PHUKET: The after-hours pub bar axe attack last month on a Phuket resort manager-owner appears to have generated the kind of societal reform that his influential parents said was needed.
Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today spelled out measures that the heads of Phuket's three districts and other leading officials undertook to pursue as part of a proactive strategy to restore moral order.
Bars, pubs, restaurants, karaoke clubs and internet cafes are to be the focus, Vice Governor Chamroen said. There were an estimated 8000 legal and illegal entertainment venues on Phuket, he said.
Local authorities would begin ensuring that nobody under 15 is in Phuket's 377 internet shops after 10pm, he said. Officials would also become more vigilant in checking the age of people encountered after dark in public parks, all kinds of rented accommodation, and entertainment venues.
Law-abiding people on Phuket needed to be assured about law enforcement, he said, but there was also the need to be moral protectors of Phuket's young people. The aim was to reduce the trend towards drugs and underage sex among the young.
A broader aim, the vice governor said, was to also reduce cheating and corruption as well as violence.
There were 257 registered pubs or bars, including those in hotels, and an estimated 500 illegal ones, he said. Any owner of a venue could call Public Health to have a free drug check on their staff, with the understanding that the staff would not be sacked but rehabilitated and able to return to work.
The intention was to create as many ''white businesses'' as possible on Phuket. He said that Phuket was now the focus of attention in Bangkok in ways that, in his experience, other provinces has seldom achieved.
Whether the latest action by authorities can be directly attributed to the after-hours axe attack on Vorasit ''Wan'' Issara and the outspoken media conference held by his parents Srivara and Songkran exactly one month ago today is difficult to ascertain.
But the parents' message that such outrages should be obliterated by treating the causes, not the symptoms, does appear to have struck a chord.
Zoning would be the next major issue for attention, the vice governor warned. Phuket people tended to assume that being a special zone would mean it was possible to open venues anywhere on Phuket.
But the truth was that Bangkok's idea was to confine the entertainment venues to fixed zones, so that residents were not disturbed by noise that they did not chose to have in their neighborhoods.
He said people planning to open venues would be wise to assess the wishes of their neighbors first or run the risk of opening, only to be closed down soon after.
Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today spelled out measures that the heads of Phuket's three districts and other leading officials undertook to pursue as part of a proactive strategy to restore moral order.
Bars, pubs, restaurants, karaoke clubs and internet cafes are to be the focus, Vice Governor Chamroen said. There were an estimated 8000 legal and illegal entertainment venues on Phuket, he said.
Local authorities would begin ensuring that nobody under 15 is in Phuket's 377 internet shops after 10pm, he said. Officials would also become more vigilant in checking the age of people encountered after dark in public parks, all kinds of rented accommodation, and entertainment venues.
Law-abiding people on Phuket needed to be assured about law enforcement, he said, but there was also the need to be moral protectors of Phuket's young people. The aim was to reduce the trend towards drugs and underage sex among the young.
A broader aim, the vice governor said, was to also reduce cheating and corruption as well as violence.
There were 257 registered pubs or bars, including those in hotels, and an estimated 500 illegal ones, he said. Any owner of a venue could call Public Health to have a free drug check on their staff, with the understanding that the staff would not be sacked but rehabilitated and able to return to work.
The intention was to create as many ''white businesses'' as possible on Phuket. He said that Phuket was now the focus of attention in Bangkok in ways that, in his experience, other provinces has seldom achieved.
Whether the latest action by authorities can be directly attributed to the after-hours axe attack on Vorasit ''Wan'' Issara and the outspoken media conference held by his parents Srivara and Songkran exactly one month ago today is difficult to ascertain.
But the parents' message that such outrages should be obliterated by treating the causes, not the symptoms, does appear to have struck a chord.
Zoning would be the next major issue for attention, the vice governor warned. Phuket people tended to assume that being a special zone would mean it was possible to open venues anywhere on Phuket.
But the truth was that Bangkok's idea was to confine the entertainment venues to fixed zones, so that residents were not disturbed by noise that they did not chose to have in their neighborhoods.
He said people planning to open venues would be wise to assess the wishes of their neighbors first or run the risk of opening, only to be closed down soon after.
"Phuket Vice Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today spelled out measures that the heads of Phuket's three districts and other leading officials undertook to pursue as part of a proactive strategy to restore moral order."
Wrong approach. Stop the corruption first and everything else will fall into place.
Stop the corruption and we can have taxis with meters.
Stop the corruption and will be able to park on the "beach road" in Patong.
Stop the corruption and the bars and discos will close at the correct times.
Stop the... oh, you get the message. But will the Vice Governor? I think he knows what must be done but he hasn't got the power to do the job.
Nobody in Phuket has.
Bring in the army from Bangkok.
Posted by Eric on February 7, 2012 21:21
Editor Comment:
Both need to be done, Eric: Stopping the corruption, and saving the next generation. Hard to decide which is more important.