PHUKET: The future of Phuket is likely to be decided over the next few months as honest police and soldiers attempt to tame the taxi and tuk-tuk ''mafia'' and try to end the holiday island's addiction to corruption and graft.
After early success resulting in scores of arrests of taxi drivers and their alleged sponsors and the clearing of commerce from all of Phuket's beaches, the newly-arrived enforcers have begun to realise the enormity of the task.
Those who want a return to Phuket's old ways are quietly staging a rearguard guerrilla action, and time is on their side.
Beach vendors and the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers know that Phuket's regular enforcement processes are weak.
They are biding their time in the belief that the sudden upsurge of tourist traffic in late October and November will force the ''good guys'' to retreat.
Once the Region 8 police team and the Army pull back, it will be business as usual, they believe. In the middle are some local Phuket officials who will swing to support either side, as it suits them.
Phuketwan believes that Region 8 Police Commander and Task Force Chief, Major General Panya Mamen, is now reassessing levels of support among Phuket's police officers and redefining a strategy for enforcing the law more widely, on all fronts.
He is even beginning an operation by a Region 8 police team to target officials who allegedly conspired with fraudsters to steal tracts of land from Phuket's Sirinath National Park.
The major general's team is working independently of a Department of Special Investigation operation.
''We are going to arrest them all [the crooked government officials] for not doing their jobs,'' he told Phuketwan yesterday.
With Region 8 Police Headquarters shifting to Phuket shortly, it has become obvious that Major General Panya has no intention of allowing Phuket to be policed in the traditional Phuket way, with officers forced to concede whenever taxi and tuk-tuk drivers blockade the streets and with graft a regular accusation.
Having the Army take charge in Thailand just as a covert operation against taxi drivers on Phuket by a Region 8 team concluded led to a climax with scores of arrests that signalled the arrival of the ''good guys'' on Phuket.
Undercover team leader Major General Praveen Pongsirin says 109 cases involving Karon taxi drivers have now been moved to the Phuket Prosecutor and his focus is now Patong, followed by Phuket International Airport.
''What happened in Karon is likely to be the model for Patong and the airport,'' he said. ''These operations are like a big tree.
''We can lop all the branches, but we also have to deal with the roots that extend down to local authorities or the tree will simply grow again.''
He reckons that action will be seen to happen in Patong in about a month.
But in the meantime, Major General Praveen and Major General Panya will need to deal with recalcitrant tuk-tuk drivers who are now returning to park in spaces where they have been supposedly forbidden to park in Patong.
The two major generals will also be eyeing Phuket's local police to see whether they enforce the law the new way, or the old way.
It's within the capacity of the two Region 8 chiefs to transfer out those officers who fail the test and bring in replacements if necessary.
The local media, meanwhile, backs ''local interests.'' Hagiography remains a specialty.
Major General Panya and Major General Praveen are grateful for the support of the National Council for Peace and Order and say that they hope that local authorities will continue to keep Phuket's beaches and foreshores clear of illegal businesses.
''If they don't do their jobs, we are going to arrest them,'' said Major General Panya, in no-nonsense fashion.
The difficulty will arise in keeping an eye on every beach along Phuket's popular west coast. And once tourists return in numbers, that problem becomes more and more difficult.
Our forecast is for this kind of ''guerrilla warfare:''
ONE sunny November morning, locals truck in several pickups laden with sunbeds and umbrellas.
The sunbeds and umbrellas are quickly set out on a beach.
Tourists used to the service quickly pay 200 baht each and scores of them are laying on the sunbeds by the time that Region 8 police arrive.
Will the police organise for refunds to be made to the tourists, who are angry and do not want to budge, then arrest the sunbed operators?
Or will the officers retreat, leaving operators at all Phuket beaches free to adopt the same tactic and restore Phuket's old ways?
Major General Panya and Major General Praveen are determined police officers.
But Phuketwan believes they will need to enlist reinforcements from the Royal Thai Navy and have every Phuket west coast beach patrolled all day, from the beginning of the tourist high season for the foreseeable future.
If the ''New Phuket'' is really here, it will take the combined might of the military and police to make sure it stays.
After early success resulting in scores of arrests of taxi drivers and their alleged sponsors and the clearing of commerce from all of Phuket's beaches, the newly-arrived enforcers have begun to realise the enormity of the task.
Those who want a return to Phuket's old ways are quietly staging a rearguard guerrilla action, and time is on their side.
Beach vendors and the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers know that Phuket's regular enforcement processes are weak.
They are biding their time in the belief that the sudden upsurge of tourist traffic in late October and November will force the ''good guys'' to retreat.
Once the Region 8 police team and the Army pull back, it will be business as usual, they believe. In the middle are some local Phuket officials who will swing to support either side, as it suits them.
Phuketwan believes that Region 8 Police Commander and Task Force Chief, Major General Panya Mamen, is now reassessing levels of support among Phuket's police officers and redefining a strategy for enforcing the law more widely, on all fronts.
He is even beginning an operation by a Region 8 police team to target officials who allegedly conspired with fraudsters to steal tracts of land from Phuket's Sirinath National Park.
The major general's team is working independently of a Department of Special Investigation operation.
''We are going to arrest them all [the crooked government officials] for not doing their jobs,'' he told Phuketwan yesterday.
With Region 8 Police Headquarters shifting to Phuket shortly, it has become obvious that Major General Panya has no intention of allowing Phuket to be policed in the traditional Phuket way, with officers forced to concede whenever taxi and tuk-tuk drivers blockade the streets and with graft a regular accusation.
Having the Army take charge in Thailand just as a covert operation against taxi drivers on Phuket by a Region 8 team concluded led to a climax with scores of arrests that signalled the arrival of the ''good guys'' on Phuket.
Undercover team leader Major General Praveen Pongsirin says 109 cases involving Karon taxi drivers have now been moved to the Phuket Prosecutor and his focus is now Patong, followed by Phuket International Airport.
''What happened in Karon is likely to be the model for Patong and the airport,'' he said. ''These operations are like a big tree.
''We can lop all the branches, but we also have to deal with the roots that extend down to local authorities or the tree will simply grow again.''
He reckons that action will be seen to happen in Patong in about a month.
But in the meantime, Major General Praveen and Major General Panya will need to deal with recalcitrant tuk-tuk drivers who are now returning to park in spaces where they have been supposedly forbidden to park in Patong.
The two major generals will also be eyeing Phuket's local police to see whether they enforce the law the new way, or the old way.
It's within the capacity of the two Region 8 chiefs to transfer out those officers who fail the test and bring in replacements if necessary.
The local media, meanwhile, backs ''local interests.'' Hagiography remains a specialty.
Major General Panya and Major General Praveen are grateful for the support of the National Council for Peace and Order and say that they hope that local authorities will continue to keep Phuket's beaches and foreshores clear of illegal businesses.
''If they don't do their jobs, we are going to arrest them,'' said Major General Panya, in no-nonsense fashion.
The difficulty will arise in keeping an eye on every beach along Phuket's popular west coast. And once tourists return in numbers, that problem becomes more and more difficult.
Our forecast is for this kind of ''guerrilla warfare:''
ONE sunny November morning, locals truck in several pickups laden with sunbeds and umbrellas.
The sunbeds and umbrellas are quickly set out on a beach.
Tourists used to the service quickly pay 200 baht each and scores of them are laying on the sunbeds by the time that Region 8 police arrive.
Will the police organise for refunds to be made to the tourists, who are angry and do not want to budge, then arrest the sunbed operators?
Or will the officers retreat, leaving operators at all Phuket beaches free to adopt the same tactic and restore Phuket's old ways?
Major General Panya and Major General Praveen are determined police officers.
But Phuketwan believes they will need to enlist reinforcements from the Royal Thai Navy and have every Phuket west coast beach patrolled all day, from the beginning of the tourist high season for the foreseeable future.
If the ''New Phuket'' is really here, it will take the combined might of the military and police to make sure it stays.
Easy answer - take the sunbeds away & destroy them - IF the intention be that they never return!
Posted by Logic on July 23, 2014 11:46