Love, lust and lost funds

'Sika Golf' case sends shockwaves through nation's monastic community

- KARNJANA KARNJANATAWE

A growing scandal involving senior Buddhist monks and a woman dubbed “Sika Golf” has gripped Thailand in recent weeks. The case centres on Wilawan Emsawat, a 35-year-old woman accused of forging intimate relationships with high-ranking monks and allegedly using them for financial gain, sparking a wide-ranging police investigation and multiple arrests.

province. Raised in a poor family, she left school without finishing Matthayom 3 or Grade 9 and moved to Bangkok to find a job.

She has three kids. Her first child was with a DJ, and then she had two more children with an academic and a monk in Phitsanulok.

WHO IS SIKA GOLF?

"Sika Golf" is the media nickname for Ms Wilawan, as "sika" is a title for women used by monks. Ms Wilawan comes from Sak Lek district in Phichit

HOW THE ROMANCES STARTED

Her involvement with monks began in Phichit, when she received a Line message from the then-abbot of Wat Tha Luang, Phrathep Watcharasitthimethi. In an interview on the Hone Krasae television programme, she stated that their relationship soon became romantic. Over the course of two years, her life changed dramatically — from having nothing to having everything she could want.

"The [former] abbot took very good care of me. Whatever I wanted, he provided. One day, I said I wanted a Mercedes, and he bought it for me, paying three million baht in cash," she said.

After the relationship ended (from 2013 to 2015), she became involved with other people, including monks, an academic, and a local politician.

"I felt guilty. I knew it [having relationships with monks] was a sin, but I didn't want to struggle anymore. I wanted enough money to look after myself and my children," she said.