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Interior Looking to Tax Sex Trade



(from The Nation - July 2nd, 1997)

Politics 

Interior looking to tax sex trade 



PARITH IAMPONGPAIBOON 

The Nation 

THE Interior Ministry plans to revise laws to legalise the clandestine 
sex service industry, a ministry source said yesterday. 

The laws that apply to entertainment establishments such as pubs, 
discotheques, karaoke clubs and traditional Thai chiropractic services 
are ''outdated", the source quoted a meeting of Interior minister 
advisers on June 23 as concluding. 

Under the present law, operators of such establishments can obtain cheap 
operating permits and the punishment for those that have no permits is 
too light, the source said. 

Operators of traditional Thai chiropractic services are required to pay 
Bt1,000 for an operating permit and an annual renewal fee of Bt500, the 
source said, adding, ''That's extremely low". 

Many hoteliers have converted their hotels into motels that offer sex 
services as they are unafraid of the light punishment if they are 
caught, the source said. 

The meeting, the source added, concluded that sex services offered by 
motels are harmful to the peace and order and the moral code of society. 
The hotel industry is being taxed at rates that are outdated, the source 
said. 

The meeting also concluded that the ministry would push for a new law to 
tax the sex service industry, the source said. 

The source said chiropractors had combined the ancient art of 
therapeutic massage with sex services from the outset. They now also 
provide indecent shows related to sex, the source added. 

The meeting concluded that traditional chiropractors, who have received 
limited government support for ''hidden" sex services, should be brought 
into the open so they can advertise their legitimate art to attract 
tourists, the source said. 

The source quoted the meeting as concluding that the government should 
legalise the many pubs, discotheques and karaoke clubs now operating 
outside the scope of the law. The source added that once legalised, the 
government would benefit by receiving revenue from the entertainment 
venues in the form of licensing fees. 

nIn an attempt to help prop up the economy, Interior Minister Snoh 
Thienthong on Monday issued a directive to ease regulations on foreign 
investors and immigration for a three-year period, the ministry 
spokesman said yesterday. 

Thaworn Triratnarong said that empowered by the Immigration Act of 1979, 
the Interior minister issued the directive to allow permanent residency 
for a maximum of 5,000 immigrants over a three-year period. Eligibility 
requirements were not stated. 

Under the current immigration law, the residency status is available to 
no more than 100 immigrants from each country per year. Each year a 
maximum of five ''investors" per country will be allowed residency 
status under the new regulations, which have already been approved by 
the Cabinet. 

Investors eligible for the privilege must each invest no less than Bt10 
million in ''businesses that benefit the country's economy", according 
to an Interior Ministry press release. 

They will be required to produce documents from local banks and 
government agencies in order to prove their eligibility and to produce 
the necessary documents before authorities every September for three 
consecutive years. 

"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE 
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE.  ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING 
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE 
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION."  "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR 
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."


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