YALA, Thailand: Malaysian couples who tie the knot in Thailand must first get approval from the Malaysian Consul-General's office in Songkhla before they can register their marriage with the religious authorities in their respective states in Malaysia.
Consul General of Malaysia in Songkhla, Thailand, Ahmad Fahmi Ahmad Sarkawi said this to ensure the marriage is valid and they did not fell prey to the marriage syndicates operating along the Malaysia/Thai border.
Ahmad Fahmi said an average of between 250 and 300 Malaysian couples had verified their documents with the office in a month.
These couples were married in various parts of Thailand which include Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and Satun.
He said the Malaysian couples should get their marriage documents endorsed to prevent them facing problems in future.
"The recent remarks by the Narathiwat Islamic Religious Council that Malaysian couples nowadays prefer to tie the knot at the Songkhla mosque as it only takes about 20 minutes to reach the Consul-General office can not be denied.
"They need to have their documents endorsed as we need to verify whether their marriage is valid or not and they did not fell prey to the syndicates.
"This verification is important to enable their marriage to be registered in Malaysia.
"The couples might face a lot of problems if they fail to register their marriage and this includes being fined by the Malaysian religious authorities.
"There are also cases where children of these couples are categorised as 'stateless", resulting in difficulties in finding their 'wali' (guardian) when they want to tie knot," he said.
He told this to Malaysian reporters when met after the "Malay Day" event here on Friday.
Ahmad Fahmi said his officers discovered the existence of marriage syndicates when the couples come to verify their marriage.
"The officers found that the couples actually did not tie the knot in Thailand and they had received marriage documents from the syndicate. This resulted in their marriage becoming invalid," he added.
He said a majority of the documents verified by the office were from men practising polygamy while the rest were from couples who did not receive blessings from their parents and family members.
Also present at the event were Yala Governor Ampon Pongsuwan; Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Songkhla, Suargana Pringganu and Thailand Minister of Justice who is also the former Secretary -General of Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre, Thawee Sodsong.
The 9th Edition of the three-day festival which ended today, was held at Yala city.