Thailand's legendary nightlife has won a last minute amnesty from the government plan to impose a midnight curfew, Thai officials announced today, the same day the midnight rules were supposed to be applied and the Thai government looks ready to back off its plan to curtail Thailand's lively nightlife, the same officials said.
The last minute delay came amid widespread confusion from Thai officials and Police officers alike, about how the new rules would have to implemented. Several police stations in Bangkok said they even had not received any governmental instructions on enforcing the new midnight closing hours.
The early closing plan is part of Thailand's government's efforts to curb growing juvenile crime, restore traditional Thai values and change Thailand's image as a raunchy paradise for sex tourists and thrill seekers.
Hoping to keep Thai youngsters away from drugs, sex and alcohol, the Thai government also plans to impose a 22:00 pm to 04:00 am curfew for all under-18 year old, who are not accompanied by their parents, starting on 29 March 2004.
"But critics have warned that the Thai government should think first and balance its good intentions against the need to keep the laws functional and keep the country's robust tourist economy growing
"I don't understand why the Thai government only sees teenagers in the picture. Nightlife isn't only about unruly children, but it's also about tourism revenues and hundreds of bar and restaurant workers who are mostly poor people," according to Chuwit Komolvisit, a well-known local businessman and the owner of a massage parlor chain.
Today, on the same day that the nightclubs, bars, restaurants, discos and massage parlors were due to have their opening hours shortened, the Thai government announced that the execution of the "Midnight Closing Rule" would be withdrawn and that the current cabinet would be given a new proposal which would allow existing institutions to open and close as before, without change.
"The new proposed regulations will not have retroactive impact or hurt existing nightlife venues," Khun Vichien Chavalit, a spokesman of Thailand's Interior Ministry official, who helped draft the original new rules, said. In the new proposal, earlier closing times would only be applied only to new night venues, Vichien Chavalit said.
"We forwarded the new draft proposal to the cabinet a while ago. If the cabinet discusses and approves it tomorrow, it will become effective by 15 March 2004," Vichien further added.
Under the "midnight closing plan" that was due to go into effect on Monday 1 March 2004, massage parlors, previously allowed to operate 12 hours a day and close by 2 AM, would have been restricted to opening just 4 to 6 hours a day and close at midnight. Discos, nightclubs, beer-bars, go-go bars and massage parlors in specially designated zones would have been allowed to operate for seven hours a day, some would have been allowed to stay open until 1 am, but most would have to close 2 am, the current limit. Those outside the special zones would have been able to open only 3 to 6 hours a day and should shut their doors at midnight.
The original "Midnight Closing Rule" had enraged club and restaurant owners all over Thailand, who said hundreds of thousands of jobs would be threatened and had lobbied the Thai government publicly and privately to reverse it.
Bar owners, who had complained the regulations threatened to drive them into bankruptcy, now said they were happy with the last minute withdrawal of the execution of the midnight closing rule.
"We've talked to senior politicians in the Thai government and they have assured us that existing bars will operate as usual," said Somyot Suthangkool, owner of a popular Bangkok nightclub in Thailand and chairman of an industry body of bars, pubs and restaurants with more than 50,000 members.
"Only the new bars will have to follow the new proposed rules," said Somyot Suthangkool, who complained last month that millions of waiters, singers, cooks and hostesses would lose their jobs if the midnight regulations took effect.
Some politicians said that the latest proposal, to only apply a midnight curfew for new night venues, would create chaos and extra problems. He said the distinction between existing and new bars was likely to offer new corruption opportunities for dishonest officials.
"How could police officers keep track of all the night venues in their districts," asked Chuwit Kamolvisit, who owns six upscale massage parlors in Bangkok and has alleged publicly he paid $300,000 (160,000 pounds) a month in bribes to senior policemen. "The new massage parlor owners will have to bribe officers to have operating hours the same as their rivals," he further added.
