04 March 2005

Brides for sale

Yep! That's what I mean - Brides for Sale. There are many Matchmaking Agencies in Singapore, who get brides from Asean countries like Taiwan, Vietnam and Indonesia for Singaporean men. These girls come from a poor family and are young. They are eager to marry Singaporean men in the hopes that they get liberated from poverty. The Men on the other hand prefer such girls since they find that they are already past the age of courtship and would prefer a submissive wife who takes care of all his needs. So in most cases it turns out to be a good proposal. What had me writing this article is not the idea or the marriage. It is the way it is being executed. So how does the matchmaking process go?

There are two ways.
1. The interested men are taken to the countries where they can select the brides. This is a 6 day trip, where by a fair is arranged where the prospective girls are paraded before the men. If the men like any of the girls, they have a small interview and if all goes fine, the marriage is finalized and solemnized within the 6 days. The men return to Singapore and the girls wait for the visa and tickets to join their husband.

2. In the second case, the women are bought to Singapore and they sit for days in a shop window (like a doll in a garment showroom!!) to be gaped at by all those passing by, waiting for their groom.

This extract is from Straits Times, A Singapore Daily.
Said 19-year-old Miss Tran Thi Thoa, who found a husband after sitting for five days in a shop window at Vietnam Brides: 'My friends told me that Singapore men are very good.'


If the first incident looked like a mattu santhai (animal fair) the second one reminds me of some other profession!!!

6 comments:

Chakra said...

u dont need to go that far. 2-3 mths back, Indian Express reported such a sandhai at Andhra.

what to say? when the world is moving in one direction, a set of ppl are moving the other way.

hari said...

Quite disgusting, surprising that a developed country like singapore still practices such uncivilised customs.

The Last Blogger said...

Mail order brides have existed for a long time. Earlier it was paper catalogues and now its on the internet. You can have a look at a bunch of girls available and picxk your choice. You pay and the bride is delivered to your house. Simple as that.

Remember, for every 5 good guys, there are 7 bad ones waiting to make the quick buck or wanting to take the easy way out.

PVS said...

A Sandhai in India doesnt surprise me much as in most parts of India, marriage is the most important thing in a girls life. But seeing this in a developed country was a shock.

PVS said...

yes Hari, that is what I too felt when I saw the article

PVS said...

hi TLB, didnt know about mail order brides. Seems people would go to any lengths to get their daughter's married.