Thai mayor seeks to turn brothel town into college hub
BETONG: -- If Thailand´s three southernmost provinces are in the grip of a bloody separatist struggle, you certainly wouldn´t know it from a visit to Betong, a boom town on the Thai-Malaysian border.
An estimated 1,000 people have died from separatist-related violence in the deep South - comprising Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces - since January last year, but in Betong, a vibrant border town in Yala, 850 kilometres south of Bangkok, business is hopping.
Two big hotels, the 400-room Mandarin and 250-room Garden View, are scheduled to open this December, boosting Betong´s total room capacity to 3,800 units.
[highlight=yellow:104283e4a6]An estimated 350,000 tourists, mostly elderly Malaysian men in search of "rest and recreation", visit Betong each year.[/highlight:104283e4a6] The city´s other main source of income is from rubber exports across the border to Malaysia for shipment out of Penang port.
Last year, Betong took a new step for its economy by opening a Ratchapak University branch at a magnificent palace-like structure on the hill overlooking the town that cost the municipality 1.7 billion (41.5 million dollars) to build.
The university outlet kicked off modestly in 2004 by offering Mandarin classes to 80 local students - half of them Thai Moslems, but Betong Mayor Awut Mongkhonprajak has much bigger plans for the campus.
"Actually, our plan is to build a Chinese International University in Betong but since the institution has not been registered and the curriculum hasn´t been finalized we´re cooperating with Ratchapak University to start offering a Chinese language programme now," said Awut.
The mayor has allocated a budget of 3.2 billion baht (78 million dollars) to build the university campus at the foot of Betong hill, below the hilltop Ratchapak campus. Construction is set to begin on the university by the end of the year, Awut claimed.
His planned Chinese International University, will target students from Thailand and neighbouring Malaysia - where there are 60 Chinese language high schools but still no Chinese university - and the rest of Southeast Asia.
[highlight=yellow:104283e4a6]"We have a very Chinese environment in Betong," [/highlight:104283e4a6] said Awut, conducting his interview in Mandarin. "And not all students can afford to go to Beijing and Taipei to study Mandarin. In Beijing the cost of living is as high as Europe, but here in Betong you can live on 3,000 baht (75 dollars) a month."
[highlight=yellow:104283e4a6]Nearly 40 per cent of Betong´s population of 50,000 are ethnic Hokkien Chinese,[/highlight:104283e4a6] with the remainder made up of Thai Buddhists and Thai Moslems.
Betong also boasts a small population of 2,000 Mandarin-speaking former members of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), who surrendered to the Thai government in 1986 and now live in three villages that have become tourist attractions.
[highlight=yellow:104283e4a6]The town is also famed for its Chinese prostitutes, who are flown in on tourist visas and are extremely popular among the elderly Malaysian-Chinese tourists who frequent Betong´s hotels. [/highlight:104283e4a6]
"The whole world has Chinese girls," said Awut. "This is normal."
[highlight=yellow:104283e4a6]Dan Nok, another Thai-Malaysian border town in Songkhla province, is also doing a booming business in Chinese and local prostitution, observers said.[/highlight:104283e4a6]
What is different about Betong, is its mayor´s academic ambitions.
"This transition will take time, but in the future we will become a cultural and education town," Awut told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
Awut, who has been Betong mayor for the past 17 years, has pushed through zoning laws that will force many of the brothels and karaoke bars that currently dominate the heart of town to another district - a tunnel has been conveniently constructed to get tourists to the new entertainment zone.
The ambitious mayor is also pushing for a new Betong airport and an improved highway between Betong and Yala, to facilitate his university plans.
Awut´s big plans have earned him the praise of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and many southern businessmen.
"It´s good to have him there," said Anusart Suwanmongkol, managing director of the C.S. Pattani Hotel. "The university plan is ambitious but will need good infrastructure, like an airport. And Malaysia wants to compete with him."
Under Thailand´s decentralization programme, implemented more than eight years ago, mayors and other elected authorities have increased power over their local budgets and development plans.
"Mayors here have a lot of power but they don´t always use it," said Awut. "You can build a university or do whatever the people need. Why don´t the other mayors down here do the same?"
--DPA 2005-10-17
), wobei auch Malaysier immer häufiger ohne Papiere nach Thailand können (weil offensichtlich auf th. Seite dieselben Auflösungserscheinungen sind).
