I was about to start my reservist when I heard a jaw-dropping conversation.
My bunkmates were talking about how some of them had “bought” Vietnam wives instead of finding a Singaporean woman. I was shocked and could not believe what I was hearing.
I couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to buy a wife from a foreign country, especially when it came to the issue of marriage. I understand that a lot of people find it difficult to find a Singaporean woman because of financial requirements and other stuff, but that was no excuse for buying a wife.
I felt that it was a very wrong thing to do, and I was surprised that some of my bunkmates had resorted to such a thing.
My bunkmates explained to me that they had gone to Vietnam and met with a “marriage broker” who promised to find them a suitable wife. They had paid a large sum of money to the broker, and in return, he had arranged for them to be married to a Vietnamese woman.
They had only met their wives for a couple of days before deciding if they want to marry them and they had no real idea what kind of person they were marrying.
Lonely
I was appalled by this and I could not comprehend why anyone would do such a thing. I asked my bunkmates why they had chosen to take this route, and they explained that it was because they were lonely. They had been trying for many years and could not find one in Singapore. They had no one to turn to for companionship, and so they had decided to buy a wife from abroad.
I could understand why my bunkmates had resorted to this, but I still could not condone it. Buying a wife from a foreign country was wrong, and I told them so. I also told them that this was not the right way to find a wife and that they should look for a Singaporean woman instead.
My bunkmates were not happy with my advice and they argued that they did not have the time or the money to find a Singaporean woman. They said that they had already paid the marriage broker and that they did not have the resources to start a proper courtship with a Singaporean woman.
I could understand their dilemma, It was an eye-opening experience for me, and it showed me the lengths some people are willing to go to in order to find companionship.