MS JEN Goh's five suggestions on legal aid, immigration rules, housing, matchmaking agencies and embassies suggest that foreign spouses are disadvantaged even though married to Singaporeans ('Five areas to improve protection of foreign brides'; March 23).
A reported 41 per cent of Singaporeans married foreigners in 2009, with a hefty 78 per cent of them male. The statistics suggest the trend is significant.
Is there any action the Government can take, either retrospectively or as a preventive measure, that could help to prevent social problems arising from such marriages?
It appears that marriages between foreign women and Singaporean men suffer from different expectations.
The Saturday Special feature ('Bride and gloom', March 19) also suggests the brides do not know enough about their prospective husbands.
Is it possible for the Government to enforce a regulation that would require the man and the woman to undergo counselling before marriage to manage their expectations? This might go a long way to reduce some of the problems we see.
Is there any regulation on how the matchmaking industry is run? I find it disturbing that some of the girls are married to men who could be as old as their fathers.
Could industry practice be better regulated?
Puar Si Liang