The Malaysian government has issued a warning to Malaysian men, implying that their marriages in neighboring Thailand may not be recognized as valid upon their return to their home country.
As reported in the New Straits Times, Malaysian Muslim men have recently taken to journeying into southern Thailand in order to secure second, third or fourth wives. So popular is this practice that one mosque in Songkla province has even gathered a reputation as a destination for quickie marriages.
However, the Malaysian government may not be as quick to condone these unions as Malaysian men are to enter them.
In a statement to the press, Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Lee Chee Leong said that, “If the mother is Thai, then the child will be a Thai national, regardless of whether the husband or the father of the child is a Malaysian.”
According to the Bangkok Post, some children of such unions have not been allowed to register in Malaysian schools, owing to their contested nationality.
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