Turning a Blind Eye: How Authorities and the Public Darken the Shadow

I have been writing a few articles for a professor for a Southeast Asian magazine.  While I promise to share those publications soon, I wrote the following as a first draft, however, it was deemed too controversial.  Nevertheless, I learned an awful lot about prostitution and sex tourism in Southeast Asia…and wanted to share:

Turning a Blind Eye: How Authorities and the Public Darken the Shadow

Tourists in downtown Bangkok partaking in sex tourism

Through active denial, ignorance and participation, authorities and the public have furthered the presence and ensured the prevalence of illicit activities within Southeast Asia.  One of the most poignant examples of this sponsorship is the prevalence of prostitution in Southeast Asia.

Sex tourism overtly draws foreigners to the region and one report estimates that 4.6 million Thai men regularly, and 500,000 foreign tourists annually use prostituted women (Hughes, Sporcic, Mendelsohn & Chirgwin, 1999).  The largest sex industry market for Asian women however is in Japan, where over 150,000 non-Japanese women are in prostitution: more than half Filipinas and forty-percent Thai women (Hughes, et al., 1999).  Japanese men also constitute the largest number of sex tourists in Asia. The sex industry in Japan accounts for 1 percent of GNP and is equal to the defense budget (Hughes et al., 1999).  Furthermore, child prostitution is a serious issue where one-third of the total sex industry in the Greater Mekong Sub-region is comprised of minors between the ages of 12 and 17 years old (IRIN, 2009).

The legality of prostitution varies in each country and while most countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia have rules and regulations making the act illegal, other countries within the region do not specifically address the legal issue, such as Indonesia.  Singapore has actually made prostitution and brothel ownership legal, abiding mandatory health checks and minimum age requirements (ProCon.Org, 2009).  However, what is presented in the law and what occurs in practice are often two very different things.

One-third of the total sex industry in Southeast Asia is minors aged 12-17 years old

One International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, which outlined the sex sector in four Southeast Asian countries; Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, concluded that prostitution accounted between 2 to 14 percent of GDP, with unaccounted larger revenues being collected by government authorities illegally in the form of bribes and corruption, and legally from licensing fees and taxes on many of the hotels, bars, restaurants and game rooms where the industry is often housed (ILO, 1998).  In Jakarta, Indonesia alone for example, there is an estimated annual turnover of $91 million USD from activities related to the sale of sex (ILO, 1998).

Given these profits, it is foreseeable how some might turn a blind eye to the issue, failing to report incidents or practices of prostitution due to the large sums of money it can bring.  Corruption, bribery and massive profits keep the industry alive – estimated to account for 3 percent of Thailand’s economy, equivalent to about $4.3 billion USD per year (ProCon.Org, 2009).

Turning a blind eye towards prostitution in Thailand is an entrenched practice, as indicated by the present industry’s booming success today.  Although prostitution has been illegal in the country since 1928, with further laws clarifying and strengthening the illegal practice in 1960, Thailand remains one of the world’s largest markets for sex tourism.  Chuwit Kamolvisit, the owner of several massage parlors in Bangkok and considered by many "a godfather of prostitution" in Thailand, revealed in 2003 that some of his best clients were senior politicians and police officers, whom he also claimed to have paid, over a decade, more than £1.5m in bribes so that his business, selling sex, could thrive (BBC News, 2003a; Scott-Clark & Levy, 2004).

Typical customers of Thailand's sex tourism

Support of prostitution is pervasive in political circles, clouting the industry with further corruption and bribes.  In 2003, Thailand’s ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Thaksin were upset over party plans to ban members of parliament from having mistresses or visiting brothels.  One MP told The Nation that if the rules were enforced, the party would only be able to field around 30 candidates, compared to its more than 200 sitting MPs" (BBC News, 2003b).  Both politicians and police have been supporting and indulging in the prostitution industry openly.  Khun Tavich, a veteran politician aged 76, was under fire in 2005 for impregnating a 14-year-old girl who worked across the street from the parliament.  After a police raid on some of Bangkok’s parlors, in which policemen had sex with prostitutes, acting Suthisan Police chief Colonel Varanvas Karunyathat defended the police action, saying that the (police) officers involved “needed to have sex with the masseuses to gain evidence for the arrest" (Associated Press, 2009).  Similar practices by separate police forces were reported in Pattaya in May 2007 (Pattaya News, 2007).

While prostitution may in theory be illegal, in practice it feels promoted, as witnessed while walking down the colorful Soi Cowboy in the Nana area of Bangkok.  So how is it, that a practice that includes human trafficking, the abuse of children and minors, and illegal activity, is so widely promoted within Thailand?  Simply put - society accepts prostitution.  Attitudes towards women and prostitution were exemplified by MP Thirachai Sirikhan, who informed The Nation that, "To have a mia noi (mistress) is an individual's right. There should be no problem as long as the politician causes no trouble to his family or society" (BBC News, 2003b).  Kritaya Archavanitkul, a Thai human rights activist, interviewed by UC Berkeley Institute of International Studies, said,

“Thai social structure tends to accept this sort of abuse, and not only to accept – we have laws, we have bills that vitally support the existence of these sex establishments…we have a Mafia that is also involved in the political parties, so this keeps the abuse going. The second reason is a cultural factor… in Thailand the sexual behaviour of Thai men accepts prostitution.  Every class of Thai men accept it, although not all Thai men practise it…Because of the profit, I think there are many people with an interest involved, so they try to turn a blind eye to this problem.”

Prostitution in Thailand has come to not only be tolerated, but accepted and promoted as a tourist attraction in addition to the common societal practice.    Yet prostitution is only one example of the many illegal informal economies within Southeast Asia where a blind eye is turned; where instances of violence, environmental damage, violation of persons and species abound and are ignored for the benefit of large profit.

Eight year old Pet is a champion Muay Thai fighter in Thailand - one of over 30,000 child fighters

 BUFFALO GIRLS: 

“I want to win a lot of money to make Mom and Dad happy.  I am very poor.”

-        Pet, 8-year old female child boxer

Buffalo Girls is a 2012 documentary that follows the story of two eight-year-old Thai female boxers as they fight underground for their country’s national Muay Thai championship, a prize that could change their families’ lives forever.

The documentary states that there are 30,000 child boxers in Thailand, who, with their tiny fists, fight for prize money to offer their impoverished families a better life.

The documentary seeks to evoke emotion from its viewer and beckons judgment, questioning whether the new underground sport is exploitation, empowerment or economic necessity?

T-Day: The Defense

My thesis committee after my defense!

I got to my room ridiculously early – with enough time to set up my presentation, layout my papers, run through my presentation, and check to ensure that my Myanmar tome was folded properly five thousand times.  As I fidgeted with nerves, trying to keep my cool (with assistance from the air conditioner which blasting freezing cold air), my external examiner entered, followed by my Chair, supervisor and co-supervisor.  Four gentlemen, three Thai, one Australian.

One deep breath, a smile, and I was on my way talking through my presentation.  When you have pictures to describe the people you met and the experiences you gained, it brings everything to life and I could sense that the committee enjoyed seeing these pictures which gave faces to the individuals I mentioned in the interviews.  I finished my presentation, took a deep breath and braced myself for what was to come.

Passed!

Every fierce competitor entertains the idea of a ‘worst case scenario:’ The Olympian receiving silver, the spelling bee champion who misses the silent “e” in the finals, the ballerina who falls from a twirl she had successfully recited ten times earlier that week.  The beauty pageant contestant who practices her “loser” face.  I always practice my ‘loser’ face, not because I welcome defeat, but because sportsmanship was engraved in my brain since I was a little girl playing bunch ball (or soccer – depending on how you watched the game).

To be blunt, no worst case scenario could have prepared me for my defense.  It was brutal.  While we don’t need to go into detail, the spitfire questions that the committee hounded you with, and the amount of disagreeance amongst the committee members themselves, made it incredibly difficult to decipher what was important to change or adapt, and what could be left.

Nevertheless, two weeks later and I come back with signatures and full approval from the committee – I PASSED my thesis, and received the highest marks of “Very Good.”

This learning experience has been tremendous – and the opportunity to travel to Myanmar and conduct field research is a chance I may never get again, and one that I will never forget.  I never thought the field would be so much FUN – and I never thought it would have such an impactful impression on me.

I am incredibly happy to have jumped the next hurdle – but still have mountains of paperwork before the finish.  I have until September 21^st to submit everything and will be back under my massive boulder in the meantime!

Preparation for DEFENSE!

I didn’t really know how to prepare for my defense.  I had written, revised, revised, and revised my thesis.  I had practiced my presentation and remained within the 25 minute time limit.  I had laid out the clothes I was going to wear – two days before the defense.  What else could I do to better prepare myself?

 

I hadn’t really been in this position before – and didn’t know how to handle it.  So I decided to return to habit, following my “pre-race plan” from my rowing days at Lehigh.  I listened to my iTunes ‘Pump Up Music (Including the Pritchard traditions of “Eye of the Tiger” and the Rocky Theme Song”), and I loaded up on carbs by fixing myself an entire pot of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  “Defense” was the only thing I could think of – and I began watching macho American football videos of ‘Top 10 Sacks in NFL History’ and ‘Defensive line Take Downs,’ hoping that my thesis would go down as easy as I watched on ESPN’s Top Ten.

 

Escaping the Thesis – “My Days Off”

For several days one week, I was hired by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) to accompany them on a high-level capacity building workshop on the Return, Repatriation and Reintegration of Trafficked Persons.  There were five delegations from five countries (Myanmar, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand) comprised of high-level officials within Ministries border guard and police forces that convened in Thailand for two weeks to discuss issues involving trafficked persons.  

Trafficked victims at the shelter

For three days, I had the opportunity to travel with them to various government agencies within Thailand, and learn about the current issues facing trafficked victims.  We mainly focused on government-sponsored shelters, where victims of trafficking were rescued and placed in a shelter until enough information could be collected to send them back to their countries safely.  In Thailand, the majority of trafficked victims come from Myanmar and are trafficked for migrant work (especially in fisheries) and sex work.  Other victims come mainly from Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam – with a recent large influx of Vietnamese women trafficked as surrogates in Thailand.  We visited migrant shrimp factories and fisherman boats, migrant communities, and shelters where trafficked victims were being cared for.

Walking around the Kredtrakarn Protection and Occupational Development Center, where trafficked women and girls were sheltered, was surreal.  It was incredibly difficult to witness the interaction between border police, deputies, directors and officers with children from their own country.  The girls were separated by age, and as we would walk into each room, the delegations would say in their native language, “Raise your hand if you are from Myanmar? Laos? Cambodia? Thailand?”  These delegations would isolate girls from their country, and by going down a row of girls under the age of twelve, they found that some girls were trafficked from their state, their district – even one woman from her hometown.  As they smiled behind their sewing machines or grinned over their textbooks, these girls, no older than twelve, had been taken or sold from their home countries and villages and brought to Thailand for the purpose of prostitution.  In the nursery, one five year old girl from Myanmar was asked whether she knew why she was brought to Thailand.  “Yes” she said and her face lit up with acknowledgement of her knowing the answer, “Sex.”  The Myanmar delegation let out cries, gasps and sighs – we all did.  The Myanmar officer then asked her if she knew what “Sex” meant, and she looked at the floor and shook her head no but that her parents said it would help the family, so she had to go.  

With such emotional and difficult stories I had to restart my emotional intake button with each room we entered.  So many women and children with lives that were destroyed – and often by people whom they knew and trusted.  In one discussion, we met with trafficked women, who had been tricked by their own family members and neighbors, into ‘working in a Thai restaurant’ only to learn when they arrived in Japan that there was no ‘restaurant’ and they were sold into prostitution.

I had been feeling rather sorry for myself and incredibly stressed with school – I wasn’t sure if I could handle anything else and debated whether or not I could take this job.  After seeing the children, hearing their stories, and witnessing the interactions between these government officials and victims, you come out overwhelmed - thankful for all of the reasons you are so blessed.  In closing, I will leave one story, perhaps my favorite story, because it speaks about the wrongs of first impressions, perseverance, heartbreak and the start of rehabilitation.  In this moment, I realized exactly why I am so passionate about what I do, and why I wanted to continue working for development, and for victims such as these:

One of the Pakkred Boys getting a haircut!

At the Pakkred Reception Home for Boys, we learned about young boys – as young as six years old, who were trafficked across the border (often times by their parents) for work and sexual exploitation.  Listening to the Shelter’s Superintendent list statistics and describe stories of these children was gut-wrenching and difficult to absorb.  But what was most effective for me personally on this trip, was what came after the presentations and fact-reciting.  During one presentation, the breakdown of nationalities of children within the center was given.  One individual from the Vietnamese delegation stood up and asked to speak with this child, and was upset when the Superintendent stated that would not be possible because the child was protected.  She further explained that he has a very upsetting and emotional experience and was undergoing a serious criminal procedure to catch his perpetrators and for these reasons, was unable to be questioned or seen at this time.  If I learned anything from my time in Viet Nam – it is that Vietnamese people are persistent.  I grimaced watching the delegation huddle together and strategize and prepared for more trouble.  We received a tour of the facilities, and it was at this point I immediately recognized the strategy they had so secretively devised - the Vietnamese group had panned out, approaching each child, and quietly speaking in Vietnamese, waited for a reaction, or acknowledgement from one of the children that they understood the language.  On our tour of the facilities we observed the occupational room where boys were learning to be barbers; the arts and crafts room, where they were making bows; the education center where they were practicing their Thai; the physical fitness area, where they were playing football; and finally, the nursery.  And there he was.

It was difficult to watch these ministers, directors, and border guards reach out to a child from their country that they did not know or had never met.  Some cried, others smiled and spoke with the child, asking for his name and family back home whom the center had not been able to locate.  The man who I felt was incredibly arrogant with his questioning and demands to see the child in the beginning seemed aloof, as he took a step away talking on his cell phone, yelling to someone on the other end.  The Center volunteers and social workers were overwhelmed at this group’s persistence, but were overly cautious of the boy and kept telling the group to step back.  All of a sudden, the loudmouth Vietnamese man comes shoving past social workers and our group and presses his cell phone against the boy’s ear.  The boy’s face goes from sheer terror, to utter joy, and he exclaimed “Me?!” which is Vietnamese for “Mom?”  It turns out that he was the Director of the Department of Investigation with the police force on social-related crime within the Department of Police on Crime Prevention in Viet Nam.  He was within the Ministry of Police and spent the past twenty minutes calling every deputy in the region to locate this boy’s family.  Watching the power of these six people from Viet Nam – was not only impressive, but beyond inspirational.  I truly have no words.