A recent raid at one of Pattaya’s bars that specializes in offering underage kids for punters to diddle – and yup, that’d be in Sunee Plaza – is the hot topic on at least two of the gay Thailand message boards right now. It has been getting the kind of participation seldom seen on Jabba The Butt’s board, but then that’s not surprising. Jabba – who has strongly advocated lowering the age of consent in the past and once ran a poll on the preferred age of bar boys, the low-end option of which started at the age of 8 – has always been a big fan of allowing child molesters to have free reign in his little corner of the internet. And while that is not true for SGT where once the P word was verboten, it’s good to see that except for a few Joes, Pattaya devotees are finally owning up to what everyone already knew: if you are looking for little kids to abuse Pattaya is the place for you. But if you are not in Thailand, no worries. The message boards too will extend a warm hand of welcome if child molestation is your thing.

The raid, as reported by several local news organizations, occurred at the Mic My bar earlier this week. In a joint operation between Thai immigration authorities and Social Welfare Officials 17 boys aged between 14 and 17 were found inside the bar. The boys were all available for sex in short-time rooms above the bar.

The bar manager and cashier were detained and are expected to be charged with human trafficking offences, and foreign patrons inside the bar were told to stay where they were until they were later taken to the Immigration Office in Jomtien where their immigration status was checked. A ‘lookout’ employee stationed outside the bar was also arrested and the bar’s owner is expected to be arrested once he is located.

The raid was the focus of an undercover operation, with an officer inside of the bar purchasing a young boy for sex from the mamasan. It had been planned after Immigration discovered that the bar had been smuggling boys under the age of 18 to work in the bar offering sexual service to Thai and foreign tourists.
Or as Jabba put it: “Oh well, there hasn’t been a raid at Sunee Plaza for quite awhile, so I guess a ‘let’s harass Sunee Plaza’ raid was about due . . .”

News of the raid of course should have been greeted on the boards with outrage over the underage sex coupled with gratitude that someone is finally doing something about the pedoes in paradise. But instead Jabba’s band of merry men read it as a warning that you should always carry a copy of your passport with you. I guess when child molesters are part of your daily life the more immediate concern is your own well-being. Though to be fair, the Irish contingent took a different tact, demanding that the police, mayor, and TAT explain their new policy that targets patrons of the city’s gay bars for persecution.

While one member of Jabba’s forum took the time to make several posts detailing his numerous visits to Mic My as well as another bar known to specialize in offering little kids to pedoes on the prowl, and took umbrage at another’s comment that punters should walk out of any bar where they witness underage employees being diddled by customers with the statement that then “there would be no Bars in Sunee and only 1 or 2 in BoysTown that you could enter”, Jabba was satisfied that “things are very different today than years ago. Most Sunee Plaza bars now hire only boys who are at least 18+ years old”.

A poster over at SGT seconded that motion going as far as to say that Mic My is the best run bar in Pattaya and, at worse, there are only a few underage bar boys working there at any given time. Even the Canadian contingent chimed in wanting to dispute the number of underage boys reported to have been caught up in the sweep saying, “I’ve spent loads of time in Sunee, and sure I’ve seen the odd guy who was quite obviously underage, but never have I walked into a bar and seen 17 of them.” Because evidently in Pattaya it’s not the act but its frequency that matters.

On both of the boards punters were livid that the bar’s customers had been taken to the police station. They felt that was wrong since there certainly is nothing illegal about sitting in a bar watching little naked kids cavort around the stage. They were equally incensed at the idea that as a customer they have any responsibility for failing to object to having little kids available for sex at their favorite bar, and Jabba said it was the responsibility of the police to put a stop to child molestation, not his. Much as you would have no responsibility for stopping at a red light but could just run it instead ‘cuz it’s the police department’s responsibility to enforce traffic laws, not yours to obey them.

Not long ago on SGT in another thread about pedoes in paradise one of the more despicable members quailed at the idea that that was a topic appropriate to a gay message board, saying that pedophilia has nothing to do with being gay. And he’s right. Pedophiles, pederasts, and kiddie molesters are about abuse, not sex. Just as rape is not about sex. Unfortunately he is also wrong. Because the gay community, especially in Pattaya, allows – and even welcomes – pedophiles to hide among them. And they are welcomed on the gay Thailand message boards too.

Jabba can claim he’s against underage sex all he wants, and he can claim he ‘votes with his feet’ but when you also advocate the lowering of the age of consent and run a message board where you allow members to specify ‘young boys’ as their interest, when you refuse to allow anyone to say negative things about your favorite haunt even though it has a well deserved rep for being a place where it’s easy to find children to prey upon, and when you want to blame the police, authorities, corruption, and anyone or anything else you can think of for the problem rather than the kiddie molesters . . . well, your actions speak much louder than your words.

The bar owners who hire children to service their customers only do so for one reason: money. The gay community in Pattaya can put a stop to the underage problem by refusing to patronize any bar that hires children. It’s not enough to say that you aren’t interested in the little kids and only off those of legal age. By continuing to help swell those bar owners’ bank accounts you are giving them your implicit approval to continue to abuse kids. One bar owner popped into the thread on SGT to pat himself on the back for refusing to hire underage kids. And he should be commended. But what does it say of that town when he is the exception to the rule? What is the message being sent when the practice is so prevalent that a bar owner expects accolades for not engaging in child prostitution?

It’s not like the problem with Mic My is new, or that it is only that bar. That it is one of the bars that specializes in offering young boys to pedophiles is not news, that rep has been around for sometime now. So have the sorry excuses for human beings who patronize the place. And they’re well represented on the boards. A simple search on SGT for Mic My brings up countless stories of “all the fun’ to be had there, along with the following quotes:

“My Mic has many assortments on the younger side as well as Nice Boys.”

“This bar seems to get raided more than others, so if your afraid of that then better not go there.”

“I am glad MIc My is still doing their thing. Id hate to go back there and see it gone.”

“My kind of place was Mic My. Tom Yum and the like so you know where my tastes were.”

“Mic My gogo soi VC if you like younger looking boys. Pattaya is by far best place.”

“There is no doubt if you have young boys in Sunee, the customers will increase dramatically.”

“You only have to look at the recent Bar New Sawatdee before it was closed. I stopped there once at 9pm and there were no seats and it was very easy to see why.”

Whenever the subject comes up on the boards the same tired excuses and discombobulations get pulled out once again. Innocent until proven guilty, it’s not just a problem in Pattaya, what about a 19 year old dating a 17 year old, you can’t believe what you read in the news, it’s not pedophilia it’s pederasty, it’s too difficult to read a Thai’s age, in some countries the age of consent is only 16 . . . none of which really addresses the issue. But does provide the smoke and mirrors pedophiles hide behind.

A new poster who’d been lurking for several years on SGT felt so welcomed by the conversation over the raid at Mic My that he made his first post claiming 90% of punters in Pattaya only like boys in their late teens to early twenties because they look like they are 14 or 15; ‘back home’ you’d have to actually have sex with underage kids while in Pattaya you can have the pleasure without its legal ramifications. He went on quite nonchalantly to say those after the 14-17 age boys in Pattaya really want 10 year olds. As though that thought was perfectly normal and was certainly not meant as a condemnation of those with that type of urge. To him Pattaya is where you go to have sex with boys who would land you in jail back home.

Of course he also wanted to make sure everyone knew he’s a pederast and not a pedophile. And claimed at heart so are his fellow fans of Sunee Plaza. Because when you are into molesting little kids it’s important to claim the correct label. I’d hope he is an exception to the rule, but his opinion of Pattaya devotees does explain why those who don’t engage in kiddie abuse ignore the problem of those who do: Many of them share the pedophile’s sickness in desire if not in action. When a child molester is arrested, for them it is a case of ‘There but for the grace of God, go I.’

It’s a shame that as the gay community is finding acceptance worldwide and opinions from those outside the community are changing, we still have to deal with the reputation of being a bunch of men who like to molest little kids. It’s even a greater shame that those of us who love Thailand are even further branded as child molesters. But then it’s difficult to convince others that we are not a bunch of pedophiles when by our inaction and preference for making excuses we allow pedophiles to be an accepted part of our community. Both on-line and in Pattaya.

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