Chuwit once ran a small empire of massage parlour brothels in an area of Bangkok known as "Soapland." Photo: Gerhard Joren/LightRocket via Getty Images.
At his peak, Chuwit raked in an estimated 1 million baht ($30,000) a night, selling sex behind his businesses' bathhouse facade. Photo: Gerhard Joren/LightRocket via Getty Images.
The heat from the cops had intensified: frequent police checks were affecting business, and at one point his venues were targeted by what local media labelled a “get-laid-and-raid” sting, where officers posed as clients, had sex with the “masseuses,” and then arrested them for prostitution.“Corruption in Thailand is very bad… We don't know [of a] department or section of the government that’s clean.”
Relentless pressure and extortion from police eventually forced Chuwit to go public with a series of scandalous allegations against Thai authorities. Photo: Gerhard Joren/LightRocket via Getty Images.
“When you are close to those who are in power, you can do anything.”Rangsiman Rome, a prominent activist and increasingly influential politician with Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party, knows this better than most. He’s been swimming around in the muddy pool of Thai politics for almost a decade.“Corruption in Thailand is very bad. It's everywhere,” Rome told VICE World News. “We don't know [of a] department or section of the government that’s clean.”
Thai politician Rangsiman Rome makes the "three-finger salute," a gesture adopted by Thai pro-democracy protesters, at a demonstration in Bangkok. Photo: Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Some question Chuwit's personal agenda, and whether his anti-corruption campaign is as selfless as it seems. Photo by James Willson / Thai News Pix
His methods, he explained, are straightforward. Usually he’ll contact his targets first, threaten to publicly shame them, and try to intimidate them into submission.“Maybe I will call you. I will say that I have the evidence; I have the video. If you resign now, I will not do anything with you. But if you say no, I think you're going to really hurt bad. Bad things are going to happen to you. And [some] choose to resign.”In other cases, he yanks back the curtain and exposes them outright—whether it be to the police or the public. It’s a method that may at times seem dangerously extrajudicial. But as far as forcing a reaction goes, it works.“You have to be really special to deal with the corrupt in Thailand,” he added. “You cannot do the legal, you cannot use the law. You must do it the same way that they do it to us.”Chuwit’s efficacy at cracking down on crime and corruption speaks for itself. The Tub Tycoon’s hit rate has proven so impressive, in fact, that many have questioned where he gets his information. Some recognise the obvious—that his former criminal connections afford him valuable lines of communication into Thailand’s underbelly—while others have raised suspicions around the possibility of leaks within the Royal Thai Police, or the government itself.Does he have a source in the police who’s leaking him information? “Yes.” And the government? “Oh yes.”
“How can I get information? … I need an insider.”
While such acts of selfless philanthropy feed an image that Chuwit seems eager to cultivate—a benevolent hero and fearless crusader who steps up for the underdog—there are still questions over whether the former king of Soapland’s new persona is as clean as he claims. How connected he remains to the criminal underworld, and the source of his income today, remain murky. But even those with reservations accept that his shadowy side may be a necessary evil.“He is the person who knows about this dark business… sometimes, if you want to stop businesses like this in Thailand, you need people like this,” said Rome. The MP further admitted that he does suspect Chuwit may have his own, personal agenda. “I try to think: So what? I try to judge people from what people really do. And if he does good, it's good—but if he does bad, we can criticise him. We can talk about that.”“If you want to stop businesses like this in Thailand, you need people like this.”
Chuwit has become a public mouthpiece for whistleblowers throughout Thailand—but he's aware of the dangers that come with that role. Photo: by James Willson / Thai News Pix
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