Disturbing News From Thailand

[Guest zoom]

The link below is to an article where a major gay tourist provider has been arrested for providing underage kids to clients, having sex with underage kids and in possession of porn that features underage kids. Hopefully this high profile arrest will put a question in the minds of those who travel to other countries for the main purpose of haing sex with minors. It simply isn't fair to the young boys and girls to have to be subjected to choices that most do not want to face. These kids should be allowed to be kids and not have to deal with adult sexual situations.

 

What really blows my mind is why would anyone want to have sex with a underage boy when virtually all legal age teens and older in Thailand look 13 -15 anyway? Even if one is attraced to the younger set isn't a 20 year old Thai guy especially Thai (and other Asian backgrounds) going to look pretty young or yong enough?

 

As I get older I become more angry when I realise just how many children are being taken advantage of each day around the world.

 

I found this to be an interesting article, it made me angry and happy at the same time. Angry about what this man did and happy he finally has been caught (again).

 

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/26/1079939847857.html

[Guest]

I'm glad the Thais are doing this. It makes me wonder if a certain person we know got into trouble for selling pictures of underage Eastern Europeans...

[Guest msclonly]

I have been told and seen some German male tourists on the beach in Thailand have an interest in this kind of activity. I also saw an Amer Tour guide warn them, that he would call the Police, if they insisted in this kind of behavior toward the underaged!

 

No Americans were seen trying to pull this off, that I was made aware of.;(

 

It must be a cultural thing.

 

Could repression at home encourage this?

[kjun]

Are you serious?

 

the Cajun

[+ Lucky]

The Dreaded Ned website has published the response of the company in question as follows:

 

thailand news

Utopia Tours responds

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Doug Thompson, Marketing Manager for Utopia Tours, has responded to media reports of the raid on their offices last Friday. The statement issued today attempts to clarify the situation given the fairly sensational coverage in the local and international media.

 

In the statement the details of the raid and resulting charges were outlined:

 

"Our offices in the Tarntawan Place Hotel and the CCT Building in Bangkok were raided by Thai law enforcement authorities on Friday, 19 March 2004. Computers and files were removed. Except for our female bookkeeper, everyone who was in the office at the time was detained."

 

"Virtually all of the items removed from our offices at that time were returned later that same day."

 

"Following a news conference staged by Thai immigration police on Saturday morning, 20 March, four Thai newspapers published separate accounts of the incident. All of these stories included serious inaccuracies and some were filled with total fabrications. The articles related that a variety of very damaging charges had been filed when in actuality no charges had yet been brought against anyone at the time of the news conference."

 

"Later on Saturday, Robert Scoble, an Australian national, was charged with cooperating in the trade of obscene materials."

 

"In addition, a management trainee was charged with a work permit violation, and one of our other partners was also taken into custody for a work permit technicality (later dropped) but was subsequently charged along with Mr. Scoble. We do not believe that there is any evidence to implicate this partner and that he will be absolved of any wrongdoing in court. We believe that the raid on our company was entirely due to an investigation of charges against Mr. Scoble which were raised by the Australian embassy in Bangkok and that our other staff and partners were unfortunately swept up into this inquiry."

 

"A number of allegedly obscene items were found in Robert Scoble's home. We have not seen these so it would be totally inappropriate for us to comment on them. However, Mr. Scoble has acknowledged in writing that all questionable items held by the police were found in his home and that no such items were found in our offices. Mr. Scoble has resigned from all positions he held within the company."

 

"Our company has neither been accused nor charged with any crime whatsoever. We are open for business as usual and there has been no interruption in customer service."

 

"Those who know us personally or have been our customers know that offering positive alternatives to sex tourism is the very foundation of our business. We are not now nor have we ever been involved in prostitution, pairing of our customers with local hosts or hostesses, or in the exploitation of children in any way."

 

"We are extremely grateful for the supportive email and offers of help we have received from our many friends in Thailand and abroad. We thank you for thinking of us at this difficult time. We look forward to a speedy resolution of the legal matters resulting from this incident."

[Guest icon513]

Don't be so quick to judge...things in Thailand are not always as they seem.

 

Yes, they appear to have found some kiddie porn in the home of the man they arrested. Unexcusable, obviously, and I hope he is dealt with according to the full force of the law.

 

But there is apparently no evidence whatsoever that the tour company this man was partner in -- Utopia Tours -- has ever been anything other than the well-regarded, completely non-sexual gay and lesbian travel agency that it has been known to be. I know some of the other partners, and they are just as appalled as everyone else.

[Guest Les]

http://www.smiliegenerator.de/s23/smilies-15245.png

[Guest rampo]

I've used Utopia Tours a couple of times and agree with icon513 that they are a very professional, quality (and not inexpensive) outfit. As the article notes, the company has received accolades from a number of sources, including Lonely Planet, the BBC and TIME magazine. Although there was some hullabaloo about pornographic magazines being found at the tour office, it turned out that they were copies of ThaiGuys, a gay throwaway magazine that you can find in stacks at almost all of the Thai gay bars. Obviously the items that were ALLEGEDLY found at the one man's private home were much more incriminating.

 

In an earlier article there was a rather disturbing quote from a Thai official implying that organizing gay tours - not child sex tours, just gay tours - was somehow an illegal activity. One can hope that this was simply a case of an official talking through his hat or an instance of mistranslation.

[Guest msclonly]

WHAT would we find in your home!

 

What would we find in your home?

 

}(

[Guest houseboy]

>No Americans were seen trying to pull this off, that I was

>made aware of.;(

>

>It must be a cultural thing.

>

>Could repression at home encourage this?

 

>No Americans were seen trying to pull this off, that I was

>made aware of.;(

>

>It must be a cultural thing.

>

>Could repression at home encourage this?

 

Well, actually that the "cultural thing" at work here appears to be that people the U.S. prefer to import their sex slaves (read: kids and women for the most part) rather than travel to those exotic places where they can be bought on the street. There was an interesting article in the New York Times magazine about this in January, which can be found at

 

http://www.iabolish.com/news/press-coverage/2004/tnyt01-25-04.htm

 

It is too long to post here, so I shall judiciously refrain.

 

And on a sidenote - I find it hard to believe that those German tourists travel to Thailand to engage in sexual activities with minors because of repression at home while Americans - allegedly - do not, since anyone familiar with both countries will have to agree that the United States is *far* more repressive of sexual expression than Germany or many other European nations.

 

 

Sean Lespagnol

Chicago, IL

http://www.seanlespagnol.com

 

"Big and tasty - every day!"

[Guest msclonly]

Simply NOT true!

[Guest houseboy]

Ahah. Like what?