The Girl Next Door. . . is Locked Inside a Brothel

Our living room window looks down on a large three story building. This building has no windows and from 12pm until 12am the parking lot is full. It is one of many brothels of this size in Bangkok, but is advertised as a massage parlor and coffee shop. We have only ever seen one woman go in and we have never seen any come out. A few days ago, Duncan heard a truck selling fruit (they advertise with megaphones) down by the railroad tracks behind our building. By the time he reached the truck it was parked by the back entrance to the brothel. A woman in full makeup and a red ‘working’ dress was buying some vegetables and fruit through the barred and padlocked back door. These are not women who have a choice.

It is ironic to us that the brothel strictly obeys the regulation that states opening and closing times of entertainment venues but that it completely ignores that prostitution is illegal let alone its abuse of human rights. Everyone knows what this building is. Everyone. And it is not supported with the dollars, euros, or yen of foreign men. This is Thai supported as is the majority of prostitution in Thailand.

There was an op-ed piece in the Bangkok Post several weeks ago where the author, Voranai Vanijaka, implores his fellow Thais to stop tolerating injustice. It is titled No More ‘Mai Pen Rai.’ ‘Mai pen rai’ loosely translates into English as ‘nevermind.’ You hear this all the time. It is closely tied to the Thai concept of ‘cool heart’. Do not get angry, don’t show frustration or anger. While several cultures could take some cues from this and limit anger over trivial things, I’m afraid that this concept has permeated everything in Thai culture to the point where there is an unhealthy level of apathy. Sometimes there is a righteous anger required in the face of injustice. Every culture, nation, and person (including me) should remember this.


Here’s an excerpt from the No More ‘Mai Pen Rai’ article:

“That seems to be our attitude. We don't express outrage. We don't demand justice. We don't monitor action. We just sit back and let the authorities pay lip service to having an investigation, then a few months later everyone forgets about it. Mai pen rai.

We Thais have it easy. There's fish in the sea and rice in the fields. When we run out of fish in our sea, we just fish in other people's seas and either get kidnapped by Somali pirates or thrown into prison by Burmese authorities. But that's okay, mai pen rai. They are just poor people.

Mind you, this attitude of mai pen rai, this cancer of apathy isn't just confined to just Thailand. It's a worldwide plague. However, at least to my knowledge, no other country has ever used "mai pen rai" (or the apathy of a culture) as a proud tourist attraction. There are even books written about the beauty of the "mai pen rai attitude".

Dear people, this mai pen rai attitude, for the sake of our King, our country and for the future of our children, we need to stop it. We really do.”

Read the full article at: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/12098/no-more-mai-pen-rai

Andrea

P.S. The pictures are as follows: 1 & 2) the women's work clothes hung out to dry, 3) A graffiti message on a bridge overpass in Bangkok