Bangkok Blogs

One of the biggest stories of the day in Bangkok is about new measures that have been proposed to cut back alcohol consumption among Thai youngsters by increasing the minimum legal age of alcohol buyers from 18 to 25 years. The drastic idea was initiated by a group of concerned parents earlier this year during a review of a draft bill aimed at controlling alcoholic drinks. Such measures are apparently to help reduce alcohol abuse by Thai youngsters.

This may be bad news for many under 25s in Thailand and especially Bangkok but as far as I’m concerned, this is going to be one of the many laws in Thailand that have been enacted but with no real enforcement. For instance, Thai nationals are supposed to have licences to drive motorbikes but many of them do not and some would not be old enough to have one either. Bars and clubs are supposed to stop selling alcohol on Buddhist holidays but as you may know there are always exceptions for certain locations, often with inside connections, to openly serve alcohol on those days and so forth.

I reckon that if people really want to sort things out, they should start by looking at the real root of the problem. I have noticed that families and schools are ignoring the problem here just like with exam cheating and underage sex. In Bangkok, it seems better to pretend such problems never exist at home or school. This should be dealt with at home in the first place. I don’t understand why the government will ever have to get involved with such domestic issues as alcohol abuse or underage sex. With that said, the attempts to raise the legal minimum age to 25 just validate the notion that Thais under 25 years of age are all kids.

And to be perfectly honest, it’s entirely reactionary to increase the minimum drinking age merely to tackle teenage drinking. Furthermore, they’re also trying to introduce complete banning of alcohol adverts which will in turn mean reduced tax revenue that could be used to support the fight against alcohol abuse e.g. more police on the troubled streets.

Personally, I don’t question the good intent of the new proposed law but I reckon it is doomed to failure in many respects except in creating more new opportunities for government corruption of course. I would expect no enforcement at all in rural areas and probably quite lax enforcement in Bangkok and other big cities punctuated by widespread bribery.

And don’t forget that the proposed law has yet to be enacted. Who knows it might well be another mess up by the government as soon as the massive financial muscle of the fast growing Thai alcohol business gets involved with the issue.

In Britain there has been a substantial shift in social stigma that’s attached to drink-driving over the past few decades, and that’s obviously without altering any age laws. Surely something similar can be done here if the authorities want to take things that seriously.

*Updated* upon completion of this post, I’ve learnt that bill was rejected, so it’s good news for everyone, especially myself. Cheers mate !