Wonder Woman

Who: Khunying Jaruwan Maintaka
What: Auditor-General of Thailand
Why we love her: We love the fact that a woman accountant made so many supposedly macho men dive for cover. After fighting corruption in the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand for years, she was promoted to top dog in 2001—and that’s when life got bumpy. Khunying Jaruwan was eventually asked to resign from her position because she blocked, stopped and revealed too many of the corrupt projects started by the last government and refused to tell Dear Leader Thaksin what he wanted to hear. She also refused to step down then and continues to stand up for what’s right now without showing any fear of those in power. Last year Khunying Jaruwan received the “Yod Ying [Super Lady] of the Year” award from the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women.
The moral of the story:
• Be strong, honest and stand by your actions if you’ve done nothing wrong. People will notice and support you, and your magical bracelets will help you deflect the critical bullets of the bad guys.

Doctor Justice

Who: Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand, MD
What: Acting Director of the Justice Ministry’s Central Institute of Forensic Science
Why we love her: She’s the most eccentric doctor we’ve ever seen—funky outfits and spiky hair only enhancing her larger-than-life reputation. Dr. Pornthip introduced Thais to that mysterious science known as forensics long before Mr. Grissom and his pals appeared on the boob tube. Honest, outspoken and impatient with bullshitters and bums, the Khunying clashes frequently with the men in brown; she’s been sued, denied her deserved position (what’s this “acting” nonsense?) and had her qualifications (and fashion sense) questioned—and she could probably make a helluva lot more money in the private sector (or in Laos, where they offered her a job)—but she continues to serve this country fighting crime and helping the cause of justice.
The moral of the story:
• Don’t judge a book by its cover—it’s what’s inside that counts.

Feisty Filmmaker

Who: Soraya Nakhasuwan
What: Director of Final Score
Why we love her: A student of master filmmaker Jira Malikul, Soraya made a movie nobody thought she could make—and a movie nobody thought would be seen. Her documentary about students has proved skeptics wrong, not just about the project itself but about female directors. Even with King Naresuan playing on practically every screen in town, her unscripted flick has proved popular.
The moral of the story:
• Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

What do you think of women’s role in society today?
Women have become more independent and we can do men’s jobs. Women are humans, too, so we should have equal rights as men.

Why can’t men replace women?
There’s something in men and women that is different. For some jobs, women are more thorough than men. Like my movie, Final Score, you might think that as a woman I might be more sensitive for this project, more thorough and convey the story better than a man. And maybe because it’s a movie about the reality of a boy’s life, that means it needs a flexible, compromising director who knows how to communicate with others. However, I do think it depends on personality not gender. For example, my boyfriend is a good cook, whereas I cannot cook. It’s about what interests you and doing what you love to do.

If you had the power to change anything in the world, what would you change?
I, personally, believe that if we can just change a tiny thing, then it will change the bigger picture later. For example, if some drivers just stop their cars at the crosswalk for others, which is a small thing, there will be a big change and people will start to respect each other more.

Who is your role model?
Actually I really don’t have an “idol” but I do like Agnès Varda, a French New Wave director. Her movies are rarely shown in Thailand, but I think they’re pretty funky.

What would a world without men be like?
I love men! They have something good in them. There shouldn’t be anything missing, male, female, gay or lesbian. Everything that nature has given us is the best.

What’s next?
I’m writing my own movie script. It would be a fantasy and mainly about women. It’s a shame that it won’t be a big project, though. After two years of following boys around I’m sort of bored of them. Nah! Just kidding. Actually it’s something that I’ve always been interested in and it will be exaggerated from my personal experiences. I don’t know who will be the investor yet.

Mighty Mom

Who: Pui Pimolwan Suppayang
What: Co-host of Phuu Ying Tung Phuu Ying, managing editor at Mother & Baby (Thailand) and founder of Pang Rum Spa
Why we love her: Pui came to our attention when she debuted on Phuu Ying Tung Phuu Ying (Women to Women) with her unique character: a stingy, young, executive mother-housewife. Representing people who are lucky in love, work and family, Pui is a news anchor, TV show host, magazine editor and owner of a spa on Sukhumvit 39. She’s the lone married voice on the hugely successful talk show and is never shy to admit that she’s khem (thrifty), and demonstrates ways we can save, (or wisely spend), our bahts, and still have a good time and a great life.
The moral of the story:
• You don’t need money to be happy.

Super Saver

Who: Pavena Hongskul
What: President of the Pavena Foundation for Women and Children
Why we love her: OK, we’d love her more if she had chosen a different name for her foundation, but there’s no denying that Pavena’s heart is in the right place. As a politician she stood out from her female contemporaries, appearing on the front page of newspapers helping poor girls escape from abuse. She’s from a privileged background, but she’s not afraid to get scrappy even if it means messing up her hair or nails. Pavena’s self-supported foundation helps abused and poor children; when things get bad for girls, her name is on the top of the list of people they can turn to.
The moral of the story:
• Be kind and supportive to other living beings.

The Fighter

Who: Nong On, Udomporn Polasak
What: Clean and jerk weightlifter at the 2004 Olympics, Thailand’s first female gold medallist
Why we love her: When it comes to the Olympics or any other international sporting event, we normally just keep our eyes on boxing, where we can expect Thais to net a few medals. Unfortunately, in the 2004 Olympics, our glove-wearing champs took a beating. Then, out of nowhere, female weightlifting was the sport to bring joy to our bereaved nation as Nong On became the first female Thai athlete to win gold at the Olympics. She went head to head with Indonesia’s top athlete, chewed her up, and spit her out, lifting a whopping 125.5kg where Indo’s champ could only take on 122.5kg—wimp! Not only she won the medal but her performance broke the Chinese record from the previous games (2000). As she prepared to do her lift, we’ll never forget her throaty cry “Suu woi!” that would forever mark one of the most decisive moments in female sports in Thailand. We applauded, screamed and were touched.
The moral of the story:
• Just grunt and do it.

Happy Gal

Who: Mam Surivipa Poonpipat (Gultangwattana)
What: Host of Surivipa, MC and owner of a nail salon and carwash
Why we love her: She’s an upcountry girl (she spent her childhood in Sakhon Nakhon) who grew up to become a superstar but still has her feet firmly planted in the ground. Remember that spat with reporters over whether her then pal Mam Kataleeya was pregnant? When Mam learned the truth, she stood up, publicly apologized to the press and cut her friend out of her life. She showed us that when you make a mistake, you should be an adult and fess up. We also love Mam for her personality—she’s always happy, calm and smiling, even when she’s being asked awful questions.
The moral of the story:
• Forgive and forget and life goes on happily ever after.

What do you think about the role of women in Thai society today?
We’re stronger and more accepted than before. Now society has opened up many roles for women.

Why can’t men replace women?
Men can be as beautiful as women but they can’t be mothers.

What is your definition of a woman?
I always keeps in mind that a woman is chang tao lang (follower) but not lar lang (outdated). From my personal experience, not everything that a woman does is the right decision. Women are not always right. In some aspect, women need someone supporting them. If something is supposed to be a man’s job, let them do their work. Why not? It’s too much trouble.

Who is a woman you love?
My mom.

What would a world without men be like?
There wouldn’t be any more fun. A dry life I suppose. Who would be subordinate to my emotional complexity?

If you could be a man for a day, what would you do?
I would want to be a monk. I want to know what life is like as a monk. I wouldn’t have said this 10 years ago, though.

Lady of Grace

Who: Pha Ji Atcharapan Paiboonsuwan
What: Actress, yoga instructor at Absolute Yoga
Why we love her: She was the host of Nuu Tam Dai, pha Ji played many roles on soap operas and has taught many professional actors. She dropped out of sight for a while, but pha Ji made her comeback doing yoga at 50-something and looked fantastic on the cover of Lips magazine. She made us realize how important it is to take care of ourselves, and not to be afraid of getting old.
The moral of the story:
• Age is just a number.

The Singing Foreigner

Who: Christy Gibson
What: Luuk thung singer
Why we love her: Before she became a star, Christy had been teaching people in rural areas and helping drug addicts for years. Not only does she sing luuk thung and mor lam—which ain’t easy—better than most Thais, she also speaks Thai better than a lot of Thais. She’s such an incredible artist that she was one of two luuk thung singers and the only farang to be chosen for the H.M. Blues project.
The moral of the story is:
• The beauty of Thai culture is universal.

How did you start singing luuk thung?
I studied music and voice throughout my youth with a foreign teacher. I learned classical and pop singing, and of course luuk thung, which was totally different and challenging for me. I wasn’t used to it at all. The notes, the style, the vibrato, the falsetto and everything are completely different. We started singing luuk thung songs from here and there and we bought CDs to listen to. But it was more difficult than I expected.

What do you think about the role of women in Thai society today?
I very much admire a lot of women in Thai society. Their role is delicate, because of the way the world is now. It’s fast paced, it’s very business oriented, you have to be on top, you have to be fast, you have to know what’s happening internationally. At the same time for Thai women, they have their culture and their family values, which are very important parts of Thai society. Respect and the family core are very important. I think that to be able to strike the right balance between both of those things—family values and culture on one side, and business on the other—is very admirable. That’s an incredible thing. And I think a lot of Thai women manage to do that and to do it well.

Are Thai women trying to be more western?
I don’t think so. I don’t see Thai woman losing their identity or as far as being Thai/Asian is concerned—at least for the majority. I think Thai women will continue to be Thai, because that’s where their beauty comes from. They’ll keep their Thai culture, but adapt the good from other parts of the world.

If you were man for a day, what would you do?
I would go to an exclusive club for gentlemen, because I want to see what they do inside. So when I change back I can say “I know what you do.”

What is your definition of a woman?
Someone who knows how to be strong and soft at the same time.
If you had the power to change anything in the world, what would you change?
I would change people’s perspective from a selfish one to an unselfish one. Because I think that a lot of the world’s problems stems from selfishness and greed. If we can eliminate those from the world, it would be a much nicer place.

Women we once loved

We admired these women for a while, but then they became overexposed or boring. But we don’t hate them and hope that one day they will be our sweethearts again.

Tata Young: She changed so much, from our sweet, cute, little sister to an international pop star. We applaud her confidence, but, Tata, keep it down a little bit when you still live in Thailand.

Rabiebrat Pongpanit: She means well, but pha really needs someone to help her find a nice and effective way of marketing herself to the public.

Aum Patcharapa: She did nothing wrong—it’s just that it’s now been two years since she was FHM’s sexiest women in Thailand. She’s probably more than just a sexy shell, but how would you know?

Mam Benlo: Yes, phee nuu Mam told us to forgive and forget and live on. Unfortunately, we still remember what she did, and she’s since lost the charm of a princess. She really needs to hire a good consulting firm and plan her return—a couple of baan baan soaps will do.

Nong Yad (Yadthip Rachapan): Another case of a spoiled young actress who’s been eaten up by the industry. From cute chick to soap opera villain.