Thailand

Polygamy is not under Thai law, but the lifestyle is still practiced

Published

2 weeks ago

Monday, February 22, 2021

Caitlin Ashworth

Polygamy is not under Thai law, but the lifestyle is still practiced | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Sanook

While polygamy in Thailand isn’t as prevalent as it was a century ago and the marriages aren’t recognised under Thai law, the lifestyle is still practiced by some. Thai media reporters recently interviewed a polygamous trio and apparently “life is good,” according to the husband with 2 wives. The wives didn’t seem to do much talking in the interview.

Reporters from the Thai news outlet Sanook spoke with 44 year old Wacharatorn “Tum” Sironam about his taboo family arrangement. The trio have been living together for 7 years. Tum says his family is perfectly happy, they have no arguments and they work together to care for Tum’s 4 children, 2 from each wife.

Tum has nicknames for his wives which translate to “big wife” and “little wife.” In the past, Thai law assigned women in polygamy marriages a certain category.

Polygamy in Thailand could be freely practiced before 1 October 1935. Polygamy was recognised under civil law. The old family law assigned wives to three categories, in accordance with the way they became wives. (The “official wife” known as mia klang muang, the “minor wife” known as mia klang nok, and slave wives known as mia klang thasi.)

While polygamy has since been abolished, it is still alive in Thailand. – Wikapedia

Worapat “Pla” Sroinam, who has been with Tum for 18 years, is called the “big wife.” Tum says their love has remained strong over the years. One day, Tum told her he wanted another wife to join the family.

Pla was shocked, but said it would be okay as long as Tum loved them both the same, Tum says. He then spoke with Kochakorn “Wan” Tapchom, admitted that he was married and asked her to be his “little wife.”

The family now runs a noodle shop in Ratchaburi province, west of Bangkok, where they sell noodle soup for 10 baht. The Pla and Wan each receive 10,000 baht per month to help with the family business.

SOURCE: Thai Residents

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News Categories: Thailand

28 Comments

Issan John

Monday, February 22, 2021 at 7:32 pm

FFS. Term “mia noi” isn’t exactly a nickname invented by Mr Tum.

The suggestion that this sort of relationship is widespread in Thailand, with two or more wives living with one husband, is absurd.

Mistresses / mia nois? Yes, not unusual at all, but hardly accepted by most wives any more than anywhere else.

Polygamy Mormon-style? No more prevalent than in other cultures, and less than some.

Reply
- James R
  
  Monday, February 22, 2021 at 9:26 pm
  
  Issan John
  
  Where does the article indicate it is widespread ?
  
  The only reference to its acceptance is in, “while polygamy has since been abolished, it is still alive in Thailand. – Wikapedia”
  
  Most people know it is not widespread in Thailand.
  
  And as far as I can see Thai women are the bosses in most households.
  
  Reply
  - Issan John
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 12:58 am
    
    “Where does the article indicate it is widespread?”
    
    In the first line, James R:
    
    “While polygamy in Thailand isn’t as prevalent as it was a century ago … etc”
    
    Maybe you didn’t get that far … 🙂
    
    Reply
    - Matt Owens Rees
      
      Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 7:43 pm
      
      Learn to read, IsaanJohn. “Isn’t as prevalent” does not suggest it’s widespread.
      
      “maybe you didn’t get that far” is therefore uncalled for and irrelevant sarcasm
      
      Reply
    - James R
      
      Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 9:10 pm
      
      Issan John
      
      “……the lifestyle is still practiced by some.”
      
      It seems you didn’t either ?
      
      Reply
- EdwardV
  
  Monday, February 22, 2021 at 10:42 pm
  
  Relatively speaking, I get the feeling the only cultures where polygamy is more prevalent than in Thailand are the one’s where it’s actually legal. Personally I could care less, if a guy is crazy enough to want one wife let alone two or three wives go for it. Although I am curious how you keep them from killing you at some point.
  
  Reply
  - Issan John
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:08 am
    
    Agreed, Ed V, but only up to a point with the legality – how about Mormons, where even if it’s not “prevalent” it’s far more widely practiced and accepted than in Thailand but not “actually legal”?
    
    The practice of having “mia nois” isn’t that unusual here, particularly with those who can afford them, but I’d suggest living together in a menage a trois (or more) as these are is as unusual here as it is anywhere else – and considerably more unusual than in some places.
    
    Reply
    - EdwardV
      
      Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 4:54 am
      
      Mormons? I’m not sure term “practiced and accepted” would be the appropriate word for polygamy with the Mormon church. You are correct polygamy has never been legal in any US state (polygamy is covered by state, not federal law) including Utah (a condition of statehood). However, it’s been disavowed by the Mormon church for over 100 years. Fact is the Mormon church will excommunicate you for polygamy quicker than a hot knife cuts through warm butter. That in no way says it doesn’t exist in the US, just it’s pretty well underground. I think that might be the biggest difference, it’s not socially acceptable to be a polygamist anywhere in the US. It’s why they don’t really socialize with outsiders and pretty much keep to their compounds. The best estimates are there are about 40K practicing polygamists in America. The Mormon sects that practice polygamy are very small (made up of a handful of families each) and widely scattered throughout the mountain region of the country. That said it is a Mormon thing, and the small towns near those sects live by the motto: “don’t ask, don’t tell”. On a side note, those Mormon sects stretch up into Canada and down into Mexico (where they tend to be on the larger side).
      
      Reply
      - Issan John
        
        Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 11:56 am
        
        Just a guess, Ed V, but “40K practicing polygamists in America” is probably a lot more than there are menages a trois in Thailand 🙂
        
        Maybe they need more practice 😮
    - Sam
      
      Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 12:33 am
      
      More widely practiced s for the verb and c for the noun as in medical practice
      Not trying to be a pain but do like to see words written used and spelled correctly
      
      Reply
- Bill
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 7:16 am
  
  isaan john likes boys.
  
  Reply
  - Issan John
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 11:58 am
    
    I doubt you’re my type, Bill, but you can always hope 😮
    
    Reply
James Pate

Monday, February 22, 2021 at 7:41 pm

Yeah, the women look absolutely ecstatic! Smug looking bastard. A regular Bill Gates with his 10 baht noodle shop. It’ll all blow up in their faces. Betcha one wife slings a bowl of hot noodle soup on the other someday. I only saw this “work” in modern times once before. A very well-to-do couple and the wife couldn’t have kids. He had a 2nd wife in another part of part of town w/2 kids. Both wives were provided for equally. They all acknowledged each other but never lived or even socialized together. Oh well, to each his own.

Reply
- Sanuk
  
  Monday, February 22, 2021 at 9:40 pm
  
  Are you jealous? If they’re all cool with it what is the problem?
  Some of you on the comments need to get a life.
  
  Reply
  - Jonnie
    
    Monday, February 22, 2021 at 9:50 pm
    
    Agree…as long as there is no coercion and such marriage is freely entered into it’s no one else’s business. Plural marriage has been the norm through most of human history.
    
    Reply
    - Toby Andrews
      
      Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 12:19 pm
      
      The handsome devil. Is it the mustache that make him so attractive to women, or the shirt?
      
      Reply
      - James R
        
        Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 9:15 pm
        
        Toby
        
        In relative terms to the second “wife’s” low social standing, the attraction will be his wallet.
  - James Pate
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 5:10 am
    
    Not jealous. As I said, to each his own. I’ll marry my wives 1 at a time, thank you. When I was a boy, an old woman told me that when she was a girl, a man lived for years with 2 wives. One day, the women argued over a can of fruit and the whole thing fell apart. On the other hand, my 1st ex-wife’s rich grandfather had 6 wives and 19 children. They all lived in a 6 floor apt bldg he owned, 1 family on each floor. Checked each kid’s homework every night after work. Spent 1 night per wk w/ each wife and his Sundays alone on the roof for some peace and quiet. He was a real over-achiever. Whatever floats your boat.
    
    Reply
Sam Tompsom

Monday, February 22, 2021 at 10:12 pm

looks like two men and one woman…..still polygamy, I guess

Reply
albert zweistein

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 12:51 am

Is this NEWS ?

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:14 am
  
  The real “NEWS” is that “they sell noodle soup for 10 baht.”
  
  10 baht for a bowl of noodles??? 😮
  
  Even out in the sticks there’s no way you’d get a bowl of noodles for ten baht 😮
  
  Reply
  - Michael
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 2:14 am
    
    And he sells so much that he is able to pay both wives a 10k Baht salary.
    
    So the money from the first 2000 Noodle soups go to the women…
    
    Reply
  - James Pate
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 5:28 am
    
    Yeah, that is curious. Would you prefer the cat or, the dog noodles? Oops! I meant to say, chicken or beef!
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 12:05 pm
      
      “curious” ???
      
      Ten baht for a bowl of noodles would have been unlikely twenty years ago – even school meals and the monkey house budget more than that.
      
      Puts the article into perspective, though … 😮
      
      Reply
      - James R
        
        Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 9:22 pm
        
        I thought the same.
        
        In Phuket down-town you pay 40 baht for a moo dam noodles, soup and veg.
        
        I think outside in the sticks it is 30 baht.
        
        I have been buying from the same family for 20 years, they take 40 baht every minute in the rush period, hardly any overheads,they must make a packet.
        
        The bloke above owns three houses (farang style) which he rents out.
Changyue

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 2:36 pm

Legal or paper official marriages seem pretty rare in most of Thailand. Many Thsis drift in and out of relationships and call them marriages. Commitment is not part of the Thai vocabluary. Grandmas are stuck with the offsprinng and the cycle is self perpetusting. No judgement. Just the wazy it seems.

Reply
James R

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 9:24 pm

Which one is the bloke, the one on the left or the one in the middle? ?

Reply
Toby Andrews

Monday, March 1, 2021 at 5:19 pm

I could not stand it myself. Going home and not one, but two wives saying where have you been until this time?

Reply

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Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.

Thailand

Thailand News Today | Changes to quarantine, ‘adult content’ ban continues | March 5

Published

7 hours ago

Friday, March 5, 2021

The Thaiger

Thailand’s Public Health Minister is chairing a meeting next Monday, where a vaccine passport scheme and potential travel bubbles is on the agenda. Anutin says those who’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19 will be issued with a book to confirm their vaccination. It’s hoped this will make international travel easier, as well as boosting the public’s confidence and helping life return to some kind of normality.

In related news…. From next month, foreign visitors to the Kingdom will be able to experience the delights of “area quarantine”, after the government confirmed the scheme for 5 provinces. Following a meeting with the Public Health Ministry, the Tourism Minister confirmed that Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri and Surat Thani, which includes Koh Samui, have been chosen to pilot the scheme.

P**nhub and other adult websites are remaining blocked in Thailand as they apparently “conflict with good morals for upstanding citizens”. The Thai Government says the websites encourage “poor moral standpoints and can affect youth in a negative manner”.

The Acting Minister of Digital Economy and Society and current Minister of Culture says that the decision that was made by the previous office holder will be upheld. The decision also includes keeping other popular adult websites blocked as the Thai Government has labelled them to be “obscene”. But the move to ban adult content has brought protests with those disagreeing saying such sites are a part of freedom of expression.

A houseowner in the central province of Ang Thong, central Thailand, has discovered 3 skeletons on his land that are thought to be over 3,000 years old. 54 year old Somkiat Briboon says this most recent discovery isn’t the first, as the first lot of bones was found last year after preparing his 17 rai plot of land to be rented out for sugarcane farming.

The Thai PM says he’s ordered an investigation into allegations that the military has been using fraudulent social media accounts to aggravate the ongoing unrest in southern Thailand. Facebook has announced the removal of 185 accounts and groups that it has accused of “information-influencing”, targeting audiences in the deep south of the country, where Muslim insurgents continue to fight for independence. The PM says he’s tasked the Defence Ministry with looking into the matter and explaining it to the public.

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Thailand

Pro-democracy group to reach outskirts of Bangkok after almost 250 kilometre walk

Published

7 hours ago

Friday, March 5, 2021

Ann Carter

Pro-democracy group to reach outskirts of Bangkok after almost 250 kilometre walk | The Thaiger

A group of pro-democracy protestors, on an almost 250 kilometre walk, are expected to reach the outskirts of Bangkok today. The group has been walking for 17 days, starting from the Thao Suranaree statue in Korat province’s Muang district to protest the imprisonment of 9 pro-democracy demonstrators who are being denied bail.

The demonstrators imprisoned include 4 protest leaders from Ratsadon named Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Anon Nampa, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk and Patiwat “Morlum Bank” Saraiyeam. The 247.5-kilometre march, named “Walk Through the Sky: Bring Back the People’s Power,” started on February 16. Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa, from the student-led protest group Ratsadon, is leading the walking protesters and says they have been held in jail without bail since February 9.

The 4 are facing charges under Article 112, which prohibits lese-majeste, or the defaming of the Thai Royal Monarchy. Lese-majeste carries a jail sentence of 3 to 15 years. They are also facing charges of sedition under Article 116 of the Criminal Code, which carries a jail term of 7 years, as they are accused of organising pro-democracy rallies.

“The ignition and the fuel for the walk is simple. They have started to incarcerate our friends while denying their bail requests, which made it impossible for us to do nothing.”

The court has denied the demonstrators bail requests 4 times now, citing that their release would create more unrest.

Pai said he emphathises with the detained protestors as he has been imprisoned for lese-majeste before. He says he spent 2 years and 6 months in prison for sharing a BBC Thai’s biography of the monarch on Facebook.

“When I was in jail, there were people outside who were protesting for my release so now that my friends are in jail by an unfair law while being denied their right to political expression, I must come out and do something.”

“A walk is a type of a fight against injustice and we choose to fight this way in order to peacefully spread the words about police brutality, the uses of various laws to silence dissidents, the plights of the poor and the mismanagement of the government’s covid-relief measures and natural resources.”

The walk-in protest group is expected to reach Zeer Rangsit in Pathumthani around 5:30 pm today and will camp out near the department store before marching at the Bang Khen intersection tomorrow. On Sunday, the march is expected to end at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument.

SOURCE: Thai Enquirer

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Coronavirus (Covid-19)

79 new cases today-COVID-19 Update

Published

11 hours ago

Friday, March 5, 2021

Ann Carter

79 new cases today-COVID-19 Update | The Thaiger

Today, the Thai government is reporting 79 new cases of Covid-19, with 65 locally-transmitted, and 14 imported, raising the total to 26,241 since the pandemic began. 1 new death has been reported, raising the total amount of deaths to 85. The new infections, which are now in the double-digits, shows Thailand’s Covid situation as improving according to the assistant spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, Panprapa Yongtrakul.

“The two-digit level of new cases found at hospitals and communities shows that the local Covid-19 situation is under control.”

The CCSA reports that 43 of the 65 local infections were found in communities with 22 of the 65 found in hospitals across 4 provinces.

Samut Sakhon province, the source of the second wave of Covid in the Kingdom, reported 77% of the new cases. Of the 50 cases found in the province, 38 were found in communities and 12 were found at hospitals.

Pathum Thani reported 8 new cases, with 3 being found at hospitals, and 5 in the community. Bangkok reported 6 new cases at hospitals and Chon Buri reported 1 infection found at a hospital. 12 of the 14 imported infections were quarantined arrivals from Russia, The United Arab Emirates, The United States, Slovenia, South Africa, Germany, Libya and Italy.

79 new cases today-COVID-19 Update | News by The Thaiger

The other 2 imported cases were that of Thai women, who ellegedly returned from Myanmar illegally through a natural border crossing in Tak province, despite the government closing off natural border crossings after the February coup by the military in Myanmar.

Covid-19 cases rose worldwide by 446,747 over the past 24 hours to 116.21 million. The worldwide death toll rose by 9,955 to 2.58 million. The US still has the most cases at 29.53 million, rising by 68,321 over the past 24 hours, and the most deaths at 533,636, rising by 1,993 over the last 24 hours.

In light of the recent downturn in reported cases, Samut Sakhon has recently reopened 22 of its wet markets. However, the seafood market where the second wave of the Covid outbreak began, is not one of them, and it is not yet known when that might reopen.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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