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Basil Bush
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Quote: from ringthebells on 2:32 am on Mar. 2, 2004
Thailand may back off plan to curb nightlife
May be some politicians have just found out where there erection funds come from.
BB
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 1:20 am on Mar. 2, 2004
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Smegma
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Quote: from ringthebells on 9:32 am on Mar. 2, 2004
.......
"The new regulations will not have retroactive impact or hurt existing bars," Vichien Chavalit, an Interior Ministry official who helped draft the rules, told Reuters.
They would be applied only to new ones, officials said.
"We forwarded the draft to the cabinet a while ago. If the cabinet discusses and approves it tomorrow, it will become effective by March 15,"...... Vichien said.
Way back in December someone told me that anyone wanting to open a new nightclub should have it operating by March 15th. The events and discussions of the past 2 months made me doubt what that person told me. Reading what is said above, it seems she was right.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 5:45 am on Mar. 2, 2004
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power24
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A concern that is often being overlooked on internet discussion threads and also by the worldwide media is the later opening times. The cinderalla closing time of midnight is only one factor amongst many (i.e: zoning and 9pm opening) and the latest govt decision is a partial compromise on just the midnight closing issue and no the other two isses of the new policy.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:08 am on Mar. 2, 2004
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ParadiseSeeker
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that's absurd. How are they going to define new vs. old bar? By the manager, owner, property location,....? Either 1) all turn-over will cease (not good for anyone) or 2) everyone will just find a way to turn over the bars so that it doesn't become a 'new bar'. I suppose it would prevent the spread of bars to new locations, but that's not good for economic development either - sorry you're new town has to close it's bars at midnight, but the town a mile down the road stays up until 12.
I bet a few people are starting to realize that this closing time just won't work they way mr no-fun wanted. If he wants bars to close early he'll have to make the customers want to leave early. Ever been to a real family-bedroom town in the US? Everything is shut by 10 for lack of customers.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 2:57 pm on Mar. 2, 2004
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Smegma
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Quote: from ParadiseSeeker on 3:57 am on Mar. 3, 2004
that's absurd. How are they going to define new vs. old bar? By the manager, owner, property location,....?
Very easy. The same way that we determine your age: by the date you were born. Same here. A business age is defined by the date of its incorporation. However, here what will apply is the date the license was granted.
How else is anything else related to age determined (new versus old) ? Why did you think determining the date was absurd or difficult?
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 3:24 pm on Mar. 2, 2004
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invaderzim
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Hello found this on BBC news today can anyone confirm the 1 am closings
Thailand's government has withdrawn a draft law requiring many nightspots to shut at midnight - two hours earlier than the current late closing time.
Bowing to protests from the country's entertainment industry, the new regulation instead allows all such establishments to stay open until 1am.
"This measure can be considered a compromise," deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenond told reporters.
Mr Pracha said the new rules were expected to take effect on 1 April.
Until then all nightspots - including restaurants, bars and massage parlours outside specified entertainment zones - can continue to stay open until 2am.
Nightlife crackdown
The government backed away from its original plan at a meeting on Tuesday, after outraged nightlife entertainment operators warned it would threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs.
"This decision meets halfway between what is wanted by operators and law enforcers," Mr Pracha said.
The minister added that new entertainment venues would not be allowed to open outside designated zones and that there were no plans for more nightlife districts in addition to the three proposed in the capital, Bangkok.
The move was welcomed by the industry's operators, but some said that it still would have a strong negative impact on their businesses.
The nightlife crackdown began in 2001 and was led by Interior Minister Purachai Piemsombun, nicknamed the government's "Mr Clean".
It gradually ended the free-wheeling ways of Thailand's bars and clubs which used to shut only at dawn.
The government hopes the new rules will help curb growing juvenile crime, restore traditional values and change the country's well-entrenched image as a paradise for sex tourists.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 3:26 pm on Mar. 2, 2004
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Smegma
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Well, this is from today's newspaper (wednesday) :
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Bangkok Post
Govt backs away from 12pm closing
1am shutdown for all nightspots
Post reporters
Cabinet has backed off from its decision to enforce midnight closing of entertainment venues outside a few specially designated zones.
Nightspots outside the zones will be allowed to stay open until 1am, the same time as those inside the zones.
Cabinet yesterday aborted its new regulation, which set different opening and closing times, deciding it was unfair as most venues were operating before the new Entertainment Act came into effect on Jan 13.
Two weeks ago cabinet approved the new regulation, which required venues outside designated zones to shut at midnight, while those inside the zones were to close between midnight and 2am depending on the business. They would also have to open much later.
The attempt to curtail the country's lively nightlife was part of the government's latest social order crusade. It was supposed to come into force on March 1, but drew outcry from nightspot operators and employees who argued it would close most businesses and throw a huge number of people out of work.
Protest rallies and petitions demanded the government review its decision.
In Bangkok, about 70% of entertainment venues are located outside the three designated zones _ Patpong, Ratchadaphisek and New Phetchaburi.
Deputy Interior Minister Pracha Maleenond said present opening and closing times would be applied to those licensed before Jan 13. The new zoning regulation would apply only to venues licensed after Jan 13. (paradiseseeker read this carefully)
Existing businesses should be exempted because they had invested a lot of money. It was not right to impose the new opening-closing times on them.
Torphong Chaiyasarn, deputy government spokesman, said the new zoning policy would, instead, be applied only to penalise entertainment venues which broke the law, including allowing the entry of customers under 18 or closing after the required time.
A source said Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piemsomboon, the chairman of the committee drafting the zoning regulation, strongly disagreed with the reversal. He argued the regulations should be strictly applied to all if the government was serious about enforcing social order.
The 1am closing time, however, failed to satisfy many nightspot operators who said it would not solve the root cause of rising crime and drug problems.
Somyos Suthangkul, president of the Entertainment Places Operators' Association of Thailand, said many people working in nightspots would still be out of work. Many venues had cooperated with authorities in checking ID cards of customers to keep out underage people.
Massage parlour heavyweight Chuwit Kamolvisit said the early closing time would allow law enforcers to exploit the loopholes to demand money from nightspots wanting to stay open after hours.
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The Nation
Midnight closing reprieve for venues
Night entertainment venues licensed before January 13, 2004, would not be subject to new midnight closing rules, under draft regulations approved yesterday by the Cabinet.
The new provisions also stipulate that no new night spots would be allowed to open outside designated entertainment zones in Bangkok and other cities after the rules take effect.
The draft rules on entertainment venues’ opening and closing times require all establishments licensed before January 13 to close at 1 am. Exceptions include night clubs and bars, subject to 2 am closings, and lounges, restaurants, tea houses and massage parlours, which would have to close at midnight.
Any new entertainment locales licensed after January 13, but before the new statutes take effect in April, and that are located outside designated zones would be subject to the midnightclosing time.
The regulations don’t stray much from current laws requiring pubs, discotheques, cafes, restaurants with live bands, and cabarets to close at 1 am. In spite of the law on the books, most of them generally stretch out their closing times until 2 am.
In January, the Cabinet assigned Deputy Prime Minister Purachai Piumsomboon to conduct a study on closing times. His solution was to apply a zonesensitive midnight closing, a controversial proposal abandoned yesterday.
During the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Purachai argued that the government should stick to the zoning approach he originally proposed.
But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government preferred to focus on night spots with illegal activities on their premises. Any clubs found breaking the law outside the zones would be forced to close at midnight.
The new regulations would take effect April 1 and all entertainment venues would be required to request new licenses from the Ministry by March 13, Pracha said.
After April 1, the Ministry would not allow new night spots to open outside designated entertainment zones, according to Pracha.
The regulations designate entertainment zones in every province except Chiang Mai, Uttaradit, Samut Prakan, and Lamphun.
Bangkok has only three established entertainment districts – Patpong, New Petchburi and Ratchadaphisek. Some business owners on Khao San Road and Sukhumvit Road recently demanded that their areas be designated as entertainment zones too.
Additional ministerial regulations on entertainment zones were likely to be submitted for the Cabinet’s approval this month, said Vichien Chavalit, of the Department of Provincial Administration’s investigative and legal affairs bureau.
Chanya Saipornchai, owner of Krungthon Entertainment Complex in Bangkok, said nightentertainment businesses owners and employees would gather in front of the government house at 5am today to thank the government for allowing night spots to stay open past midnight.
But she added that even though entertainment spots would close at 1am, the government should allow customers to stay and drink until 2am.
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 3:41 pm on Mar. 2, 2004
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Arcadius
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During the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Purachai argued that the government should stick to the zoning approach he originally proposed. But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government preferred to focus on night spots with illegal activities on their premises.
People keeping throwing sh_t at Thaksin over this, but his few personal pronouncements on the subject have actually been quite sensible. And - if these reports are accurate - Purachai has just been very publicly overriden.
Was P given all the rope he needed...? It's been quite a technicolor display of bad argument and poor political judgment on his part - and it looks like he's lost.
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 5:00 pm on Mar. 2, 2004
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hzink
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Quote: from ParadiseSeeker on 3:57 am on Mar. 3, 2004
Ever been to a real family-bedroom town in the US? Everything is shut by 10 for lack of customers.
Oh, you mean Boston?
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 5:15 pm on Mar. 2, 2004
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