BOONCHAI KEEPS THE PEACE, MAI OH MY, HEY, DON'T KNOCK LAOS

Boonchai, Tak

Dtac founder Boonchai Bencharongkul has jumped in to settle an early family dispute with his betrothed, voluptuous actress Bongkot "Tak'' Khongmalai, over whether the couple should register their marriage.

Mr Boonchai said he would have no hesitation about registering his marriage to Tak, should the couple tie the knot as intended.

The billionaire art lover, 58, last week opened up about his relationship with Tak, who declared earlier this month that the couple intend to get engaged on Nov 19, after a whirlwind romance lasting just one month.

Responding to comments by Tak's mother that registration of marriage must automatically follow the wedding, Mr Boonchai said he had no problem about signing the marriage document.

However, he admitted he hadn't thought too much about tying the knot, as the couple were still courting.

"We are very different. I'm a businessman, and she's an actress, with a large age gap between us,'' he said.

"I hope to marry in the New Year, though I haven't really thought about it. Nor have I thought about whether to have kids.

"For now, we are engaged. That's a way of telling the world that we're together. It's a way of paying respect to each other,'' he said.

Tak has insisted previously that she was not interested in registering the marriage - though her mother, the fiercely protective Thanapa "Lek'' Kongmalai, who insists she has ample means of her own, disagreed.

Tak's Mum

"Engagement is a way of showing the world that he's not just some rich guy taking me out on his arm, and nor am I after his money,'' plain-spoken Tak told reporters.

As far as she was concerned, however, she did not want to register the marriage, as she is worried about what people will think.

"I don't want to get involved in such sensitive matters,'' she said. "I would rather just let these things just take their course.''

Tak's mother, however, told reporters that her daughter must be mistaken.

"I'm sure she meant that while the couple are still engaged, they won't register. But once they are married, of course they will register the marriage. One must follow the other,'' she said.

The registration drama took place against a backdrop of playful speculation about how much Tak stood to earn as a marriage dowry.

Earlier, her close friend, socialite businessman Anan "Uan'' Semathong, told the media that Mr Boonchai would give Tak in baht weight of gold the equivalent of her own 50kg body weight.

"Fifty baht of gold - that's worth 82 million baht!'' crowed the Matichon newspaper.

Even as Tak told the media, oddly, she was losing weight for the big day, her mother said she had no intention of demanding a dowry from Mr Boonchai.

"All I want is his goodness as a man. If he gives us a dowry, I'll probably donate it to a temple anyway, as I'm afraid someone might rob our home,'' he said.

As the happy couple last week entered the second week of their public courtship, Tak, her mother and Mr Boonchai made merit at a temple in Chaiyaphum, and started a series of outings to the provinces to meet each other's families.

Making merit

Asked whether she would make her renowned chilli paste for the engagement party, Mrs Thanapa said nothing had changed as a result of her daughter meeting wealthy Mr Boonchai.

"Of course I'll make it as an engagement party gift for guests who attend,'' she said.

Announcing their engagement to a stunned Thai public on Oct 29, Tak, who is 30 years her suitor's junior, said Mr Boonchai was a committed partner.

He wanted to marry Tak in the New Year, and have two or three children immediately at a bridal home he was preparing on a 40 million baht, 32 rai family land plot in the Ram Intra area.

Tak said Mr Boonchai proposed to her over a romantic dinner, after taking her on a visit to his beloved city art gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art on Vibhavadi Road, where the couple's lavish engagement party will be held.

Mr Boonchai last week unveiled the engagement card he has designed for the 500 engagement party guests.

The graphic design shows Mr Boonchai nuzzling Tak's cheek, with a piece of film sprouting beneath them, on a card in the shape of a painter's palette.

Engagement card

"Guests might have to stand, as the function room can take only 600 to 700 people,'' he said. 

"However, we will have an eight-piece string orchestra ...violins, cello, even a flautist. It will be East like meets West,'' he said.

Mr Boonchai, a long-term admirer of the actress, also disclosed how he attempted to flirt with Tak.

Tak was still a teen acting in one of her first roles, in Kun Pan (Legend of the Warlord), when he asked a friend to paint a portrait of the actress taken from a scene from the film.

"I asked my team at work to make the portrait to Tak in the hope she would sign it. They took it to her three or four times before she would agree to sign,'' he said.

"My team took it to her house, but while they were there, noticed a picture in her place of the late Luang Por Sodh, a revered monk from Paknam temple, who I also happen to admire. My workers took a picture of the monk's photograph, and showed it to me.

"One day I was making merit at the temple, and that's where I met Tak and her mother,'' he said.

After a hiatus of 38 years, Mr Boonchai was recently inspired to take up his palette again, to replicate in oil a picture of Tak, wearing a bikini in a fashion magazine.

Tak proudly sent the picture to the media the week before last as she announced the couple planned to get engaged. -

2.

Dome, Kusjung

Actor and DJ Pakorn "Dome'' Lum has broken up with his latest girlfriend, TV presenter and actress Jirantanin "Kusjung'' Pitakporntrakul, but denies a "third hand'' was involved.

Known for his angelic good looks and eye for the women, Dome grumbled last week that he was again being portrayed as the guilty party as news emerged of his fondness for actress Davika "Mai'' Horne, with whom he appeared in a recent Channel 7 soap.

An unkind party posted on the internet an excerpt of an Instagram exchange between Dome and Mai, in which Dome asked the actress out for a meal, and proclaimed: "I miss you.''

The Instagram exchange

Days before, Dome admitted he was having trouble contacting his girlfriend, Kusjung, after the pair argued.

When news emerged that Dome had been exchanging sweet nothings with Mai on Instagram, he admitted the relationship with Kusjung had ended.

"Kusjung dares to dump angelic looking Dome!'' news reports trumpeted.

While Mai was quick to deny she had helped break up the pair's relationship - "We haven't seen each other since production on the soap ended'' - she also refused to rule out striking up a romance with Dome, should he insist on flirting with her.

"That's a matter for the future,'' she said.

Not one to be left out, Kusjung promptly retorted: "Don't cite as matters for the future things that actually stem from the past,'' without referring to Mai by name.

Dome, meanwhile, kept his fans guessing as he published images of himself wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt bearing a large letter M.

Thats not M for Mai, but M for Manhattan, insisted Dome, denying reports that in donning the T-shirt he was trying to send a message to Mai to hop on board.

His fans, nonetheless, have left messages at his Instagram page saying Mai might be a good bet.

Kusjung, meanwhile, has refused to say why she dumped Dome.

However, such is Dome's history with women that even as she withdrew from his life, Kasjung saw fit to deny acting as a third hand between Dome and the woman he was seeing before she arrived on the scene.

"I didn't steal him away. I started seeing Dome shortly after his relationship with his last girlfriend ended,'' she said. -

3.

Four

A Lao actress has forced a prompt apology from Thai singer Sakolrat "Four'' Woraurai after the singer implied she was stupid because she was from Laos.

Actress Sisanguyen "Apple'' Siharath, who goes out with Thai singer Jira "Fluke'' Danbawornkiat, complained on Instagram last week that she was attending a stage show in Bangkok, when Four, from the singing duo Four-Mod, criticised her for being so "Lao''.

"I was going to see the stage show, Jump, at CentralWorld,'' Apple wrote.

"I met a singer there who walked in clutching a bunch of flowers. We went in together, but no one else took flowers. All of a sudden, the singer said in a loud voice: 'So am I the only one who bought flowers? How Lao!'''

Apple identified the singer as Four.

Apple challenged her: "And even if I were from Laos?''

Four apologised, but Apple was unimpressed.

"She said sorry, and giggled as if to cover up her mistake. I didn't stay for the show. I walked out of there, I was so angry. It's not the first time she has used this term to disparage people from Laos.''

Hours later, Four apologised on Instagram, saying she didn't mean to put anyone down. "I used the term without thinking, and if I hurt my friend's feelings, I apologise,'' she said.

Apple later deleted her original comment and responses from netizens. "I am sorry for causing people to argue. But I want people to understand the way Lao people feel,'' she said.

Laotian-Australian actor Ananda Everingham, asked about the fuss, said it is common for Thai teens to bandy around the term "Lao'' when they want to demean someone.

"Among friends, it's OK, but I would think twice about doing it front of people you don't know. I have heard the term since childhood, and I know she probably intended no harm,'' he said.