PHUKET: Anti-corruption is coming out of the closet on Phuket as residents are being urged to speak out to name corrupt individuals and fight to make Phuket a ''role model.''

A new online site with the motto ''Phuket Thailand Stop Corruption'' is urging people to come forward in preparation for the full intervention of the Department of Special Investigation from Bangkok.

Hotlines are bound to be busy once the DSI and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport have a headquarters and some telephone numbers.

In what appears to be a sincere reaction to complaints from tourists and their ambassadors, a large-scale investigation has been promised to obliterate Phuket's tourism-related scams and rip-offs.

Levels of fear among locals are diminishing so the phuket-anti-corruption.com site has gone public with Dr Surin Bumrungpon listing Phuket organisations and inviting readers to relate their corruption experiences.

Three years ago, a public meeting in Patong exposed for the first time that many businesses and individuals in Patong pay bribes to 14 organisations.

The meeting was called because two more organisations wanted to also be paid bribes, and Patong officials had decided 14 was enough.

Entrenched corruption has flourished as Phuket has grown richer with tourism. And the bottom line is that it's mostly the tourists who pay the bribes, one way or another.

But residents are also often victims, too. And the appearance of the anti-corruption site in the Thai language is a good indication that residents have had enough, along with the tourists and expats.

The site says that Phuket ''has the ability to become a hub for the Asean Economic Community and is an ideal place for representatives from around the region to meet.''

By 2020, Phuket should emerge ''as an international destination that is safe, secure, clean and capable of competing with rival destinations without corruption.

''People of Phuket are invited to join those who want to see Phuket become the 'Phuket model' for other provinces in Thailand.''

The site notes that corruption is firmly entrenched but ''we have to be strong.'' The traditional networking system in Thailand simply has to change.

''I would like to invite residents, students, teachers, professors, businesspeople and government staff to join this network,'' Dr Bumrungpon writes.

The organisation is independent and will be staffed by volunteers, he said: ''We hope this organisation will carry Phuket to be a paradise island in 2020.''

The time was right to act, he said.

In a questionnaire about corruption, the names of virtually every organisation or government department, university, hospital and school on Phuket are listed.

The list begins with the Phuket Land Titles Office, Phuket International Airport, the Roads Department, Marine 5 Office, Thalang District, Muang (Phuket City) District, Kathu District, National Resources and Environment, Phuket Customs, local administrations, the Labor office, Treasury Phuket and the Government Tax Office.

Dr Bumrungpon says there are seven steps to be taken by residents:

1. Join the anti-corruption movement

2. Research solutions to corruption

3.Spread knowledge about corruption and promote its downfall

4. Pass on the knowledge to the private sector so that they understand the benefits that will flow to the whole community rather than a few individuals

5. Teach the children so that corruption disappears in a generation

6. Push all government organisations to allow independent organsations to to check that their activities are open and honest

7. Join with academics in researching the issue and engaging help from international sources with experience

''It's time for everybody to give back to Phuket so that Phuket can become a role model for other provinces,'' the site says.

Phuketwan will report further details and telephone numbers for both the DSI/Tourism Ministry project and the Phuket Anti-Corruption project as soon as they become available.

The DSI headquarters on Phuket, staffed by police from Bangkok who speak English, is expected to be up and running early in August.