who are current or former military personnel and interested other parties who, like me, are unaware of the service. I've added a link on the BangkokAtoZ.com homepage in the "Regular Features" section.

Texas Lone Staar in Bangkok's Washington Square (Sukhumvit Road and Sukhumvit Soi 22) has an e-mail address now, one proprietor George Pipas wanted to establish: texaslonestaar@yahoo.com -- and note the two "a's" in the part "staar." This should be especially useful for people outside Bangkok wanting to know if the bar has a room available for short-term or long-term rent.

George also wants to let everyone know he has installed a computer, with an Internet hook-up, for customers to use to check their e-mail for free when they come in for a drink, food, or both.

Sign-up here for e-mail notification when I add or change something on the site. Just go to the sign-up page.

If anyone reading this has a website and would like to place a link there for BangkokAtoZ.com, you can copy-and-paste the banner and text link below into your site; they are live links to this site's homepage:

I'll appreciate an e-mail telling me the URL of where you placed it. If you want me to put a link on BangkokAtoZ.com for your site, do tell me where you have placed our link, and I'll give you a link in a comparable position, of the same nature (i.e., banner-for-banner, text-for-text).