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"It took me a long time to decide because I was afraid that
to teach them how to read and write.
he would cheat me into being his maid instead of his wife." was to teach them how to be good pe
Life after marriage was still hard, what with having to take
honest hearts. Being rich or poor d
care of the eight children that followed. enough."
"I had to do all sorts of work, from keeping pigs to weaving,
Her pride is that all her eight
rubber-tapping, buying and selling, just anything," she recalled of
tion that she wished for them.
those times. "Chuan, when he was little, also had to help me with
In 1969, however. young
the work."
mother's dream of him becoming a Jud_
Her hard-working third son is now House Speaker. He is
"I remembered that I disagree
also a former cabinet minister, and has been a Democrat MP for
it would need a lot of money which \\ e
Trang for six consecutive terms, the longest serving representative
he insisted that he wanted to gi\'e it a
of the province, and one of the most popular politicians and most
That year, Chuan contested hi
eligible bachelors in Thailand.
in Trang, and achieved the first of hi
"When he was a boy he said he would not go to school,
province.
so he could help me work. He said he was sorry for me. But I
It is undisputalbe that one of th
forced him to go," granny Tuan said lovingly of her son, now a
Trang's longest-serving representati, e i
symbol of success for the Trang people.
supporter in the constituency, grann~
Chuan, she said, only agreed to leave for Bangkok to further
well-loved figure among the local pe
his education when she insisted that he should wait until he was
to clear up any misunderstanding th t
grown up to show his gratitude to her.
48-year-old son.
Her life, she said, had taught her that education was the
For example, he was once alle =
most precious thing she could give her children. With this thought
bus company, and of a lamyai orchard i
in mind, she put herself to work in order to help her teacher
"People know me for my hone
husband earn enough money to give an education to their children.
My son does not even have his own h
"I often told my children that I had no education at all and
wealth are untrue.
I didn't want them to be like I am. I said I was sorry not to be able
"As I see it, I owe it to the