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One in four Singapore men married foreign brides last year, as such marriages hit a 10-year high
MR C.H. YEO is 42 years old, has a bachelor's degree majoring in design from Australia, and works as an interior designer and part-time lecturer.
It is a pretty decent resume for any prospective girlfriend, but when it came to dating Singaporean women, Mr Yeo thought his plump, 1.5m frame put him at a distinct disadvantage.
'I've heard the girls look for handsome guys and will start looking at you 360 degrees. I don't want to be in that situation.'
So he joined a growing band of higher-educated Singaporean men who go knocking on the doors of foreign bride agencies.
Last December, he tied the knot with a 23-year-old Vietnamese woman, Ms Lu Thi Tham, who used to run a kiosk in Vietnam selling sugar cane and popiah. She is now four months' pregnant.
Last year, 6,520 male Singaporeans and permanent residents married foreign brides, the highest number in 10 years, according to the Department of Statistics. The number is up from 5,210 the previous year and 4,425 in 2003.
This means one in four Singapore men who got married last year tied the knot with foreigners. The real figure may be even higher, as some men marry overseas.
Traditionally, matchmaking agencies have catered to men with lower academic qualifications, but now they are seeing more and more diploma and degree holders.
One agency, Mr Cupid, said seven out of every 10 customers have a bachelor's degree or higher. Five years ago, most clients had up to Secondary 2 education, said director Martin Wong.
Mr Cupid gets six to seven clients a month.
For Mr Yeo, a desire for someone to take care of his 73-year-old mother - and himself - brought him to Life Partner Matchmaker last year.
'I looked at the mirror and told myself, I'm getting old already,' he said.
Of the seven men who spoke to The Sunday Times about their foreign marriages, four said they preferred foreign women because they would be more demure and accommodating.
What they want, they said, is a woman who will put the family and husband first, rather than demand cars, condominiums and credit cards.
Mr See Chee Hong, 35, a chef with Secondary 2 education, said: 'Few Singaporean women will want to live with my parents and two sisters in our four-room HDB flat.'
He married a Vietnamese farmer's daughter in 2004. They have two sons, aged 17 months and seven months. His wife is 22.
'My wife takes care of the kids and all the housework. Her requests are simple: Care for me, don't bully me and don't go out to look for other women.'
Another reason more Singapore men are marrying foreigners, the experts say, is simply that they have more opportunities to meet.
Besides the 30 or so foreign bride agencies that are operating here at any one time, Singaporeans are travelling overseas more often, more foreign women are coming to work here and the Internet enables singles to meet online wherever they live.
Take the case of IT support analyst Vincent Loh, 36, who met a woman from Wuhan, China, on an Internet friendship portal in 2002.
She was working here as a hospital nurse. They chatted online for a month before they met in person near her rented flat in Whampoa.
They hung out as friends for half a year before they began a relationship. They registered their marriage in October 2004.
Mr Loh likes that his wife is outspoken.
He said: 'She tells me my bad points, so that I'll improve.'
Figures on which nationalities Singaporean men prefer were not available, but back in 1998, Malaysians topped the chart, followed by women from Indonesia and China.
The Sunday Times understands Malaysians still form the bulk of foreign brides, but Vietnamese and China brides are gaining ground.
Vietnamese bride agency Life Partner Matchmaker, for instance, started out in 1996 handling fewer than 10 cases a year. It sees that many cases a month now, said owner Jansen Ong.
These agencies attract mainly men in their 30s and 40s who are looking for women in their 20s.
Mr David Ho, 30, who married a Malaysian this April, said he did not prefer one nationality over another. But the nursing home administrator feels that his wife, a dietitian from Petaling Jaya, shares some of his values.
'My wife likes cooking. Her family in Malaysia eats together. They hang out with their cousins. Their bonds are strong.
'She also wants the guy to take the lead. We earn the same salary, but she's happy when I take the initiative to pay the bill. When it comes to where to go or eat, she'll give her feedback, but she'll let me make the decision.'
posted by i! sxc i! @ 9:10 pm
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