Father locks mentally ill daughter on island for 20 years in Chumphon
By Coconuts Bangkok



CHUMPHON: -- Chieb Wattanajit, an 86-year-old father of seven, has been accused of detaining his 39-year-old daughter on a manmade island, isolated from the world by a thorny fence and a three-meter-wide waterway.

Chieb originally detained his daughter, Anong Wattanajit, on the island after his meager means prevented him from providing her with proper medical care for a mental illness.

At present, Anong lives in a small house in the middle of a coconut jungle and survives on meals that Chieb throws to her across a canal.

Chieb told Thairath that Anong became mentally ill at the age of 17. Anong got married and moved to Songkhla but her marriage ended five months later.

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2013/06/06/father-locks-mentally-ill-daughter-island-20-years-chumphon


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2013-06-06

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what a vile human being,,and no-one new do me a favour,,,,,,its a thai thing,how many disabled people you really see over here,,hidden away from society OH THE SHAME ON OUR FAMILY,,,,,,, BOLL-OX,,,i think they should swap places now,,,,,let him die a lonely man,,ban imminent i think,,oh well,,

The village’s head once filed a report about Anong’s circumstances with the authorities but did not receive any response.

Heads should roll.

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Yes exactly, words fail !

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Your signature says it all Strad.

My wife's elder sister that has a mental problem, not serious, was chained and padlocked to a wall to stop her going out by the live in family. We rescued her.

Maybe they should chain the father to a fence inside a lion enclosure for retribution

At present, Anong lives in a small house in the middle of a coconut jungle and survives on meals that Chieb throws to her across a canal.

Father how cruel to care your own blood, shame on you by all human standards...

Probably better than the care she'd get in a Thai loony bin.......

Maybe he thought mental illness is like leprosy.

Maybe he thought mental illness is like leprosy.

It is. Brings down a cloud on the family because of what others think. My wife's sister who works for the Gov in a medical roll would not help her sister with her mental stuff, we had too the long way round, crazy or what.

Before we go blaming the Father, we need to know all the facts. He is obviously a man of little means. The fact that he didn't just abandon her, shows he cared even if (maybe) he could have done things in a better. I say maybe, because it seems that he as well as the village head looked for other options, but the authorities didn't seem to care (a common theme with authorities I'm sure you'll agree).

Before we go blaming the Father, we need to know all the facts.

May the trial commence... Actually let's think about stereotypes that exist in society, even in the West. Did you know that one in five people...

Someone made this Sh*t up for a laugh right?

You silly farang just don't understand Thainess and what it means to be Buddhist.

When I first arrived here I met a lady, very nice and I really liked her. After a few days she said she had to go visit her relatives and I decided to go with her. Come to find out. She had a MR son that was living with them so she could get a farang. I asked her what was up. Her response to me was. And I quote. He will be dead soon. So don't worry about it. No remorse what so ever. I ran as soon as I got back to town.... Kinda scary.

When I first arrived here I met a lady, very nice and I really liked her. After a few days she said she had to go visit her relatives and I decided to go with her. Come to find out. She had a MR son that was living with them so she could get a farang. I asked her what was up. Her response to me was. And I quote. He will be dead soon. So don't worry about it. No remorse what so ever. I ran as soon as I got back to town.... Kinda scary.

Death is looked at in a totally different way here. Noooooooo problem, really.

Before we go blaming the Father, we need to know all the facts.

May the trial commence... Actually let's think about stereotypes that exist in society, even in the West. Did you know that one in five people...

Actually I did. I spent 5 years working in Mental Health before moving to Thailand. From one mad house to another as it turns out

There is ALWAYS options to human captivity and cruelty. Treated her like an animal but actually worse. How this could go on for so long in a new millennium is beyond me. Hundreds of people must have known about this.

How sad. I would like to hear a follow-up of what will happen to the poor woman as this story was very poorly written and very short as apposed to a story of a farang who escaped justice.

What is supposed to happen? Nothing, perhaps someone will take her in.

In the view of the father his daughter was lost; supposedly all he dealt with --in his and other people's understanding-- was a living body that was possessed by bad spirits, and in such a case it would arguably be in the best interest of everyone to isolated "the body" from everyone else. This is still not an uncommon view in rural Thailand nowadays. I have seen accounts by licensed mental health practitioners, with scientific training, describing a persuasiveness of such a belief system.

Plenty of folks in the world like this 86 year old father; unfortunately, far too few of them ever get caught and punished for their cruelty.

There is ALWAYS options to human captivity and cruelty. Treated her like an animal but actually worse. How this could go on for so long in a new millennium is beyond me. Hundreds of people must have known about this.

How sad. I would like to hear a follow-up of what will happen to the poor woman as this story was very poorly written and very short as apposed to a story of a farang who escaped justice.

Humans are crazy. Remember last month they rescued three girls in the USA from a crazy who held them captive in a house for 10 years. One of them he had a baby with.

For westerners to do this, I would say it is a mental disorder. For most Asians to do it, because it is so common, I would say normal people do this sort of thing and think nothing of it. This is why there is still so much labor slavery and sex slavery happening here, parents selling kids and so on. Slavery, captivity, death, all mean something different here for most.

It is common for a lot of Chinese owned restaurants here in Thailand to buy Lao girls and keep them captive there as labor slaves. They work and then they are locked in their rooms. VERY common. Many people know about this and no one cares. Sad.

What about her ID card for Photo ?? local town and people surely knew about it.

or didn't she --sort of exist??? all those years and no one asked questions ?? who stated she was mentally ill ??

Out of sight is out of mind...springs to mind

Perhaps if there were mental health resources available?

This is what happens when poor uneducated people are left to deal with matters on their own.

I wouldn't be so quick to condemn the father. One doesn't know the full circumstances of the case.

You silly farang just don't understand Thainess and what it means to be Buddhist.

Good sarcasm. But for those who truly think as such, it has nothing to do with Thainess and everything to do with being bat sh*t crazy.

Edited after reading egros post

Before we go blaming the Father, we need to know all the facts. He is obviously a man of little means. The fact that he didn't just abandon her, shows he cared even if (maybe) he could have done things in a better. I say maybe, because it seems that he as well as the village head looked for other options, but the authorities didn't seem to care (a common theme with authorities I'm sure you'll agree).

The numbers tell the reason the family might have had difficulty finding her a proper facility. It explains why the father might have considered his actions to be the best he could do, given his and his daughter's situation.

Thailand Mental Health Stats for 2010

Total mental illness patients including; psychotics, anxiety, depression, mental retardation, epilepsy, substance abused, others, suicide, and autistic = 1,494,585

Total Psychiatric beds of hospitals and institutes authorized by DMH = 8,704

Dept. of Mental Health

http://www.klb.dmh.go.th/eng/index.php?m=statistic&op=detail&statistic_id=8

Welcome to the 3rd world, everyone. Far worse than what happened to this woman occurs to the mentally ill in Thailand everyday.

I truly hope the authority's or someone is helping this poor girl

Very sad situation all the way around. A father with limited means and unable to get mental health services for his daughter. A daughter that never got the treatment she needs and a lot of people who didn't seem to care.