One repeated refrain heard during research into our lead story on child prostitution – and it came from both the children and their ‘agents’ – was: "Why do people make such a fuss about this? The children are happy; the clients are happy. Who’s being hurt?"

The answer is simple: the children are being hurt. It’s a subtle, insidious form of damage that both sides refuse to recognize. But it is mighty, and, in the current environment of tolerance, most unlikely to go away.

At best, the children are robbed of their innocence and of the chance to lead normal lives. How many kids from poor families are likely to be interested in pursuing an education when they can make (as one girl reports) as much as 30,000 baht in a single day?

At worst, it will kill them slowly with AIDS, or leave them afflicted with other, less dramatic conditions such as Hepatitis B or chronic pelvic inflammatory disease.

In Bangkok, there have recently been some high-profile raids in which foreign paedophiles were arrested in flagrante, while in France, a man has been thrown behind bars after he was identified in video footage, shot in Thailand, having sex with a child.

Yet in Phuket a visiting government officer gets his subordinates to procure a schoolgirl for his pleasure, and a sinister man approaches tour companies offering them handsome commissions for providing customers for his despicable service. He even shows his prospective agents a catalog of kids in pornographic poses.

All indications are that despite a worldwide upwelling of disgust with the child sex industry, and demands for its suppression, the problem continues to grow in Phuket.

It is bad enough that Phuket has a reputation for providing commercial sex so openly and shamelessly. A reputation as a center for child sex could send our island spiraling down off the list of places that normal people would care to visit.

It’s time our local authorities made a concerted effort to arrest and punish both the procurers and the paedophiles. Arrests should be attended by massive publicity, and punishment should be exemplary. A warning must be sent to the world’s child molesters, and to those who cater to their pathetic desires, that they should stay well away from Phuket.

Next in the corruption dock was Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Rak Thai party leader and the odds-on favorite to oust Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai in the general election. Now the corruption dragnet has engulfed key figures of the coalition government, including Communications/Transport Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Banyat Bantadtan, and Chuan himself. Why have these corruption revelations popped up all of a sudden at this particular juncture, and what are their implications for the upcoming election?

Thailand’s intensifying anti-corruption crusade is attributable to the reform-driven 1997 constitution, which strengthened transparency and accountability rules and set up corresponding institutions to enforce them, such as the National Counter Corruption Commission. But the anti-graft commission would remain a paper tiger unless it was able to nab major unscrupulous players.

The first of these was Sanan. His indictment by the NCCC (and conviction by the Constitution Court) basically opened up a can of worms. If the once-mighty Sanan could fall, everyone else was fair game. Hence the NCCC probe into Thaksin’s irregular transfers of stock to his servants in an apparent effort to conceal his wealth. Certain that the Democrats tipped off the press, Thaksin’s lieutenants counterattacked with graft allegations against big-wig Democrats. Social activists and academics have weighed in and accused other politicians, such as Chart Thai Party executive and Education Minister Somsak Prissana-nantakul, of ill-gotten wealth.

In short, the skeletons in each party’s closet are being dragged out, confirming the common knowledge that Thai politicians are appallingly corrupt. Due to Sanan’s demise and Thaksin’s legal quagmire, the longstanding code of conduct among politicians and state officials has broken down. No longer are they willing to keep each other’s mouth shut. As the election approaches, the list of graft allegations among the political camps will certainly grow. Consequently, the NCCC’s manpower, resilience and integrity will be tested. If the commission manages to stay its course, Thailand’s political reform program will make dramatic headway in the medium term.

In the near term, the Democrats under the NCCC’s magnifying glass will divert considerable attention away from Thaksin’s case. Indeed, the telecoms billionaire has taken the high ground by arguing that his massive wealth was at least accumulated through legal business channels, not graft. Thaksin has tried to deflect the blame for his questionable share transfers to his spouse, siblings, in-laws, and servants, exploiting legal loopholes in the process. Although his fate is dangling in the balance under the NCCC’s prying eyes, he stands a better chance of wiggling his way to legal safety now that his Democrat rivals are in the hot seat.

For the Democrats, the scandal surrounding an agricultural co-operative in Surat Thani could not have come at a worse time. The co-op was established principally by Suthep, who brought in Banyat as a shareholder along with several other cabinet members. Suthep also placed a handful of shares under Chuan’s name, which the Prime Minister failed to declare in his asset statements. In response to the uproar, the NCCC will probably require Chuan to make the appropriate declaration, and end matters there. Banyat will probably get a slap on the wrist for not declaring his lot of shares.

Suthep, however, has already faced an inquisition. Not only did he bring in fellow ministers, but he also lured sizeable start-up capital from leading telecom firms and a major arms dealer. In addition, he funneled state money to his family’s construction company through the co-op. In the weeks ahead, Suthep’s co-op scheme may well look like a sophisticated graft operation.

Indeed, the co-op scandal has all the makings of the Phuket land reform fiasco that compelled Chuan to dissolve the lower house prematurely in 1995. Back then, Suthep’s unscrupulous Phuket land deals facilitated the Democrats’ ouster from office in the ensuing election. This time round, Chuan is saved by the bell as the lower house’s term is ending. But the Democrats may well fall out of favour again as a result of Suthep’s dubious schemes.