http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20081016/tap-singapore-brides-c3bb44c.html
Haha matchmaking gets hit
Singapore men put love on hold on financial
worry
By Koh Gui Qing
SINGAPORE, Oct 16 - "No money no honey" seems to be ringing true
for Singapore's bridal agencies, which are seeing slowing business
as the financial crisis and a looming recession hit love in the
country.
Matchmaking agencies in the Southeast Asian country said the
financial meltdown has forced some men to think twice about
spending thousands of dollars to get a wife.
"About 10 percent of my customers say 'The economy is slowing
down, I have no money,'" said Mark Lin, who runs the Vietnam Brides
International Matchmaker in Singapore.
"In the past, girls used to get married in one to two weeks. Now
it takes one to two months," he said, in a tiny office along
Singapore's main shopping belt where five Vietnamese women chatted
under walls covered with pictures of smiling newly weds.
Three to four customers pull out of their marriages each month
now, forfeiting deposits paid to agencies, up from one to two
clients before, Lin said.
The crisis, which sparked banking turmoil from the United States
to Iceland, has traversed beyond financial markets into the real
economy as falling home prices and fears of losing jobs force
consumers to tighten their belts.
"Business has been very badly hit by the crisis. In the past, I
would get around 20 calls a day. Now there are hardly any calls,"
said Hannah, who works at Truelove International Matchmaker in
Singapore. She declined to give her last name.
"Some say the financial pressures from a marriage are just too
great," she said, in a country that was booming last year but is
expected to see a recession in the third quarter.
Couples in Singapore typically spend thousands of dollars when
they tie the knot as newly weds host family and friends at a lavish
dinner to mark the occasion.
Matchmaking is not uncommon in the country, which has a
population of 4.8 million and a low birth rate, as older men turn
to professionals to find a wife.
Some agencies help link up singles, while others -- like Lin's
-- help customers find a prospective wife from abroad.
For S$8,000 , a man can pick a wife from among the women in
Lin's shop, send her to the doctor, and get his marriage registered
-- all in 12 hours, but only if the woman fancies him too.
If he does not fancy the women in the shop, he can pay another
S$2,000 to fly to Ho Chi Minh City and meet 50-100 women in a
hotel, but Lin warns customers this is illegal.
"My customers are usually over 35. That is when they get
disappointed with Singapore women, whom they say have too high
expectations," he said.
The women can stay in Singapore for only two months on visitor's
passes if they are not married to a local, Lin said.
But as business slows to a crawl amid a sagging economy, some
women have to go home without a husband.
"I hope to get married," said 19-year-old Nguyen Thi Hue, who
returns to Vietnam on Thursday after two months in Singapore. "I
want a husband who can dote on me and love me."
