A bad start to 2009 in Thailand

New Years Eve tragedy at the Santika Club in Bangkok.

There is a phrase and mnemonic commonly in use here. It is ‘This is Thailand’ or TIT and if anything went TIT’s up again for Thailand then it is this latest, totally avoidable and unnecessary incident.

The death of 69 people whose only intent was to enjoy New Years Eve began with establishing an entertainment venue in an unsuitable building in a totally unsuitable area.

Many years ago when I lived in Cornwall, some clown set up a nightclub in one of a row of suburban terrace houses in Falmouth. Faced with a barrage of complaints about noise and disruption from the adjacent residents and just about everyone else in the area, the owner attempted to smooth things over by hanging used mattresses on the walls to try to deaden the noise. Can you imagine what would have happened if there had been a fire?

Fortunately, local council common sense prevailed (eventually) and the place was closed down.

This is what happened at ‘Santika’ except that no-one ever saw fit to close the place down and paradoxically it went on to become one of Bangkok’s better known nightspots.

It was a fire disaster waiting to happen.

After complaints from the people who lived in the residential area where the club was illegally situated, non-fire resistant polystyrene foam blocks had been used to insulate the walls and ceiling against sound. There was just one door into and out of the club. True, there was a service entrance to the premises but that was known only to the staff. There might have been a third exit but few knew where it was; certainly not the customers.

Many Thai nightspots sell food and beverages on a ‘tab’ basis. This is (a) because it is quicker to settle the bill in one go rather than slow things down with a cash service and (b) because revenues can be maximised from customers who rapidly loose track of how much they have spent. Along with this is the need to stop ‘runners’ or people who would use the emergency exits to leave without paying the bill. To this end, in many Thai nightclubs, the windows are barred and the alternative exits (assuming they actually exist) are locked and often chained. ‘Santika’ was no exception.

Another reason is that Thai ‘yoof’ – just like their counterparts the world over – try to get past the entrance fee and age/ID check by sending in one ‘legal’ kid who then opens an emergency exit to let the others in.

A couple of years ago we went into a disco called ‘Route 999’ in Pattaya. My daughter loved it but for my wife and I the sound level was akin to ‘water boarding’ where decibels have been substituted for water molecules. We stood the aural discomfort for about 10 minutes before going somewhere quieter. In the meantime I had checked out the emergency exits – all properly illuminated with the standard green signs – all locked and chained!

A month or so later the place caught fire and people died because of those locked emergency exits.

Finally we come to the tried and trusted TIT way of doing business where, if you need the right piece of paper, you find someone with access to the rubber stamp and give them a plain envelope with as much cash as your business requirements demand.

‘Santika’ was the subject of an on-going legal effort by local residents to close it down because of it’s location in a residential area. That legal process has been stalled in the courts for six years. Why? Could it be that money had changed hands?

The place operated under the same licence that is given to a noodle stand, one of those ubiquitous mobile food vendors on two bicycle wheels that are everywhere in Thailand. How was that allowed to happen? A noodle stand doesn’t need to satisfy any safety standards and there are hundreds of thousands of them. What better place to hide the details of a venue prepared to cram up to 1,000 people with only one door, a single hand held fire extinguisher and an electrical system that would probably buckle under the strain of running a 3 bed semi let alone a nightclub with sophisticated sound and lighting systems. A couple of thousand baht a month to the ‘right’ official and all’s well – until something like this happens.

Thailand is well up on the list of developing Third World countries but the country has a long way to go before reaching the high standards of some of it’s ASEAN neighbours. Top of the list of problems that must be addressed is the belief amongst those who seek high office that, once in office, they have a God-given right to bend the law as they see fit and which best suits their pockets.

All the right laws and regulations are in place in Thailand. All it needs is an administration and a judiciary that is above corruption and prepared to come down like a ton of bricks on anyone, no matter how self styled or important they claim to be, who would seek to bypass those same laws and regulations in order to fatten their wallets.

But then, ‘This is Thailand’. ‘Mai pen rai’ (no problem).