Ex-sex king asks: Who better to fight Thai graft?

BANGKOK (AP) — As the super-pimp who once ranThailand's biggest brothelempire and then exposedthe police kickbacks he had to pay for it to flourish, Chuvit Kamolvisitfeels uniquely qualified tolead the country's fight against corruption. And in his quest to win a parliament seat in elections Sunday, the 49-year-old one-time massage parlor king is betting a public tired of divisive, hypocritical leaders will agree. Politicians "are like diapers — you have to change them," Chuvit toldThe Associated Press in an interview, referring to a campaign poster that features him cradling a toddler. "Otherwise it's too dirty." Chuvit's bid to become a lawmaker is no joke. He first won a national assembly seat back in 2005, only to be disqualified the followingyear because he had not been a member of his party long enough beforethe poll. He's also run for Bangkok governor twice, coming in a distant third both times. His last campaign nose-dived after he punched a newscaster in the face for asking questions he didn't like — then kicked him when he fell to the ground. "When I got into politics, I didn't know that it's toodirty for me — even me,"Chuvit said ruefully. "Maybe I'm stupid for jumping into it," he added. "I pray someday I can stop. It's like you are gambling ... you know you're gonna lose all the money but you keep" playing anyway. If elected, Chuvit has vowed not to join any ruling coalition. Instead, he would stand alone as an independent outsider regardless of the outcome — a one-man, anti-corruption reality check on government. With the air and swaggerof a mafia don, the stocky, mustachioed Chuvit plays the part of former sex boss well. Since selling off his brothels, he has become a kind of pimp-turned-Robin Hood — exploiting his own sordid past to legitimize his crusade against graft. It all began in 2003, when he was accused of the unauthorized, overnight demolition of scores of unlicensed bars and shops from a downtown Bangkok block he owned. The brutal move erupted into a major public scandal, and when the police failed to protect him, Chuvit fought back by exposing the behemoth bribes he had to pay to keep his mighty empire of flesh running. Confirming that open secret turned him into an unlikely folk hero among Bangkok residents, eclipsing the demolition itself and underscoring public revulsion against official corruption. The Nation newspaper declared him "Person of the Year." Eight years on, he said, corruption is still "eating this country and nobody cares." He admits there's not much he can do about it, but whoever listens will "hear the truth ... the street truth." Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but rarely prosecuted. Chuvit's massage parlors were thinly disguised brothels, and he doesn't see anything wrong with them — except the payoffs police demanded ($300,000 a month, he claims, not to mention the Rolex watches and free services thrown in ontop). Chalidaporn Songsamphan, who teaches political science at Thammasat University,said Chuvit "might appearto be a clown, but he's very serious about politics." "He's been able to touch the hearts of people in Bangkok because he's straightforward," she said. "He speaks the language of many in the middle class who are not happy with the Thai leadership, and they viewhim as a real alternative." Chuvit's campaign trail has taken him all over the country, and last week it led to electoral ground in the capital no other candidate has dared touch: one of the city's sleaziest red-light districts. "I'm not asking for much," Chuvit called out as he wandered through neon-lit alleyways of Patpong, where go-go girls waved excitedly from heaving barroom doorways. "If you are a family of 10, just give me five votes!" Patpong, he said, is symbolic of the nation's hypocrisy: A part of society "which everybodyoutside Thailand knows — but no one (here) accepts." "No one accepts even that they have sex in Thailand, that they have a sex business," he said, shaking his head. "The Thai people always, you know, they always smile as you can see, but they never talk the truth." That's why one campaignposter shows a smiling, tie-sporting Chuvit proudly shaking the paw of his four-year-old whitebull terrier, Moto Moto. Honesty, trustworthiness — "Why they have that in the dog," he asked,"and you don't have that in the politics?" Chuvit clearly relishes the role of maverick. He may be the only candidate to have tweeted a photo of himself "planking" — the Internet craze in which people lie face down in a public place and upload itonline. His Rak Thailand ("Love Thailand") party has erected hundreds of placards in English so the rest of the world "can know what is happening"here. The signs say simply: "Against Corruption." Chuvit spent several yearsin the U.S while in his 20s,attending a string of colleges but graduating from none. Still, he garnered an appreciation of American-style capitalism, and a penchant for outspokenness.