From: kamol@ipied.tu.ac.th (Kamol Hengkietisak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Post Nov 11: Hooker saga continues
Date: 10 Nov 92 07:13:17 GMT
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ALL officials who directly serve the public should be trained on 
ways to treat them with courtesy, Interior Minister Gen Chavalit 
Yongchaiyudh said yesterday.
 
Asked what should be done to improve the attitudes of Public 
Welfare officials since many of them are rude to the people that 
they serve, Gen Chavalit said that not only the welfare officials 
but all officials should be trained to serve the people.
 
Gen Chavalit also sai Y  QB:%11  % wing the Prostitution 
Prevention Act and use this as a means to solve the prostitution 
problem.
 
Some lawmen are "more or less involved with brothels" and if he 
knows of this happening anywhere he would personally go after 
them, the minister said.
 
Other non-legal measures will also have to be implemented to solve 
the prostitution problem since it is a deep-rooted social issue, 
he said.
 
Top priority should be given in suppressing child prostitution, 
police should not protect brothels and those who force women into 
prostitution should be dealt with severely.
 
He said that some women become prostitutes of their own free will 
as can be seen by the case of the 43 prostitutes who escaped from 
a detention at the Songkhla court because they heard that they 
would be sent for vocational training in Pakkred rather than sent 
home.
 
Gen Chavalit said that he did not mean to say that he would close 
all brothels in Thailand within two months which was impossible.
 
What he meant was that he would try to solve the problem within 
two months.
 
Regarding a proposal for the legalisation of prostitution, the 
Interior Minister said he would have to discuss it with other 
agencies concerned first because many of them oppose it.
 
Gen Chavalit said that he will not transfer Songkhla governor as 
some MPs have called for.
 
Asked about the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen 
Chamlong Iamchaengphan's insistence that there were no longer any 
brothels in Bangkok, Gen Chavalit said that everyone knew that 
there were many brothels in the capital.
 
"No one would register brothels to show you that they exist," the 
minister quipped.
 
Meanwhile Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Chamlong 
Iamchaengphan yesterday downplayed the widespread reaction from 
politicians and others to his remark that there were no longer 
brothels in the City.
 
Pol Lt-Gen Chamlong said he will not argue with those who do not 
agree with him but will continue to crack down on the flesh trade.
 
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj-Gen Pinit 
Sunsatham said nobody could confirm that there are no longer 
brothels in the City.
 
But he did say that police have been cracking down hard on the 
flesh trade which uses children as prostitutes and the kind of 
flesh business which forcefully confines women to brothels.
 
Pol Maj-Gen Pinit said teahouses, restaurants and hotels where 
prostitutes may be available are not called brothels. His comment 
apparently supported his superior's statement.
 
During another interview with Police Chief Pol Gen Sawat 
Amornvivat, Pol Lt-Gen Chamlong was asked if he knew that there 
was a brothel right in front of Interior Minister Chavalit 
Yongchaiyudh's house in Nonthaburi.
 
Both officers replied at the same time that they knew nothing of 
this but said they would take strif action in accordance with the 
policy of the Government.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai