http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,188190,00.html?
Her 'brain surgeon' groom actually works in a restaurant
He's 22 years older, earns $1,700 a month and lied that he's a doctor earning $4million a year. ButViet bride says she loves him anyway
By Elysa Chen
December 30, 2008
HAPPY: Ms Dong Kim Thi (right) told Mr Yip she was in love with him, not his money, car or house. --TNP PICTURES: ADELINE ONG
YOU could call it a 'shotgun' marriage. The groom, shooting for a bride, took a short-cut past the matchmaker and married the woman.
In doing so, he avoided paying the matchmaker's usual fee of $7,800 for a successful match-up.
Mr Loi Eng Thang, 58, the boss of South Phoenix Marriage Centre, thought he had landed a big fish when Mr Yip King Yin, 47, walked in seeking a Vietnamese bride.
Mr Yip claimed he was a brain surgeon earning $4 million a year.
He also told the matchmaker that he was a widower whose Japanese wife had died of breast cancer.
Little did Mr Loi know that the man, clad in a long-sleeved shirt and tie, was really a supervisor in a restaurant, earning only $1,700 a month.
Mr Yip claimed to live in a bungalow on Holland Road.
According to Mr Loi, he said he worked as a brain surgeon at National University Hospital and lectured at the National University of Singapore.
Mr Yip, while admitting that he lied, explained to The New Paper that he did it to impress his bride-to-be.
As for marrying the 25-year-old Vietnamese woman without the matchmaker's consent, he said it was because he was upset with Mr Loi for making it difficult for his wife-to-be to extend her visa.
But Mr Loi, too, is unhappy.
He told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'I believed him because he was introduced to me by someone who had previously introduced other clients to me.
Fooled
'Many of my customers hold good jobs. One is a lecturer in a polytechnic. This is why I never doubted that he was a brain surgeon.
'He talked so professionally and talked about politics.
'I am so angry with myself because, after 30 years as an accountant, and almost four years in the matchmaking business, I have never been deceived so badly.'
Mr Loi introduced Mr Yip to Ms Dong Kim Thi after their first meeting.
Mr Loi said: 'He liked her and wanted to marry her. He even said that he would pay me $2,000 more for taking such good care of her.'
Mr Loi usually charges $7,800 for each Vietnamese bride he helps to matchmake. He has gone to the Small Claims Tribunal to claim the amount that Mr Yip owes him for his services.
On 14 Nov, Mr Loi brought Ms Dong to the National University Hospital canteen to look for Mr Yip so that they could get his particulars to submit an application for his marriage.
They met him at 8.30pm that day, when Mr Yip turned up half an hour late, explaining that he was very busy at work.
They had also gone to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to extend Ms Dong's social visit pass for one more month on 19 Nov, the day Mr Yip was supposed to pay Mr Loi for his services.
But Mr Yip claimed that his father had been hospitalised that day for liver cancer and he did not have the money for Mr Loi.
Mr Loi suggested they go to Mr Yip's house so that the latter could write him a cheque, but Mr Yip refused.
When Mr Yip promised to pay him in full in three days, Mr Loi walked away with Ms Dong's passport and other documents, making it impossible for Mr Yip to apply for another extension for her social visit pass.
On 24 Nov, Ms Dong went back to Vietnam. She returned to Singapore again on 4 Dec, after Mr Yip helped her to buy a plane ticket back.
It was only on 14 Dec that Mr Loi found out from the woman who introduced Mr Yip to his matchmaking agency that Mr Yip and Ms Dong had tied the knot.
Dismayed, he looked for the couple at their flat in Bedok on 23 Dec.
He said: 'Ms Dong told me that her husband was not a doctor, but a waiter. She looked so happy but I felt betrayed because she must have found out a long time ago that he is not really a doctor.'
His confession
When The New Paper visited Ms Dong at her flat yesterday, the slim and beautiful pre-university graduate said her husband confessed he was not a doctor only when she returned to Singapore to marry him.
She had asked him whether he was really a doctor when she was back in Vietnam, but Mr Yip continued lying to her because he was afraid that she would no longer want to marry him if she discovered the truth.
Speaking in fluent Mandarin, Ms Dong, who worked in a Taiwanese factory in Vietnam said: 'I was suspicious because he didn't have a car. It was on 4 Dec when I came back to Singapore when he told me the truth at the airport.
'As he was telling me everything, he looked very worried. I was a little angry at first, but I forgave him quickly because I love him.
'He's not handsome, he's not a doctor, he's not rich and he is 22 years older than me. But he is a man of good character. He lied to me, but he is still a good man because he had the courage to confess to me before we got married.'
Ms Dong had also told Mr Yip over the phone earlier that she did not care whether he was a doctor or not, because she was in love with him, not his money, car or house.
Saddened
She said she was saddened that Mr Loi claimed that her husband was a con-man.
She said: 'My husband would have paid him once he stopped being angry over the incident at the ICA where Mr Loi walked away with my documents and did not want to help us apply for another extension on my social visit pass.'
Mr Yip said: 'I am not out to cheat him. I refused to pay him because he did not do his job well and help us extend her social visit pass.
'Do you know that because of him, my wife had to be sent back to Vietnam? And that I had to pay for her air ticket back and change the date to register our marriage, and find another solemniser?
'If he had done his job beautifully, I would have paid him.'
Mr Yip also said that he did not lie about being a brain surgeon or a widow so that he could con Mr Loi, but because he wanted to impress his wife.
He said: 'Those were just white lies that have not done any one any harm. I sincerely love my wife, and I just wanted to impress her.'
Her 'brain surgeon' groom actually works in a restaurant
He's 22 years older, earns $1,700 a month and lied that he's a doctor earning $4million a year. ButViet bride says she loves him anyway
By Elysa Chen
December 30, 2008
HAPPY: Ms Dong Kim Thi (right) told Mr Yip she was in love with him, not his money, car or house. --TNP PICTURES: ADELINE ONG
YOU could call it a 'shotgun' marriage. The groom, shooting for a bride, took a short-cut past the matchmaker and married the woman.
In doing so, he avoided paying the matchmaker's usual fee of $7,800 for a successful match-up.
Mr Loi Eng Thang, 58, the boss of South Phoenix Marriage Centre, thought he had landed a big fish when Mr Yip King Yin, 47, walked in seeking a Vietnamese bride.
Mr Yip claimed he was a brain surgeon earning $4 million a year.
He also told the matchmaker that he was a widower whose Japanese wife had died of breast cancer.
Little did Mr Loi know that the man, clad in a long-sleeved shirt and tie, was really a supervisor in a restaurant, earning only $1,700 a month.
Mr Yip claimed to live in a bungalow on Holland Road.
According to Mr Loi, he said he worked as a brain surgeon at National University Hospital and lectured at the National University of Singapore.
Mr Yip, while admitting that he lied, explained to The New Paper that he did it to impress his bride-to-be.
As for marrying the 25-year-old Vietnamese woman without the matchmaker's consent, he said it was because he was upset with Mr Loi for making it difficult for his wife-to-be to extend her visa.
But Mr Loi, too, is unhappy.
He told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'I believed him because he was introduced to me by someone who had previously introduced other clients to me.
Fooled
'Many of my customers hold good jobs. One is a lecturer in a polytechnic. This is why I never doubted that he was a brain surgeon.
'He talked so professionally and talked about politics.
'I am so angry with myself because, after 30 years as an accountant, and almost four years in the matchmaking business, I have never been deceived so badly.'
Mr Loi introduced Mr Yip to Ms Dong Kim Thi after their first meeting.
Mr Loi said: 'He liked her and wanted to marry her. He even said that he would pay me $2,000 more for taking such good care of her.'
Mr Loi usually charges $7,800 for each Vietnamese bride he helps to matchmake. He has gone to the Small Claims Tribunal to claim the amount that Mr Yip owes him for his services.
On 14 Nov, Mr Loi brought Ms Dong to the National University Hospital canteen to look for Mr Yip so that they could get his particulars to submit an application for his marriage.
They met him at 8.30pm that day, when Mr Yip turned up half an hour late, explaining that he was very busy at work.
They had also gone to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to extend Ms Dong's social visit pass for one more month on 19 Nov, the day Mr Yip was supposed to pay Mr Loi for his services.
But Mr Yip claimed that his father had been hospitalised that day for liver cancer and he did not have the money for Mr Loi.
Mr Loi suggested they go to Mr Yip's house so that the latter could write him a cheque, but Mr Yip refused.
When Mr Yip promised to pay him in full in three days, Mr Loi walked away with Ms Dong's passport and other documents, making it impossible for Mr Yip to apply for another extension for her social visit pass.
On 24 Nov, Ms Dong went back to Vietnam. She returned to Singapore again on 4 Dec, after Mr Yip helped her to buy a plane ticket back.
It was only on 14 Dec that Mr Loi found out from the woman who introduced Mr Yip to his matchmaking agency that Mr Yip and Ms Dong had tied the knot.
Dismayed, he looked for the couple at their flat in Bedok on 23 Dec.
He said: 'Ms Dong told me that her husband was not a doctor, but a waiter. She looked so happy but I felt betrayed because she must have found out a long time ago that he is not really a doctor.'
His confession
When The New Paper visited Ms Dong at her flat yesterday, the slim and beautiful pre-university graduate said her husband confessed he was not a doctor only when she returned to Singapore to marry him.
She had asked him whether he was really a doctor when she was back in Vietnam, but Mr Yip continued lying to her because he was afraid that she would no longer want to marry him if she discovered the truth.
Speaking in fluent Mandarin, Ms Dong, who worked in a Taiwanese factory in Vietnam said: 'I was suspicious because he didn't have a car. It was on 4 Dec when I came back to Singapore when he told me the truth at the airport.
'As he was telling me everything, he looked very worried. I was a little angry at first, but I forgave him quickly because I love him.
'He's not handsome, he's not a doctor, he's not rich and he is 22 years older than me. But he is a man of good character. He lied to me, but he is still a good man because he had the courage to confess to me before we got married.'
Ms Dong had also told Mr Yip over the phone earlier that she did not care whether he was a doctor or not, because she was in love with him, not his money, car or house.
Saddened
She said she was saddened that Mr Loi claimed that her husband was a con-man.
She said: 'My husband would have paid him once he stopped being angry over the incident at the ICA where Mr Loi walked away with my documents and did not want to help us apply for another extension on my social visit pass.'
Mr Yip said: 'I am not out to cheat him. I refused to pay him because he did not do his job well and help us extend her social visit pass.
'Do you know that because of him, my wife had to be sent back to Vietnam? And that I had to pay for her air ticket back and change the date to register our marriage, and find another solemniser?
'If he had done his job beautifully, I would have paid him.'
Mr Yip also said that he did not lie about being a brain surgeon or a widow so that he could con Mr Loi, but because he wanted to impress his wife.
He said: 'Those were just white lies that have not done any one any harm. I sincerely love my wife, and I just wanted to impress her.'
