[aussie dollar]

Tourist's arrest scary experience



My daughter and I came from Singapore for a holiday in Bangkok. On Friday, my daughter went to meet a friend on Silom Road Soi 4 at 11.15pm.

At about 11.40pm, she called me for help. She was arrested by police for being underage in a pub. She is 19 years old and she is not underage to drink in Singapore.

At 12.15am, I arrived at Bang Rak police station and found her in police custody. I explained to the police officer that she was a tourist who did not know the age limit for visiting a pub was different from Singapore and therefore she should not be held in custody.

The police officer replied that she was in Thailand and therefore she should know the Thai law.

The police officer told me to wait for the paper work to be processed to allow me, as a parent, to bail her out. And I waited until 1.30am before an officer came with forms for my daughter to sign.

She signed the form without understanding what was written on it because it was written in Thai. I was asked to sign some statements without understanding what was written in the statement because it was also written in Thai.

I was eventually allowed to take her home at 1.45pm.

This was a horrible experience for me and my daughter. The incident raises a number of questions about how the Thai police and Thai laws can live up to the Amazing Thailand image the Thai government is trying to sell to tourists:

1) If my daughter had been in Bangkok by herself, what would the police do to her if no one could bail her out, bearing in mind there are many 19-year-old tourists like her visiting Thailand?

2) Why should a tourist like my daughter be arrested at a pub where the legal age limit is not displayed or enforced at the pub entrance? It is necessary because the legal age for visiting a pub varies from country to country and the Thai police should not expect tourists to know the law when they arrive in Thailand. Should the pub owner not be held responsible for enforcing the law rather than arresting tourists for not knowing Thai law?

3) Why was the incident not handled by the tourist police? My daughter was terrified by the actions of the Thai-speaking police officers, who could not understand her or explain the charges to her. She could only communicate with other offenders already in police custody who told her the police were going to put them in jail.

4) Is it a practice of Thai police to force tourists in custody to sign Thai language documents, which they do not understand, as a condition for their release? The incident would have been less intimidating if the police had not forced us to sign Thai documents without any translation.

I believe the authorities should do something to safeguard the interests of tourists and help the police uphold the image of Amazing Thailand.