June 2003

Vietnamese brides

    

  

 
In Singapore, the media’s role is to report the truth and the facts. Period. This presupposes that it is always eminently clear what the facts are and where the truth lies. If in doubt, refer to the government.

It is not the role of the media to crusade for any cause not sanctioned by the government.[1] Wong Kan Seng, the Home Affairs Minister, made that abundantly clear a few years ago when the Straits Times dipped its toe into investigative journalism and found a story that was at variance with the Police’s version of the story. The Police, which comes under the Home Affairs Ministry, apparently did not like the implication that its truth was contestable.

So, after that embarrassment, the minister bellowed: "No crusading journalism."

 
Yet, I had the funny feeling that the front page headline story of 8 June 2003 was another toe dipped in those waters. It came with a large photograph of a Singaporean man holding his bride, dressed in a red Vietnamese bridal costume.

The headline was:

3 bachelors,
3 Viet brides,
3rd prize in 4-D

On the one hand, you could say it was a refreshingly different human-interest story. On the other hand, it struck me that it was a tabloid-type story. What is such a story doing in the Sunday Times? And front page, above the fold too.

My guess, and I must stress, it’s just my personal hunch, was that the editors were trying to put the spotlight on a little-known issue, in the hope that such publicity would result in social disapproval.

But the means by which they could do this were tightly constrained. They had to stick to reporting the surface facts (not any investigated facts -- that would be investigative journalism, a close cousin of crusading journalism) and quoting what the interviewees themselves said. The writer could not add his opinions, and he could only hope that readers would read between the lines.

Given these constraints, I thought the story quite well written. An intelligent reader would have surmised that these were virtually purchased brides. Men joined a tour group and went to Ho Chi Minh City, and within a week, selected their new wives. The emphasis was on the men choosing their women, not the other way around.

Surely, there must have been monetary inducements to the women and their families for agreeing to marry a total stranger. But of course, the story could not say this, probably because no one could be quoted to admit to it.

Another thing I found interesting was how, at the end of the article, two men made a similar point: that the role of the wives were to "look after" their husbands, reinforcing again the rather patriarchal mindsets of the men involved.

Does this practice of purchasing brides raise moral questions? This was, I believe, the question the newspaper wanted to ask, but didn’t dare, at least not in so many words. After all, with the newspaper’s licence and one’s personal career at stake, no one would wish to cross the minister’s line in the sand: No crusading journalism.

Hence, the main point of the story had to remain deeply buried, but I fear it was too deep to be seen. In Singapore, people are taught to accept things at face value, and never question what they see and hear. We don’t have a culture of oblique speech and reading between the lines.

I wondered, at the end of the day, how many readers could see the intent of the front page story? How many Singaporeans thought further about it? As far as I could see, no letters to the editor followed up on the story in the days following. Without follow-up, no sharper points were made, no opinions voiced, no moral outrage expressed.

The crusade was stillborn.

Or maybe I was reading too much into it. Maybe no crusade was intended. Maybe the Sunday Times just felt that a tabloid-type story about getting married and winning the lottery on their front page was good for sales.

* * * * *

What I tried to find out by reading the story a second time, was whether the Vietnamese wives were currently living in Singapore, or were the husbands commuting to Vietnam regularly? My understanding is that permanent residency would be automatic once a marriage certificate could be produced, so I believe they have now moved here. Conceivably, the husbands would have used their new legally married status to get subsidised HDB flats and various income tax benefits for supporting a wife.

Isn’t there something grossly unjust about it all? Such marriages are recognised in law, even if the woman and her family were paid for it; even though the women were expected to be little more than permanent housemaids and nurses. Oh yes, and sex objects.

Two men, or two women, in love for years, can never get the same legal, let alone social recognition. Nor the housing benefits and tax subsidies that our state dishes out.

Two persons of the same sex living together, loving each other, is sordid. A crime even. A man buying a woman and treating her as little more than a live-in maid, on the other hand, is the fulfillment of social responsibility, crowned by social applause, moral blessings, opened immigration gates and tax credits.

© Yawning Bread 

 

 

Sunday Times
8 June 2003

3 bachelors,
3 Viet brides,
3rd prize in 4-D

By Chong Chee Kin

Three Singaporean men ventured to Vietnam last month in pursuit of that thing called love.

Their gamble paid off in more ways than one.

Not only did each find a bride within a week, they also won more than $100,000 because they had separately placed 4-D lottery bets on the licence number of their rented bridal car.

The white Toyota Camry, 2858, took third prize in last week’s draw.

Their winnings more than covered the $16,000 each had paid for the one-week matchmaking tour organised by Sin Ye International Matchmaker. It specializes in introducing Vietnamese women to Singapore men and charges between $13,000 and $22,000 per client.

Happiest of all may be Sin Ye partner Mark Lin, 40, a permanent resident from Taiwan.

"Winning the lottery is a double blessing. How often do you have marital bliss and strike the lottery at the same time?" he asked.

He said business picked up again last month, when Sin Ye decided to use Camrys as wedding cars as well.

Previously, it rented only white Mercedes-Benz 200s.

Mr Lin, who has seen the Sars outbreak more than halve his business, from five clients a month to only two, hopes things will turn the corner soon.

"Even though there were no known cases in Ho Chi Minh city where we introduce the prospective brides, people were stil reluctant to go over, " he said in Mandarin.

That, he decided, made it the perfect time for a man to pick out a bride.

"I told the three of them that they would have the pick of the women, because they would not have so much competition," he said.

Coincidentally, the three bridegroom – Mr Kevin Tan, 28; Mr Lim Lai Soon, 46; and Mr Ng Teck, 46 – run separate transport companies.

Mr Tan, who won $26,000, declined to be interviewed.

Mr Lim told The Sunday Times that he turned to Sin Ye because he puts in 12-hour work days and found it difficult to socialize. He won $20,000 and his mother won $26,000.

The win prompted him to buy a $1,000 gold necklace for his new bride, but not just because she’d brought him luck, he said. "After all, a wife is meant for one to love," he said in Mandarin.

"I did not expect to win. I was just happy to marry her because she looked like the sort who would take good care of me," he said.

Mr Ng,, who won $30,000, said his joy doesn’t just come from striking the lottery.

He said in Mandarin: "What’s important is that I got a wife who’s willing to look after me. Winning the lottery is just a bonus."

 

Footnotes

  1. If the media are crusading for a cause sanctioned by the government, they aren't crusading. They're fulfilling their social responsibilities and helping out with nation-building.
    Return to where you left off

 

Addenda

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