"Reality TV, Thai style"

The quote is from this morning's NY Times tale of one entrepreneur who's just had enough:

The sheer injustice. Nobody had worked harder to pay off the police with wine, women, wristwatches and sacks full of cash. And now this. "I'm like a mad dog now and I'll bite anyone," said Chuwit Kamolvisit, the owner of six industrial-size massage parlors who is proud to be known as Thailand's sex tycoon. "I used to buy whole trays of Rolex watches for police officers," he said in one of his almost daily news conferences. "I used to carry cash in black plastic bags for them. But they are still harassing me."

In the dim netherworld of Thailand's black economy, it is hard to know just who is doing what to whom. But somehow Mr. Chuwit seems to have lost his immunity and the tell-all ruckus he is raising has the country transfixed.

Apparently the corruption is no surprise to anyone. Certainly the quotes from officials are interesting:

The national police chief, Sant Sarutanond, offered a curious defense of his officers' probity, saying he was sure that "more than half" of them were honest.

Then there is the matter of interbureaucratic rivalry:

Among the people most upset by Mr. Chuwit's allegations was the deputy director general of the Excise Department, Wichit Wongwiwat. "The department cannot tolerate reports that the tax we collect is lower than the money paid to the police," he said. Evidently taking a page from the police playbook, he said he would assign 13 teams of inspectors to investigate the city's massage parlors and, as he put it, "try the services offered."

Posted by David on July 30, 2003 9:52 AM