(L to R) Banglamung District Chief Sakchai
Taengho, Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh, and Pol. Col. Supathee Bungkhrong,
acting superintendent of Pattaya station address the Pattaya Business &
Tourism Association.
Jetsada Homklin
Pattaya police chief brushed away new complaints from Thai tour
guides that Russians are stealing their jobs, saying Thai companies should
consider Russian-speaking guides helpful, since Thai companies don’t have
enough employees speaking their language.
Banglamung District Chief Sakchai Taengho told the Aug. 13 meeting of the
Pattaya Business & Tourism Association the Pattaya Tour Guides Club has
filed a complaint at the district’s new Complaint Center, alleging Russian
guides are working illegally, stealing their jobs and may be connected to
organized crime.
Police Chief Col. Supathee Bungkhrong said there was no evidence any Russian
guides or companies were tied to criminal gangs. In fact, he said, owners of
these companies “consider Pattaya their second home and have invested in the
city.”
“Besides, there are not enough Russian-speaking guides at (Pattaya Tour
Guides) Club member companies,” Supathee said. “So it’s better if the Thai
guides consider the Russians as helping.”
Supathee noted that no charges will be filed against the Russian tour
companies and pointed out that, in fact, the owner of the largest Russian
tour company is a Thai.
Sakchai added that the club additionally requested immigration officials
limit the number of Russians working in Pattaya and stop them from opening
kiosks around the city. The association said it needed help because “their
jobs have been stolen.”
“It’s still a topic of debate between officers and the guide club,” Sakchai
noted.
The tour guide club has been trying since December to use police and
immigration to fight its battle against Russian speakers.
The Pattaya tour club filed a complaint with the Department of Special
Investigations Dec. 27, claiming foreigners were stealing their jobs and
ruining Thailand and its international reputation. The club said members
have not only lost jobs to foreigners who speak the same language as the
foreign tourists, but that foreigners are misrepresenting Thai history,
culture and traditions.
The Burapha Tour Guides Club filed a similar complaint in January.
In a nod to the tour guide group, the DSI launched a raid on Pattaya’s
Vitamax mall Dec. 27. The supposed crackdown on sellers of illegally
imported food supplements and cosmetics was merely a smokescreen for the
targeting of Russian tour guides, as DSI officers arrested 22 at the site,
along with four illegal Cambodians.
DSI launched two more raids on Parinya Herbal Products on Soi Nongkrabok and
Siam Spa Extra Virgin in South Pattaya Jan. 7 hoping to nab Russian guides,
but none were found.
With the head of the DSI and police in Pattaya and Chonburi replaced after
the May 22 coup, the tour guides’ case appears to have stalled. The National
Council for Peace and Order has made tourism a priority and is bending over
backwards to ensure tourism-related companies provide service with a smile.
Supathee’s comments calling the Russians-speaking guides a “help” would seem
to reflect the military regime’s view.
