Thailand's free-wheeling resort islands have become the new target of a government "social order" campaign which began with a crackdown on the go-go bars and nightclubs in the capital Bangkok.
The biggest disco in Phuket, the Shark Club, has been closed down and its owner deported after local newspapers printed photographs of nudity and lewd behavior at the vast nightspot on Thailand's largest resort island.
And the notorious Full Moon Party on Ko Pha-ngan has been banned from going ahead this week because the date clashes with a religious holiday in the predominantly Buddhist kingdom.
PHOTO: AFP
In Phuket's garishly overdeveloped Patong Beach, ladyboys still pose for photos and flash their silicone breasts at wide-eyed tourists at "Soi Katoey," or "Transvestite Street," one of its most popular late-night attractions.
But at the stroke of 2:00am, the shutters come down in the bars where they ply their trade and squads of police swoop in to ensure the closing-hours crackdown is observed.
"Last year when I came here things were closing at four, and now it's two. Maybe next time I come it will be midnight," laments Dominic Rossi, a Parisian who regularly holidays here.
"All the time when people think of Thailand they think of prostitution, so I can see why the government wants to do something. But these people need to earn money too," he said as he propped up the bar at Happy Night.
The social order campaign was launched in August by Interior Minister Purachai Piemsombun, who personally led squads of police and media in raids on nightspots where patrons were subjected to on-the-spot urine tests.
Bar girls, tax drivers, bar owners and others dependent on late-night trade were outraged by the heavy-handed tactics which ensured red-light districts like Patpong and Soi Cowboy emptied out soon after midnight.
But the government has pushed on with the initiative, backed by opinion polls which indicate most ordinary Thais are pleased the government is doing something to eliminate drugs and sleaze.
Tourist authorities are also unperturbed at the prospect of young single men opting to holiday elsewhere, saying it will help them promote Thailand as a family destination.
"A small number of people will complain but we will not take it seriously because we are looking for quality tourists who come here for the island's natural beauty," said Phuket province deputy governor Manit Watanasin.
"Absolutely, we will close down all entertainment places where they have explicit sex shows. We have to realize that the reputation of Thai women has suffered in foreigners' eyes," he told reporters.
However, bar owners and taxi drivers say that family groups are no replacement for the young tourists who burned their way through wads of baht drinking until dawn at the thousands of bars on the island.
"Last year there were many tourists with big money, but this year business is bad," said taxi-driver Alim, who, like one third of Thais in Phuket, is Muslim.
"These people stay on the beach during the day, and at night are only in their rooms," he said, adding however that some Thais have benefitted "because they can enjoy time with their family and not work so hard."
Loic Leroux, who owns an eponymous bar on Karon beach, a quieter bay that lies south of Patong, said his business was already hurting amid the downturn that hit the tourism industry after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"There are a lot of customers who tell me they don't want to come back to Thailand because of this," he said. "Our business is 50 percent down on last year."
Purachai's "social order" campaign was initially targeted at curbing an epidemic of drug abuse and underage drinking among Thai youth, but it was later extended to clamp down on other illicit activity.
Almost 60,000 people were arrested in nightspots, brothels and gambling dens in the first three months of the wider crackdown, for everything from illegal betting on the underground lottery to producing porn material.
Police have dusted off antiquated laws as tools in the campaign -- shutting down bars for allowing dancing without a permit, and warning that women who enter nightspots without a male chaperone will be turned away.
Last week Purachai forbade resort operators on Pha-ngan island to stage the Full Moon Party, a famously debauched event that is awash with drugs and regularly attracts more than 30,000 tourists.
Local authorities protested the decision to ban the event, saying there was "no law that clearly prohibits partying" but the government, which came to power in a landslide victory a year ago, was unmoved.
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