Social problems such as prostitution, drug addiction, sexual and child abuse are expected to worsen before they improve in the next millennium. Wallop Tangkananurak, a senator and child rights activist, said the abuse of children has become worse in the past year and he doubts it will ease. "cases of child abuse have become more frequent in news reports with the victims younger than ever, from one year up. Most of the offenders are people close to the children, and the number of rape-murder child victims is also increasing," he said. "Child abuse is not a matter of poverty, it involves unlimited sexual desire and absolutism by which children are thought to serve adults' needs and their rights are denied," he said.

Mr Wallop also pointed to social change. People are becoming more selfish, the weak being taken advantage of by the stronger. "In these circumstances, children are the most affected," he said. Dr Umaporn Trangkasombat, of Chulalongkorn Hospital's psychiatry department, who has researched the issue of sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of children, agreed the problem has become worse. A survey in 12 provinces found most cases ended in compromise between the abusers and victims' families. Compensation was paid and the molesters were let off the hook to abuse another victim. Sometimes the molesters were themselves children.

On the question of sexually exploited children, Dr Umaporn cited 1998 statistics from the Communicable Disease Control Department which showed there were 63,000 prostitutes nationwide. Despite a decrease in the number of prostitutes in brothels, the total number surged because many were now cloaking their activities under the guise of other work. "Most of these disguised prostitutes enter the profession voluntarily because they think it is an easy job. Many are from broken middle-class families. Some have just quit school. "They amble around department stores and food centres to attract foreign customers. Most of them are good-looking and the pay is good, around 2-3,000 baht a time," she said.

The mushrooming of entertainment venues has also led to a rise in the number of sexually exploited girls. Dr Umaporn pointed to the breakdown of families as a major cause of the problem. The family unit had an important role in protecting children from negative influences on their lives. But this was rare today and children were getting lost in a materialist world. "In the year 2000, we should review our family values. Let's think what good characteristics families give to children-diligence, honesty, responsibility and self-esteem. "A warm and healthy family can always protect children no matter how strong the outside influence," she said.

Another worrying reflection of social illness is drug abuse. Recent research by a Chulalongkorn University lecturer concluded the problem is near crisis point, not only because of the spread of drugs throughout the country but also because more children have become involved in production and trafficking.

Researcher Sompong Jitradub said society had been unaware the crisis was developing, and even seemed to accept the situation. The 1998 report of the PM's Office revealed there were 232,496 cases involving drug-related offences, and that minors accounted for more than half of arrests. About 70-80% of cases before the juvenile court involved methamphetamines. Dr Sompong said more than 600,000 minors were found to be addicted to drugs, most of them in secondary education. They had become labourers for the drug rings, selling and pushing. He said 44% admitted they had become involved with their parents' support. Dr Sompong conceded elimination of drug abuse in Thai society is difficult because families are too weak to protect their children, and the authorities, particularly the police, are themselves often involved and reap benefits from the sales.

Another problem frequently on newspaper front pages is suicide. In the past year, the number of suicide reports appeared to increase. Often we hear of youngsters committing suicide simply because of a broken love relationship or because they failed to achieve good grades at school or university. Mental Health Department records show that 436 cases of suicide were reported in newspapers from January to August, which is extremely high when compared to 571 cases for all of 1998.

Looking closely at all the problems, critics agree they are related. The country's unbalanced development has caused a widening gap between the urban rich and the rural poor, and this is pointed to as the root cause of social ills. Witayakorn Chiengkul, of Sukhothai Thammathirat University, said the crisis stems from the wrongful growth-oriented economic development, which gives too much power and privileges to the rich, who are only a minority of the population. He said the crisis is worrying as most people have been unaware of it, and long-term solutions have yet to be put in place. "Confusion and chaos occurred everywhere in society. The economic downfall even caused the poor to become poorer. People became more selfish, self-obsessed, and easily involved in evil deeds," said Mr Witayakorn.

His comment is in line with social critic Prawase Wasi, who noted the widening gap between the rich and the poor causes too many differences between these two groups. "This causes Thai society to become rotten in all aspects-social, economic, and spiritual," he said. He felt it was time to for a new manner of thinking, throwing away the old one which focused too much on materialism while ignoring spiritual development.

Asked for what should be done in the next millennium, Dr Prawase cited his interpretation of His Majesty the King's recent book, Mahajanaka, which, he believes, can help society weather these hard times. Dr Prawase put forward four guidelines for dealing with the crisis.

The first is self-reliance. Instead of seeking help from outsiders, it is easier to think of ways to depend on ourselves. "Instead of waiting for overseas assistance, why not stand on our own feet?" he said. The second guideline is right effort. The majority of people tend to drop things half way through, feeling discouraged as they cannot see any success on the horizon. But for the current crisis, what we should do is to keep on striving forward, even if we are uncertain about the results. In development terms, right effort refers to the real economy, as opposed to the wealth obtained through speculation and gambling. The third guideline is environmental conservation.

Dr Prawase said with both natural resources and community integrity out of balance, a large number of rural people have migrated in search of work in the cities or abroad. Families have disintegrated, children and the elderly are abandoned. Slums sprout up, prostitution arises, HIV spreads, drugs, crime and violence are rampant throughout the country. The fourth one is true learning, The problem today is that the more education a person has, the deeper he is plunged into the realm of ignorance. Students are taught "knowledge" of external matters, but have no chance to learn about themselves and the real values of life. "Thus we hear many stories of students who commit suicide just because they fail to get good scores or when minor obstacles come their way," he said.

In conclusion, he said greed-driven economic development leads to chaos. It is time for Thai people to look back to their cultural and social traditions, as well as to strive for social reform. He suggested seven things which need to be done towards social reform-building up new values and social awareness, building a sufficiency economy and civil society to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor, reform of the macro-economic and financial sectors, reform of the state administration system, the education system, the mass media and the legal system.