Marrying a Singaporean

I met my (Singaporean) now wife at a birthday party of Indonesian colleagues in Batam, where both of us were working on projects at that time (different companies).
We started meeting and doing activities together and even travelled to Java, but things only became serious a year later while volunteering at a world music festival.
Well, now we are married (since 2002), lived in my country (Europe) for a few years, have a baby daughter and are back in Asia at the moment. Her biggest grudge is the international (and often unpredictable) nature of my work - right now I'm working in Bangkok while she is in Singapore. But then she says that she wanted (and got) an interesting life and not the HDB-Marriage-Kids-Retirement that is the norm here.
Her parents are maybe slightly less conservative than average, but do nag and try to imprint their opinion on us (especially regarding childcare). We try to find the fine line between putting them off and losing our identity.

Singaporeans are not shy. Please lah!

Ok, some expats marry Singaporeans for convenience. Like they don't want to go back to their home country anymore or in buying a house, etc.

Haha People are people until culture changes them. JW

I am a Singaporean hoping to get out. Singapore are now flooded with Indian and Chinese National, lesser rice bowls, higher cost of living day by day all jerked up by them.

JustJess wrote:

I am a Singaporean hoping to get out. Singapore are now flooded with Indian and Chinese National, lesser rice bowls, higher cost of living day by day all jerked up by them.

Its true that cost of living in singapore is going higher. Goverment is not doing anything. :S

Most female singaporeans who are married to foreigners aren't looked upon kindly here by their own countrymen...they are labelled as 'gold-diggers', 'sarong party girls', 'ticket to good life seekers'..some of these are true, others aren't..i think it's just a case of envy.

being born and bred here on this tiny nation, i have seen the population from a comfortable-ok number-where-u-can-still-swing-a-bat-without-hitting-someone-next-to-u  to the current number of 5million where u can't even lift your elbow without hitting someone walking/standing next to you...it is expected to grow with no caps on immigration in sight..as a result, costs of living have gone up and up, housing is expensive, air quality is not far behind from some populated countries, there are way many social problems these days than 10 - 20 years ago, no freedom of speech (one has to be very careful these days expressing one's personal opinion in blogs), people here are alot way more stressed these days,thus they are way ruder, no compassion for the less priviledged..generally not nice and more materialistic driven, one is being judged by what you possess(branded goods, big cars, living in condominums instead of public housing),many of us born and bred here are anxious to get out while the many overseas unemployed are fighting to get in...good luck!

Hmm very interesting. I think most people living in one place over a period of time, especially where they were born are looking to get out. But as for me being from overseas and being to other places I can tell you that Singaporeans have it pretty good here. But you can only see that if you leave Singapore to compare. It's no wonder why foreigners are wanting to move in. They must see smething most Singaporeans don't. In New York, a lot of foreigners complain about how their country is so much better than the US but yet they don't leave. The reason being is because they get cuaght up with NY life and it's debts. Something Singapore citizens are not too familiar with. That's a good thing.

to Neil...my family have lived overseas (UK, NZ, USA, Australia) for several years....we returned to Singapore two years ago...having lived overseas before, we can safely say living in Singapore these days are very stressful..within two  short years of coming back home, we saw the huge growth in population (mostly foreigner driven),the drop in air quality, the living costs (housing, education, medical, transport, food) have skyrocketed and the many social problems we have experienced and seen since we returned. The present ruling party seem very out of touch with the local population, this isn't a consultative party any longer, seem a wee bit more paranoia as each year goes by..these days, they seem fond of berating their own citizens, citizens who have supported and voted for them through the years...they don't have the guts to apologise for failed policies, instead they take pot shots at the locals..it is very worrying for us who have children that the government these days is favouring foreigners than her own citizens...we are worried about the lack of jobs for our children..without a job, you can't buy a flat here, you can't afford the basic neccesities to get by each day...expats have the luxury of going back to their country of origins when they get tired of Singapore, many of them will still have their homes back where they originated from, many of them are here for economic reasons, some lost their jobs or can't get another job back home, and come here to compete for the scarce jobs, some are paid way better than an local so therefore the rising costs do not affect them as much as the locals, some are here just to gain working experience before hightailing off to another country for good, etc..I m not against good immigrants coming in, but there should be a controlled number, with good policies in place before opening the floodgates to ensure this small island can take in the number of newcomers...as it is now, any tom dick mary or jane can come in, and once they are in, their extended family follows..we don't have vast land available like in Australia, NZ or UK to accommodate so many immigrants... One has to have lived here for many many years, seen the vast changes (these days not for the better for the ordinary bloke)before one can really tell the ordinary Singaporean he/she should be grateful for what we have...there is no real democracy here. The younger generation we know in our circles will most likely not get a chance to cast their first vote because they and their families live in walkover wards , they can't see the govt doing away with this policy as it would mean they will lose many votes, so as long as these young people live in walkover wards, they will never get that privilege to cast their vote for their chosen MP..where is the democracy? They would rather go overseas, be a citizen  in whichever country they choose to live, and have the privilege of being able to cast a vote, or even to protest should they not be satisfied with their MP...that's real democracy! Here, they live in fear of being hauled up should they even express their personal opinion if they are not happy with a certain policy. We used to pro-government..these days, we are anxious to leave, and if we are fortunate enough to be able to do so again, we will never come back..raising a family in singapore is just too way stressful...there is just no quality of life here. There is more to life than work work work!
Voting rights may seem insignificant to a new immigrant whose only concern is purely economic, and thus not understand why we moan and groan or seem ungrateful...like i said, u have to be in our shoes to understand why. Thank you!

I totally want a Singaporean! haha. but they are too pretty for me Sad face!

Jessica2007 wrote:

Ok, some expats marry Singaporeans for convenience. Like they don't want to go back to their home country anymore or in buying a house, etc.

Your quote very funny... gr8 sense of humour