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Outlook "I am illiterate. I have no

earn a living from selling at the m
Bangkok Post Section Three
"When they told me it wa
House Speaker's mother talks about life as a mae kah
if they really wanted me to li,·e a lo

to stop me. And they did stop tryin.::.
Story and pictures by Sermsuk Kasitipradit in Trang •
listen anyway," she said with a lau.::
NOT EVEN old age or a politician's influence could make life and work.

74-year-old Tuan Leekpai give up her active life as a mae kah in
Born and brought up in Tran.::
the marketplace.
hood dream was to be a nurse or a d
At four every morning, the granny gets up to prepare her sick.
goods for sale in a small market in Trang, just as she always has. Her mother, however, wa i ·

She ignores the persistent pleas of her eight children-one of brothers and sisters, she was the onh
them House Speaker Chuan Leekpai-to stop and enjoy the fruits of she was asked to stay at home and t
the lifetime of hard work she has invested for her children. "I was practically heart-bro

"I told my children to give up their ideas. I told them I would speechless. I had to swallow bac ·
not listen even if it was an order from heaven," the old lady said wanted to go to school, to have an edu
with a warm smile. so that I could help people. I cried. B

At 74, granny Tuan is clearly proud of her good health. But my grandfather."
equally obvious are her warmth and kindness. A faint smile of Her life took a sharp turn at l
contentment is always visible on her gentle face. And when she Niyom Leekpai, who was then a te

talks, she always refers to herself as mae, or mother. resisted his proposals for four year be
But don't let that loving kindness deceive you; she is his wife.
implacably headstrong when it comes to work. "The first time he asked me I
One of the reasons her children have yielded so far to her that I did not want to go throu.::h

wishes is that selling goods in the market gives her an active socia have any education at all. He ,,
life, meeting and chatting with her friends customers. It is this, he said I would make a good
insists, that keeps her fit, both mentally and physically. recalled.