Bars urged to close on Tuesday

PHUKET: Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon has ordered all Governors to urge bars and nightclubs to close on Tuesday, and to request businesses in their provinces to refrain from selling alcohol between noon and midnight on that day. Tuesday is Makha Bucha Day, commemorating the Patimoke Sermon by the Buddha and the first occasion on which a Buddhist monk attained Nirvana. Governors were also ordered to prohibit the drinking of alcohol in public places. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette, “I have sent a letter to bar owners asking them not to serve alcohol on that day, because it is a sacred day. “Instead of drinking alcohol or hanging around in bars and nightclubs, people should turn to the temples for guidance on moral conduct.”