Child sex case shines spotlight on Thailand's social ills

By Prangtip Daorueng
February 1, 2001

Bangkok - Thailand's Deputy Senate Speaker Chalerm Promlert would still be enjoying his prominent political career if a schoolgirl had decided to return to her home one December night.

On December 22, "R", as local newspapers have named a 13-year-old girl in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok, met with four other girls near her school. Their plan was to meet with a "customer" who was waiting at a small hotel. "R" said a friend told her that she would make 2,000 baht (US$46.50) plus extra money from having sex with a male customer - whom they have identified as the 65-year-old Chalerm.

"R" did not go home afterwards, staying with friends as she was afraid her parents would find out what she had done. A few days later she decided to go home anyway, and by that time, her parents had reported her missing to the police. After being pressured by her parents, "R" told them the whole story. That was the beginning of a scandal involving a group of schoolgirls and Chalerm, a well-known senator from southern Thailand.

The parents of "R" pressed rape charges against Chalerm, who denies the charges. Sexual contact with minors is a criminal offense in Thailand and sexual intercourse with a minor is statutory rape, punishable by up to 20 years' imprisonment. A ninth-grader and her senior who went with "R" that December night are accused in a police complaint of procuring sexual services.

However, the Chalerm case is only one among many. Materialistic attitudes among schoolgirls and weak law enforcement have made sexual abuses against young girls a big problem in Thailand.

According to "R", her involvement with the commercial sex arrangement started when a schoolmate who had been in the business told her that she could make up to 5,000 baht for "yielding her virginity". The attraction of easy money is a reason why schoolgirls as young as "R" choose to join or are lured into the sex trade.

In the first encounter with Chalerm, "R" said she made 6,000 baht, an amount a girl at her age cannot reach through other kinds of work. She and her friends met him again a few days later and made another 6,000 baht. "R" said Chalerm told her that they should meet at least once a week.

While the case is still under police investigation, pressure from the public against such abuse has been increasing. A network of 46 women's NGOs submitted an open letter to the Senate speaker demanding for a special investigation by the chamber on this case. They are also urging Chalerm to resign in order to prevent any political influence in the investigation. Chalerm has resigned as deputy Senate speaker, but still keeps his senatorial position.

While Chalerm's case continues to make the headlines, Kemporn Wiroonrapun, director of the Foundation for Children Development, says there are "many other cases that managed to escape from public attention. In the process of our work, we have found some cases of young schoolgirls in prostitution engaged in different parts of the country," she said, adding that materialism may be a reason for young girls turning to commercial sex. But more than that, she believes this phenomenon is a reflection of family problems that drive young girls to such an activity.

"In most of the cases we have found that there are family problems. Basically, those children did not have enough socialization with their family and turned to friends as a way out," Kemporn points out.

Take "N", a junior schoolgirl from a northeastern province in Thailand. At the age of 13, "N" lives with her grandmother and dying mother who has HIV. Her father died of AIDS a few years ago. "Her sick mother always has a difficult temper and 'N' has shown a sign of attachment to friends and inappropriate behavior," said Kemporn.

According to Kemporn, the root of the problem lies in what she calls the poor direction of country's development, where economic difficulties often necessitate the break-up of families and social support systems. She says that in most of the cases her group has worked with, the young girls involved belonged to families of lower-income families whose parents had left children to work elsewhere. The gap between parents who have to struggle for a living and their children has driven boys and girls in their early teens to prostitution.

"This pattern started 10 years ago, and now children of those families are in their teens," says Kemporn. "While more girls turn to sex trade, we have boys involve in the drug dealing business too."

While social problems cannot be solved in a short period of time, experts say weak law enforcement in the country has worsened it. Over the years, Thai laws have been strengthened to protect underage girls and boys from prostitution. New laws have increased penalties for those caught engaging in sex with minors. Laws also target customers, procurers, pimps and owner and operators of brothels, as well as parents who sell their children into prostitution.

But the problem of youngsters in the sex trade, including children smuggled in from neighboring countries, shows that laws cannot really be the only solution. There is also the question of political influence and how it affects law enforcement, since powerful people are believed to be involved in prostitution either as operators or clients.

In their open letter to the Senate speaker, the 46 women NGOs also demanded that the Senate set ethical standards among senators and other high-level politicians and government officials. They sought higher penalties for these public officials if they commit offenses.

Even then, Kemporn says, the involvement of young people in commercial sex will continue if weakened family structures and the larger issue of the country's development approach are not addressed. Adds Kemporn: "It is the price society has to pay for the mistakes made in overall development."

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