the pedophilia problem in south east asia

[R_P_A_S]

Ok so this is a great concern to me. what thing that I've learn by reading marx and reading what some of you discuss i've realized that every problem is bigger than the surface. so right now the surface in cambodia, thailand, vietnam is

"they are poor, and sick pimps put this kids up for sex to western tourist with dollars"

ok thats what the news say and that probably where they leave it at. FUCK THAT.

It's obviously their own people who are doing this to their kids. BUT tourist and sick basterds from the U.S. and other parts of the world are in there and guilty and sick minded as the own country men who either are the parents of the pimps.

my question is. how can this be stop? where should one start? what caused this country to turn into this sick "business" of child prostitution.

[PaulMarsh]

In that part of the world I have visited Thailand for Thai Boxing training, and Malaysia as a tourist.

I did not see anything dodgy in Malaysia (which is officially a Muslim country, although a laid back one) whilst in Thailand the sex industry is obviously a huge part (the majority?) of its economy.

From what I can gather they have really clamped down on anything to do with children over the years, and that has either eradicated the problem, or perhaps moved it to neighbouring countries. Indeed Thailand seemed to get all moral a few years back, and most nightclubs and bars now close strictly at 0200 - the police do enforce this.

To get into any big nightclub or complex of clubs Thais always seem to have show their ID to security (westerners are never asked, which is truly bizarre) so you do not get any girls under 18 in any clubs. The same seems to go for the bars. What you do see is children going round bars selling garlands and various nick nacks, and these kids are often very young, and with quite a good understanding of English.

I felt this was potentially quite dubious, because I saw kids as young as 7 or 8 doing this, and mentioned it to one bar girl. She pointed to the car park behind the bar, and there a Thai man was watching the girl like a hawk. When she finished going round the bars, she ran back to her dad, and the two of them got in a pick up truck that probably cost more than most Thais earn in 5 years. After that I noticed that most children "working" in such a way had an adult nearby.

The roots of the sex industry in Thailand go back to the Vietnam war - US troops went there for rest and recuperation, and a whole industry built up from there.

[Janus]

how can this be stop? where should one start? what caused this country to turn into this sick "business" of child prostitution.
This is the kind of stuff that capitalism is all about. If you have the money, you can get what you want.

Really, the only way short term solution that I can see is if the gov. starts cracking down on this stuff but that's somewhat difficult right now.