… More Images » Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, right, greets supporters in the rain during final campaigning efforts for the ruling Democrat Party in Bangkok on Friday. Big rallies in Bangkok marked a final push by candidates in a national election on Sunday aimed at resolving Thailand’s sometimes violent six-year political crisis but which many fear will only fuel more turbulence.Photograph by: Sukree Sukplang, Reuters
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Livening up the battle for the 500 seats in Thailandâs parliament, of which 375 are contested locally and 125 on the basis of nationwide party lists, is massage parlor kingpin Chuvit Kamolvisit.
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âThe important thing is whether these promises can be implemented, which is always contentious in Thailand,â said Supavud Saicheua, managing director with Bangkokâs Phatra Securities.
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Abhisit opponents decry the English-speaking prime minister, often seen as aloof and effete. âHe has done nothing in his years in office,â said Nawa Lee, a bus station clerk in Bangkok, who said sheâd vote for anyone but Abhisit.
Thailand’s massage parlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit (C) poses in a jacuzzi inside Copa Cabana, one of his six upscale entertainment clubs
in Bangkok on August 2, 2003. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)
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But that’s all in the past, Chuvit says. He has sold his old businesses and bristles at questions about his former endeavors, maintaining that he wants to focus on building his political career. He was elected to Parliament in 2005 but was later disqualified. He also launched two failed bids as Bangkok governor. A low point came when he punched and kicked a TV journalist who he says insulted him.
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His experiences in the Bangkok underworld aren’t the only ones that inform his worldview. The 49-year old says he attended North Carolina’s Campbell University. In addition to learning about the importance of individuality and the need to question authority, he says he gained insight on gender relations during his time in the U.S.
See the full article from “GlobalPost”
Chuwit Kamolvisit, a former brothel owner and born-again Christian, is running on an anti-graft ticket, telling all about the hefty kickbacks he once paid to police to keep his massage empire running. Though his Rak Prathet Thai (Love Thailand) Party has little chance of winning any more than a handful of seats, he’s pledging to be a backbench voice against corruption if elected. With his sweat-laced glare appearing on posters all over the capital, the gangster-chic, lovable-rogue spin is catching on, with his party running 3
or 4
in some Bangkok area opinion polls. Nawa Lee says that she originally planned to vote for Peua Thai, but is now ‘thinking maybe for Khun Chuwit.’
See the full article from “The Diplomat”
In this June 21, 2011 photo, Chuwit Kamolvisit waves to his supporters during an election campaign for his Rak Thailand Party in Bangkok. (Photo: AP)
BANGKOK — As the super-pimp who once ran Thailand’s biggest brothel empire and then exposed the police kickbacks he had to pay for it to flourish, Chuvit Kamolvisit feels uniquely qualified to lead the country’s fight against corruption.
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It all began in 2003, when he was accused of the unauthorized, overnight demolition of scores of unlicensed bars and shops from a downtown Bangkok block he owned. The brutal move erupted into a major public scandal, and when the police failed to protect him, Chuvit fought back by exposing the behemoth bribes he had to pay to keep his mighty empire of flesh running.
Confirming that open secret turned him into an unlikely folk hero among Bangkok residents, eclipsing the demolition itself and underscoring public revulsion against official corruption. The Nation newspaper declared him “Person of the Year.”
BANGKOK — As the super-pimp who once ran Thailand’s biggest brothel empire and then exposed the police kickbacks he had to pay for it to flourish, Chuvit Kamolvisit feels uniquely qualified to lead the country’s fight against corruption.
And in his quest to win a parliament seat in elections Sunday, the 49-year-old one-time massage parlor king is betting a public tired of divisive, hypocritical leaders will agree.
Politicians “are like diapers — you have to change them,” Chuvit told The Associated Press in an interview, referring to a campaign poster that features him cradling a toddler. “Otherwise it’s too dirty.”
Chuvit’s bid to become a lawmaker is no joke. He first won a national assembly seat back in 2005, only to be disqualified the following year because he had not been a member of his party long enough before the poll.
He’s also run for Bangkok governor twice, coming in a distant third both times. His last campaign nose-dived after …
See the full article from “msnbc.com”
… There are no discrimination laws here against gay people, so a young gay Thai may feel like, ‘My life is free, I can do anything I want,’ when in reality, most gay people here live a double life, both with a straight male identity and with a gay identity,” said Narupon Duangwises, a cultural anthropologist who works as a consultant with Bangkok Rainbow , an NGO that supports the gay community.
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Her colleague, Nanokporn Sukprasert, a transgender former sex worker, remembers first learning about HIV two or three years after she began working at a bar.
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Approximately 16.7 percent of Thai male sex workers were found to be HIV positive in 2010, according to Bangkok Rainbow, compared with 3 percent of Thailand’s estimated 200,000 female sex workers known to be living with HIV, according to Apisuk.
And in his quest to win a parliament seat in elections Sunday, the 49-year-old one-time massage parlor king is betting a public tired of divisive, hypocritical leaders will agree.
See the full article from “Forbes”
BANGKOK (AP) — As the super-pimp who once ran Thailand’s biggest brothel empire and then exposed the police kickbacks he had to pay for it to flourish, Chuvit Kamolvisit feels uniquely qualified to lead the country’s fight against corruption.
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After returning home, he made a fortune during a late 1980s real estate boom. When a client took him to an upscale massage parlor, he had an epiphany. “I said ‘Oh wow, it’s good!’ It’s like a Hugh Hefner: You know, surrounded by the beautiful girls, making money.”
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He sold his slice of the sex business years ago, and says he’s done with it for good. But when people ask about his former life, “I say yes … I should go back to the massage parlors,” he sighed. “Because that was better – cleaner than politics.”
… 06-28) 04:21 PDT BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — As the super-pimp who once ran Thailand’s biggest brothel empire and then exposed the police kickbacks he had to pay for it to flourish, Chuvit Kamolvisit feels uniquely qualified to lead the country’s fight against corruption. And in his quest to win a parliament seat in elections Sunday, the 49-year-old one-time massage parlor king is betting a public tired of divisive, hypocritical leaders will agree. Politicians “are like diapers — you have to change them,” Chuvit told The Associated Press in an interview, referring to a campaign poster that features him cradling a toddler. “Otherwise it’s too dirty.” Chuvit’s bid to become a lawmaker is no joke. He first won a national assembly seat back in 2005, only to be disqualified the following year because he had not been a member of his party long enough before the poll. He’s also run for Bangkok governor twice, coming in a distant third both times. His last c …
BANGKOK — As the super-pimp who once ran Thailand’s biggest brothel empire and then exposed the police kickbacks he had to pay for it to flourish, Chuvit Kamolvisit feels uniquely qualified to lead the country’s fight against corruption.
…
After returning home, he made a fortune during a late 1980s real estate boom. When a client took him to an upscale massage parlor, he had an epiphany. “I said `Oh wow, it’s good!’ It’s like a Hugh Hefner: You know, surrounded by the beautiful girls, making money.”
…
He sold his slice of the sex business years ago, and says he’s done with it for good. But when people ask about his former life, “I say yes … I should go back to the massage parlors,” he sighed. “Because that was better – cleaner than politics.”