Divorce, domestic abuse on the rise in Thailand
SAOWANEE NIMPANPAYONGWONG
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The rate of divorce in Thailand has tripled from 10.8 per cent in 2009 to 33 per cent in 2012, while domestic violence has been recorded in at least a third of Thai families.

At a Chulabhorn Research Institute seminar yesterday, Wimontip Musikaphan, a lecturer at Mahidol University's National Institute for Child and Family Development, presented family-happiness indicator studies between 2009-2012.

The survey involving 4,000 respondents focused on the importance of family, economic status and family members' vices.

The 2012 survey found that 61 per cent of the families had at least one member with a drinking problem, Wimontip said, adding that gambling was also a growing issue among families.

More were found waging money on lottery (58.6 per cent) or betting on other things (40 per cent) compared to the 2010 figures of 52.6 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

While over 80 per cent of the respondents said their families earned enough to take care of themselves and have some savings, families with children under the age of 22 or senior citizens were seeing a 10-per-cent rise in debts.

Although the survey found that family members communicated more, domestic violence continued to rise, with 30.8 per cent of the households reporting abuse in 2012, she said.

Many of the families reporting domestic violence had at least one member addicted to gambling, she said. Spousal cheating has also increased, hence the rate of divorce had risen from 10.8 per cent in 2009 to 12.8 per cent in 2010, 12.6 per cent in 2011 and 33 per cent in 2012.

"The family situation in Thailand is fragile due to risky behaviour related to vices, like alcoholism and gambling. Plus, more elderly people are being left home alone," she said.

Wimontip also called on all stakeholders to strengthen their families via the "four stops" campaign - Stop Vices, Stop Debt, Stop Domestic Violence and Stop Spousal Cheating.


-- The Nation 2013-06-21

Domestic abuse hasn't increased, just the awareness and reporting of it.

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

Methinks there may be a problem with the divorce rate figures - it went down in 2011 and then tripled in 2012 - to a rate which I think is higher then the west generally.......

Either that or the 4,000 respondents suddenly all had problems......

PS - not sure why I even bother to read any survey figures out of Thailand

Has Sean Connery moved over here then?

Has Sean Connery moved over here then?

Shurely you can't be sherious.

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

If you intervene to stop a cowardly Thai man from beating his wife, then there is a fair chance he will call over 10 of his cowardly wife-beating friends to give you a good kicking for your trouble...Hope that will make you feel more human from your hospital bed...

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

You see a Thai guy beating his wife half to death and interfere in any way, you will have about six Thai guys beating you half to death.

Domestic abuse hasn't increased, just the awareness and reporting of it.

How do you know this?

Domestic abuse hasn't increased, just the awareness and reporting of it.

Absolutely agree. Also, an increase in escaping it, e.g. divorce.

What a pity that this purportedly serious academic descends to an idiotic, moralizing conclusion: ""four stops" campaign - Stop Vices, Stop Debt, Stop Domestic Violence and Stop Spousal Cheating."

Give us a break. What are you going to do? Legislate against the "four go's"? The country cannot even implement its own traffic rules!

Her value-laden conclusion sheds doubt on the validity of her research overall, although local academics would not understand this. Just another semi-competent, junk status, local academic study? Maybe right, maybe wrong, but certainly not good work. Fail or rewrite please.

That should be perfectly fine. According the Phuket police these kind of surveys tarnish the image of the country. Besides, drinking, adultery and beating up or raping a girl of three a night are promoted daily by the imbecile soaps on TV.

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

I fully understand both points of view. But I also agree this has been going on longer that the article reports we are just being made more aware of it now. When you stay her longer you see more and more and what would one expect in this culture women are view as second class to me. Any country that allows men to have two wivies legal or not and allow them to just walk away from their responsibility whenever they get someone pregnant?

I recently got involved and I couldn't worry too much as to whether the guy was loosing face or not as far as I'm concern anyone who hits a women is a "coward" plain and simple! in the end, today he lost more than face he got a beat down from a old man who got lucky with a few punches and I made him pay in front of all his friends, neighbor and family. This was more than a guy hitting a women it was personal and I made sure he knew and remember it for the rest of his life!

I haven't been to many places in the world but living here.. Thai men without any backup they are some of the biggest cowards I have met! Lot's of them watch too much Muay Thai but when they actually have to hit someone back it becomes a whole different story?

There is no doubt that when a country gets richer as for Thailand many will get poorer and the desperation for becoming like the others will rise as well. So bettein and investing on stupid things like Gambling and Drinking will rise and violent outcome will also rise.

1 post making unfounded genaralisation removed.

It would be interesting to see if the rates of gambling and drinking correlate to increased income from rice subsidies.

I don't know about the accuracy of this survey but it's in line with my understanding of the problems facing many Thai families. The previous government helped many parents with school fees and the present government decided not to continue this (presumably in favor of more important things like the rice pledge and the car tax-rebate).
A few months ago, one of my Thai neighbours showed me a letter she got from her kids' school showing how the fees would increase. I think this is having quite a negative effect on people's relationships when they can't afford a sudden increase.

I get the sense that lots of Thais voted in the present government without fully understanding the implications of what they were voting for.
Now they understand.

Domestic abuse hasn't increased, just the awareness and reporting of it.

How do you know this?

I listen to what domestic abuse awareness advocates say both here and back home where I worked in a related field. But it's common knowledge that in the west this was the trend since the 50's when it was considered a "family problem." and now. by contrast, it is often a mandatory arrest for the abuser regardless if the victim wants to press charges. Even an arrest with no conviction carries consequences like the inability to possess a firearm. According to what I have read from advocates here in LOS, Thailand is just starting to go through what the west did 60 years ago.

Domestic abuse hasn't increased, just the awareness and reporting of it.

How do you know this?

Common Sense (Which ain't to common) and general observation

........less Westerners to use and abuse.....

There really are some spineless people in the world. "Don't get involved if you see a woman being beaten half to death - they might hurt you"

Besides.. you might have to 'waddle' off your bar stool and who knows if your knees can take the strain of all that fat you carry around inside your head?

I hope you remember that if god-forbid a westerner see's YOUR wife or YOUR Daughter being beaten half to death by some drunk or angry Thai guy and they just 'don't get involved' it is because they were just like you.

OK thats all. Nothing more to see here you can crawl back under your rock now...

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

If you intervene to stop a cowardly Thai man from beating his wife, then there is a fair chance he will call over 10 of his cowardly wife-beating friends to give you a good kicking for your trouble...Hope that will make you feel more human from your hospital bed...

yes i may well feel the pain ,my conscience would be clear though,,,WOULD YOURS ,,,YOU OBVIOUSLY THINK ITS OK TO BEAT A WOMAN THEN,,,if it makes you feel like a real man ,,,rambo,,,

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

I've personally witnessed TWO incidents where the brave farang tried to stop a domestic dispute on the street and both the Thai girl and Thai boy turned on him and attacked the farang.

This is one of those situations where you have to stop thinking with your western mind, because no matter what you do, you're wrong. If you intervene, you're wrong and risk being violently attacked by them or everyone else standing around. You lose. If you ignore it and walk on, it may feel morally wrong to do so. You lose. So the bottom line is, you lose either way, so you may as well lose and not take a trip to the hospital too. Because even legally if you get involved and they all turn on you, you are still at fault and lose again. You can not win no matter what you do.

Violence is bred into these people. It is just as much part of their culture as their perverse version of Buddhism. We as westerners can not understand it and think we must "save" the girl, when in fact the girl starts it many of the times and will break a bottle over your head faster than you can ask her for a short time.

I can sleep at night knowing I walked away from a rough neck ricer farmer getting her ass kicked by her boyfriend, and that I don't know any of the circumstancesinvolving what I saw. However, I won't sleep well at all with gashes in my head, a knife wound in my stomach, or a pending court case for either harming someone, or a Thai trying to cash me out because I broke the strap on his man purse and he broke his iPhone. No thanks.

All you Rambos who want to jump in and save your damsel in distress, may I ask where are you're balls of steel when you walk past begging children and women on the street who were put there by pimps? Why don't you confront the pimps and saved these trafficked people? Why don't you rush into the Thai only karaoke bars and save all the poor, young trafficked and abused girls working inside? Big tough guys talking down to guys who mind their own business, where are you when you're really needed?

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

If you intervene to stop a cowardly Thai man from beating his wife, then there is a fair chance he will call over 10 of his cowardly wife-beating friends to give you a good kicking for your trouble...Hope that will make you feel more human from your hospital bed...

yes i may well feel the pain ,my conscience would be clear though,,,WOULD YOURS ,,,YOU OBVIOUSLY THINK ITS OK TO BEAT A WOMAN THEN,,,if it makes you feel like a real man ,,,rambo,,,

Some of them probably need a foot in their backside from time to time. Anyone who's spent enough time here know these girls are rough necks and often instigate the violence. I've seen more Thai guys fight the girl in self defense then anything.

That said, Thai Visa just ran a story a few days ago about all the trafficked girls. They said right where they are and what the problem was. Go save them, Superman.

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

I fully understand both points of view. But I also agree this has been going on longer that the article reports we are just being made more aware of it now. When you stay her longer you see more and more and what would one expect in this culture women are view as second class to me. Any country that allows men to have two wivies legal or not and allow them to just walk away from their responsibility whenever they get someone pregnant?

I recently got involved and I couldn't worry too much as to whether the guy was loosing face or not as far as I'm concern anyone who hits a women is a "coward" plain and simple! in the end, today he lost more than face he got a beat down from a old man who got lucky with a few punches and I made him pay in front of all his friends, neighbor and family. This was more than a guy hitting a women it was personal and I made sure he knew and remember it for the rest of his life!

I haven't been to many places in the world but living here.. Thai men without any backup they are some of the biggest cowards I have met! Lot's of them watch too much Muay Thai but when they actually have to hit someone back it becomes a whole different story?

Good for you mate...you did it for real...not like the posters who say you will have ten other Thais bashing you (for an excuse not be involved .....the gutless bastards they are) if you do the right thing...and you did do the right thing...Most people here won't know you...but the people who do matter to you do know what happened. Good for you old mate!!!!

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

If you intervene to stop a cowardly Thai man from beating his wife, then there is a fair chance he will call over 10 of his cowardly wife-beating friends to give you a good kicking for your trouble...Hope that will make you feel more human from your hospital bed...

I'm bored....lets start a coward count...oops here's one bangon04

And remember - if you hear some guy battering his wife, don't get involved. He won't lose face 'cos he's beating a woman, he'll lose face 'cos you had the audacity to try and stop him.

if your conscience,allows you to watch a man beat his wife half to death,yes walk on ,,,,,,,you would be a poor excuse for a human being doing so,,i think,,(GENERAL)

If you intervene to stop a cowardly Thai man from beating his wife, then there is a fair chance he will call over 10 of his cowardly wife-beating friends to give you a good kicking for your trouble...Hope that will make you feel more human from your hospital bed...

I'm bored....lets start a coward count...oops here's one bangon04

More manly to start a Rambo count......lots of armchair Rambos in the world.

The domestic abuse is rife here, in every village you see it.

As for the divorce/ split ups, NEXT husband please with lump sum of course for mam and dad. !!!!

this is just the rate of the ones get married and register with government. What about the ones that are not registered. Or don't they count

Times are a changing.

It's not quite as acceptable for a bloke to thump a woman as it used to be.

Good. Spousal abuse isn't up, it's just being reported more. I mean, could it increase any more?