Thailand cleans up fast ahead of APEC summit

Thailand cleans up fast ahead of APEC summit

Uamdao Noikorn, Associated Press, Bangkok

Thailand's congested, bawdy and frenetic capital is being cleaned
up fast so visiting foreign leaders won't see its infamously
seedy side.

Prostitutes, beggars, homeless people, and even stray dogs are
being swept off Bangkok's streets ahead of next month's Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

A week-long vacation will be declared to ease its notorious
traffic jams.

Concerns over tidiness are running second only to anti-terror
precautions and other security priorities ahead of the APEC
summit to include VIPs, like U.S. President George W. Bush.

Obsessed with image and holding a traditional Asian fear of
losing face, the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
is spending 554 million baht (US$13.85 million) to spruce up the
so-called City of Angels.

Much of the snap beautification is conventional: Workers are
planting trees and building fountains near summit venues.

Patches of green turf are being laid along the banks of the
muddy Chao Phraya river where guests from the 21-nation Asian
Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will be treated to the rare
spectacle of a royal barge procession.

Colorful umbrellas will be given to street vendors to create
vivid tableaux for official motorcades that speed through streets
normally choked with traffic.

Even the lawn outside the prime minister's office is being
replaced with another type of grass that has "a softer, carpet-
like feel," according to the prime minister's secretariat office.

"We need to do everything to show the nation's beauty: It's
everybody's duty. Thousands of people will come to this event,"
said Yongyuth Tiyapairath, the prime minister's secretary-
general.

More controversially, deadlines have been set to banish
streetwalkers from major thoroughfares, round up stray animals,
and keep the sellers of traditional garlands from peddling their
wares at intersections, he said.

Prostitutes are the first targets of the urban cleansing
campaign. Since August, police have stepped up street patrols and
increased the number of arrests in a city infamous worldwide for
its red-light districts.

"We actually arrest them every day as the sight of them is an
eyesore," said Maj.Gen. Phadet Thalawonghe who is heading the
operation. "But they always return without fail after paying
fines."

Another target is some 3,000 canines that roam the streets
near key venues. Once rounded up, they'll be spayed and sent into
exile at a dog shelter in northeastern Thailand.

But hunting down homeless hounds is also hard.

"Sometimes we don't see any dogs at all during a roundup. It
turns out residents hide the dogs in their homes and release them
after we leave," said a city worker, speaking on the condition of
anonymity.

Homeless people will face much the same treatment as dogs,
under a plan by outspoken Bangkok Gov. Samak Sundaravej.

Some 10,000 beggars and vagrants, including street children,
will be picked up over the next two weeks.

If they have nowhere else to go, they'll be sent to camps near
a train terminal, by a canal and in a park.

"Give them a chance to go back home first, then put (the rest)
together in one place and feed them from the state budget like my
previous operation against street dogs," Samak was quoted saying
by The Nation newspaper.

Responding to public disapproval of Samak's remarks, Prime
Minister Thaksin -- a multimillionaire before he entered politics
-- says vagrants would be given training and jobs. The mentally
ill and sick will get cared for.

"Don't worry about these people being mistreated," Thaksin
told reporters.

Even so, there is widespread skepticism about the cleanup.

Fruit seller Nittaya Kampan, 45, said the government is
"wasting time and money" on a short-term solution to the city's
ills.

She complained that her family's income would be cut greatly
from the ban on garland selling -- a job her 11-year-old son,
Aek, does every day after school. Garland vendors, usually
children, sell their fragrant floral wreathes at intersections to
drivers for good luck Thai-style.

She said the umbrellas to be given out to acceptable street
vendors "won't be of any use because people will have a weeklong
vacation and I'll have no one to sell my fruits to anyway."

APEC is the world's largest trade cooperation group, with a
combined population of over 2.5 billion and total gross domestic
product of $19 trillion.

Its members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chile, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Singapore,
Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States.