BangkokPost.com – Arusa Pisuthipan
She’s doing everything she can to realise her ambition to become a senator
She was crowned a beauty queen at a number of national and international beauty pageants. She looks pretty and sounds articulate. She was born a boy, but chose to live her adult life as a woman.
Since childhood, Kerekkong Suan-yos had a different dream from that of other boys his age. While his friends yearned to enter well-recognised universities, become pilots, doctors or teachers, Kerekkong wanted to become a woman.
“I told myself that I had to have a sex-change operation by the age of 21,” recalled Kerekkong, better known now as Yonlada “Nok” Komklong, Miss Apsa 2005, and as a tourism ambassador for Pattaya municipality.
The little boy’s dream eventually came true. At 16, male-to-female gender-reassignment surgery transformed him into a woman.
Born in the northern province of Nan into a middle-class family with machismo in the air _ her father is a police officer and owner of a muay Thai gym _ the 24-year-old beauty queen admitted that it was hard trying to meet her father’s expectations. Many times he would take her to the gym to meet his police friends, but his efforts to expose his beloved son to “manly” sports and to such a masculine circle of friends didn’t seem to strike a chord with her.
“When I was at the boxing stadium, I fought like a girl. When I was at the police station, I wanted to become a policewoman. That’s when I knew that I couldn’t conform to my father’s ideals,” Yonlada said.
At school, Yonlada had no difficulties getting along with friends. She was usually treated as an “extra” when playing games with the boys, and as a “star” while with the girls.