Number of Msians getting married in Thailand continues to drop

KOTA BARU: Marriage syndicates, once active along the Malaysian-Thai border in Kelantan, are now seeing a decline in demand over the last three years.

According to Narathiwat Islamic Council's vice-president Abdul Aziz Che Mamat, cases of Malaysians getting married in the area had drop since early 2018.

That year, he said the numbers dropped by more than 50 per cent and the figure continued to decline in 2019.

"Based on information received by the council, there's been less demand from Malaysian couples over the years due to various reasons which led to some of these syndicates ceasing their business.

"Some went bankrupt after Malaysian couples decided not to seek their services.

"The other reason is the restricted border travel imposed by the two countries," he said.

Abdul Aziz said the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) by both Malaysia and Thai governments since March last year also caused the number to drop.

"If previously, members of marriage syndicates will get clients from Malaysians including from Terengganu and Pahang. Now, many choose not to seek their services anymore.

"They rather go to our office in Narathiwat or directly at the Malaysian consulate office in Songkhla as the process is much easier.

"But since March last year, Malaysian couples have temporarily stopped crossing over to Thailand as the border is still closed following the MCO," he added.

Abdul Aziz said the council was happy with the reduction in the number of marriage syndicates operating along the border as it has been a problem to the council over the years.

"Like in Malaysia, we are also told to adhere to the standard operating procedurs (SOP) 'akad nikah' (solemnisation ceremony) and to limit the number of people attending the ceremony," he added.

It is learnt that before this, marriage syndicates who have been active along the Malaysian-Thai border, held the 'akad nikah' at mosques near the Pasir Mas and Rantau Panjang borders.

But the solemnisation ceremony conducted by the syndicates were not carried out according to the regulations set by the Thai religious council and therefore, the marriage was not valid.

This syndicate members moved secretly in small groups and would approach potential couples who had little knowledge about marriage laws in Thailand.

The syndicate members normally charged clients between RM2,000 and RM2,500 per couple for the full process.