Vice Governor Tree Akaradat toured two Internet cafes on Wednesday and visited the small karaoke rooms at Ocean Plaza in Phuket City. While most 'net cafes remain open, he said they had generally improved cleaning standards.


PHUKET Internet cafes are hurting with the economic downturn and will hurt some more with the Cabinet plan today to shut them throughout Thailand for two weeks.

One island cafe proprietor, Khawhathai Samukkeetam, of Phuket City, said she disagreed with the closure, which is scheduled to begin from Monday and will last for two weeks.

Some shops may choose to close, others say they will not because the cost is too high. Tutoring schools are also being asked to close.

''It's not going to stop H1N1 from spreading,'' Khun Khawhathai said at her Success Internet Cafe in the suburb of Sam Kong today. ''There should be a better way.''

Internet cafes are public space and not the cause of the problem, she said. Her attitude was echoed by others.

''This is Thailand, not Mexico,'' a second proprietor said. ''Why not close the nightclubs and the pubs, too? It's very unfair and only seems to be happening here. Why?''

Khun Khawhathai said: ''It will make Internet cafes pay a high price for a problem that is not of their making.''

Regular customers are students from surrounding residential areas who will now have no place to gather as usual after school.

''Internet shops like mine are usually cleaned very thoroughly every day because we know that germs need to be prevented from spreading,'' she said.

Khun Khawhathai said there had been no information provided directly to her by Public Health. Her knowledge about H1N1 had all come via the internet or other sources.

As far as Phuketwan has been able to establish, closing premises for two weeks is not an option supported by the World Health Organisation.

Thailand's decision to close Internet cafes is believed to be a world first.

While some nightclubs and schools have been closed for two or three days to be cleansed, no private enterprises have been shut down entirely for two weeks.

Tourists on Phuket, in Bangkok and throughout Thailand who rely on Internet cafes for international communication will probably also wonder what the government proposes as an alternative for their daily contact with friends and family.

Wiroon Burirak, at the Cr@zy Cafe, also in Sam Kong, said: ''Why do they close internet cafes? We only have a few people here.

''What about pubs and clubs, where people are packed in tightly? It's not a good idea. If you close all the internet shops, it's not fair.''

Some Thai media outlets continue to score H1N1 fatalities as though it were a football match. As H1N1 is a pandemic, its progress can only be slowed, not stopped.

Tourists from other countries where the virus is more widespread (for example, Australia and Britain) will inevitably carry H1N1 with them when they come on holidays. Others will catch it here and take it home with them.

The virus is relatively mild and has a low fatality strike rate. At least one in every five people around the world are expected to have had it before the end of the year.


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