(IPS) feature

- For the past five years, Natharat Buakham and her friend 'Ben' have been regulars in Patpong, the red light district in the Thai capital reputed for its sex shows and bars that have women catering to the whims of men for a price.

Work has been the main draw, for both 30-year-old Natharat and 32-year-old 'Ben' are hostesses in a Patpong bar. And these two Thai women have no qualms about it - entertaining their mostly foreign male clients through the night - for it has brought them money to feed their families.

''I am very proud of my life, what I have earned. I have sent much to my family in the province,'' says oval-faced Natharat. ''On good nights, I have earned 1,000 thousand or more baht (the Thai currency) from tips.''

For sharp-profiled 'Ben', her nightly earnings have helped care for her two children, aged 10 and 12 years. ''They get food, go to school because of my work here.''

But of late, the income from their work in brightly-lit Patpong has dropped to a disturbing low, from no earnings on some nights to a high of 300 baht (US$6.5 dollars) on other nights.

And it is no secret who they blame for this change: Thailand's Interior Minister Purachai Piumsoombun, who has been leading a high-profile crusade to impose a moral 'social order' here since August.

Rigidly enforced

This tough policy has required bars to stop selling alcohol after midnight and to close their doors by two am - the very period when the tourists are usually filling up the bars and the parlours offering sex shows. The peak period for business, according to bar owners, has been between 1 am to 3 am.

In some places, the police, who have been given the authority to enforce the 'social order' have even walked into bars and questioned foreigners seen consuming alcohol after the designated deadline.

The police have also made sure that other nighttime venues fall in line with Purachai's crusade, ranging from the fashionable nightclubs to the roadside noodle stalls.

''His campaign is hurting us, denying us customers, money. If it goes on, I don't know how to feed my children,'' explains 'Ben', as tears welled up in her eyes.

Others have also criticised Purachai for the impact his policy is having on their purse. The chorus of detractors includes bar owners, nightspot operators, taxi drivers and some foreign men, through their letters in the newspapers.

An economist from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University warned that the rigidly enforced moral code, which has also included Purachai himself leading a party of policemen to ensure that his order is enforced, could undermine the country's economy and the tourism sector.

''The policy may adversely affect the economy. Patrons of nightspots have high purchasing power,'' he told the independent daily The Nation . ''We have to accept that foreign tourists like the nightlife in our country. The restriction on the hours affect tourism, which is the one important sector the government is pinning its hopes on to boost our sluggish economy.''

Underage customers

Currently, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, this city alone has an estimated 3,000 registered nightspots, although some newspaper reports say that if the unregistered ones are included, the number could be as high as 8,000.

But Purachai refuses to budge from his position. And his argument is simple: he is enforcing a law that has been in the books since 1966 - the Act of Nightspot Establishments - but which has always been breached. That law is specific on the time entertainment venues should close: 2am.

This week, the interior minister upped the ante on this issue, by threatening to quit as minister if the government prevented him from enforcing the policy.

He was also defiant on another aspect of his moral crusade - to ensure that bars do not admit those under 20 years and do not serve them alcohol, two features that also appear in the 1966 act.

Until Purachai's campaign, Thai youth, some as young as 14 years, had little difficulty entering bars down such popular strips as Royal City Avenue where they could drink alcohol and dance till 4 am.

Nor does he want these entertainment venues to be haunts for drug use, like methamphetamines, a growing problem among the youth here. According to a 1999 study done by Chulalongkorn University, more than 600,000 children in this country of some 60 million were addicted to drugs.

Drug, alcohol problem

Such a tough stance, moreover, has gone down well with a number of Thais, winning Purachai praise. They include parents, child rights activists, some academics and health experts.

At a recent public forum on Purachai's 'social order crusade', educationists and health experts backed the interior minister's drive, saying that the country's nightspots had become the venues for Thai teenagers to indulge in excess drinking and drug consumption.

Furthermore, a poll conducted by the research unit at Bangkok's Assumption University amplified a similar sentiment. While some 60 percent of 1,215 people polled in the city endorsed the moral crusade, 71 percent favoured the new closing hours and 58.5 percent said yes to the ban on liquor sales after midnight.

''It is a complicated issue, but it is about time that the law was implemented,'' says Saijai Kumkanarb, a sociologist at Bangkok's Thammasat University. ''There is public support for this because of the drug problem, the alcohol problem among Thai youth. It is serious.''

She concedes, however, that the government needs to account for the hundreds of thousands of Thais who depend on the bustling nightlife in the city for their livelihood. ''Some thinking should go in here.''

Old order

Bar owner Tarawut Rutiragul is also with Purachai on this. ''He is not stopping people from drinking or partying, but only saying they have to stop earlier than before. That is fine,'' says Tarawut, who runs the 'Bangkok Bar' in a neighbourhood frequented by backpackers.

''I have lost some income, and I think it will be that way till people adjust to the new reality and start coming earlier,'' he adds.

However 'Ben', the bar hostess, is hoping for the old order to return. ''We know our customers, they like to have dinner and then come to Patpong, normally at 12 or 1 to relax, have a drink, have fun.''