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Brazen destruction threatens Thai
image
By Gary LaMoshi
HONG
KONG - As a frequent visitor to Bangkok, for the water
of course, I was shocked to hear of Sunday's predawn
destruction of Sukhumvit Square. The pleasant gaggle of
open-air beer bars, snack vendors and souvenir stands
was a favorite refueling stop before a visit to Thermae,
the legendary late-night "coffeehouse".
The
brutal attack on Sukhumvit Square by a 600-member
wrecking crew - reportedly including off-duty soldiers -
drew widespread attention from local and international
media.
The attack left one person seriously
injured, at least 500 people unemployed, and dozens of
businesses destroyed. Workers and residents who lived
behind the shops said they were ordered to leave
immediately, without time to gather their belongings, as
the buildings were razed. A sign on the metal fence
surrounding the site after the devastation declared the
demolition was part of the Ministry of the Interior's
"Social Order Policy".
That policy, with backing
from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has taken aim at
Bangkok's sex industry and its reputation for sleaze. To
date, though, the policy has largely consisted of talk
rather than action. Bangkok remains the only world
capital where you can see an elephant clomping down a
major downtown artery at 2am - and wonder which bar it's
affiliated with. And why.
Moral
authority
Barely 36 hours after the destruction,
the prime minister visited Sukhumvit Square to deliver a
morality lecture, though not the one the sign on the
fence suggested. "We will not tolerate mafia rule in
Thailand," he warned.
"The government will make
no exceptions" when it comes to punishing those involved
in the Sukhumvit Square "anarchy", Thaksin told the
public and law-enforcement authorities. "No matter who
they are or who they are connected with, the law will be
applied against them. Influential people cannot use the
police to solve this issue." Police have already
arrested more than 100 workers found on the site after
the raid, believed to part of the demolition team.
Rather than a blow for prudish values, the
attack apparently had its roots in a property dispute,
with the tenants of the Sukhumvit Square caught in the
middle. Investigators are still piecing together the
details. Apparently, tenants' occupancy agreements
expired last month, and the land was sold and then
leased to a developer, the Nickel Co, that says it plans
to build a hotel on the site.
However, Sukhumvit
Square tenants received neither notice about the various
transfers nor, more to the point, eviction notices. It's
likely that the agents that rented them their space
continued to collect rent from them without regard to
the various changes in landlords.
A Nickel
spokesperson said the company would consider giving
compensation to Sukhumvit Square occupants. The
displaced were allowed back into the area on Monday to
salvage whatever they could from the rubble.
High profile low blow
The Sukhumvit
Square blitzkrieg was uncivilized but hardly
unprecedented. Property disputes throughout Asia are
often settled with a bulldozer rather than a court
order. Indonesia's former president Suharto regularly
deployed the army to evict villagers whose presence
impeded a project favored by the royal family and its
courtiers. The present Indonesian government is waging a
campaign against Jakarta's uncontrolled growth that
includes flattening squatter areas.
To make way
for former premier Li Peng's pet project, the Three
Gorges Dam, China's government displaced millions of
peasants from some of the country's best farmland. Not
all left peaceably.
In advance of big events,
such as its 50th-anniversary celebration in 1999,
Chinese authorities clear Beijing of unauthorized
structures and people that might distract cadres and the
Central China TV audience from the Communist Party's
street spectacles. Bet on a bull market in demolition
along with construction ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic
Games.
Most of these activities get no attention
in the international media. Thailand's free press, a
high-traffic location frequented by tourists and
journalists, and the barbarity of the Sukhumvit Square
raid combined to make it a front-page story and give it
legs. Still, it seems strange that Prime Minister
Thaksin turned out to survey the damage and condemn the
attack; that task seems more appropriate for a mayor or
governor than the head of the national government.
Watching more than girls
Thailand's
business tycoon-turned-prime minister showed up because
news coverage made the Sukhumvit Square attack into an
international issue, not just a local or national one.
More specifically, an international investor issue.
Aside from putting any notion of a crackdown on
libertine lifestyle choices to rest, the subtext of
Thaksin's message at the site - that Thailand will not
tolerate "anarchy" and will apply the law to all - is
intended to make foreign investors feel secure about
shipping their money to Thailand, where it is
desperately needed to fuel economic recovery. In the
past, Thaksin has stepped on the toes of powerful
domestic constituencies to increase the comfort level of
foreign investors (see Free Trading at the Global
Hypermarket, November 23, 2002).
The former
tiger economies of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations are currently locked in a desperate struggle for
investment against China's foreign-money magnet. Among
his ASEAN counterparts, Thaksin best understands that
foreign investors are strange and sensitive creatures.
As Thailand and the rest of Asia learned in July 1997,
it doesn't take much to spook them. Often perception is
far more important than reality (see Thailand's struggle to protect image,
lure FDI, January 28).
Owners of the girlie
bars around Sukhumvit Square know that you need to
differentiate your product to be successful, (minimally)
clothing dancers in doilies, mid-thigh-length boots, or
school uniforms to set their commodities apart from the
competition. As a successful business leader, Thaksin
understands Thailand must stand out from the pack as a
foreign-investment destination.
China, Indonesia
and Vietnam can beat Thailand as low-cost producers.
Malaysia and Singapore rank far ahead in technology.
Rule of law is one key area of investor concern where,
by denouncing the destruction of Sumkumvit Square,
Thaksin can demonstrate that Thailand dances to a
different beat.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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