THE TEMASEK REVIEW

By Cheng Siew Peng

China imports have hogged the headlines lately from tainted milk formula, candies, yoghurt bars, chocolates and now its women, not that it is the first time.

A gruesome murder occured last Friday at Yishun involving China nationals residing in Singapore (read CNA report here). Three women, purportedly flat mates, were murdered in cold blood by a middle-aged China man. One whose body was found in a rubbish chute, was thrown down from the flat while the other two died from multiple stab wounds. The sole survivor is a 14 year old girl who is now fighting for her life in TTSH ICU.

While the motives for the murder are unclear as of now, reports carried by the Chinese evening dailies Shin Ming and Wanbao revealed that the women are two Peidu Mamas and their daughters. Yang Jie, described as a “stunning beauty” by reporters,  apparently had 4 lovers in Singapore while her 2nd husband lives with the younger daughter in Dalian, China.

The latest high-profile murder cases involving China women has again put the spotlight back on plight of Peidu mamas in Singapore, a term used to described single China women who come to Singapore to take care of their children who are studying here.

A quick check on the ICA website show that it is relatively easy for Peidu Mamas to obtain a social pass to stay with their children in Singapore, the caveat being that they are not employable during their time in Singapore. They are required to renew their pass on a yearly basis, otherwise they can stay indefinitely here as long they do not break the laws of the land.

This special provision for Peidu mamas is unique in the developed world. Foreign children studying here can be taken care of by a guardian. While the mother should be allowed frequent visits, there is really no need for them to stay in Singapore to accompany their children.

Now, tell me how many women who have a happy family are willing to leave for another country with their children for a prolonged period of time without their husbands by their sides ? Needless to say, the majority of these Peidu mamas come from a complicated family background – either divorced, separated or estranged from their husbands in China.

Have the ICA authorities ever considered how these Peidu mamas are going to support themselves and their children in Singapore whose cost of living is much higher than in China ? Unless they are already quite well-off in China, they are probably not going to survive here for long if they are unable to find any work.

Being alone, vulnerable and penniless in a foreign country, a few of them turned to vice such as prostitution, KTV hostress and masseurs to earn a living while others prey on Singapore men to be become their mistresses or sex toys in return for financial support.

Given the fact that long-term social passes are given almost indiscriminately to these Peidu mamas with little consideration for their social and family circumstances, it leaves one to wonder if this is an insidious “procreativity” policy introduced by the authorities concerned to boost Singapore’s flagging birth rate, especially of the Chinese population.

Nubile, fertile and hapless young mothers are an attractive and easy target for both horny single men, mostly blue collar workers who are unable to find a Singapore wife and dirty old men flushed with cash seeking fresh and exotic pleasures of the flesh which their greying wives are unable to provide.

While we must admit that some of these “liaisons” did lead to the production of new recruits for our army in the future, there is a hidden unspoken social cost which most of us have heard of and yet seldom highlighted by the mainstream media.

Being brought up in a highly materialistic, competitive and atheist society in China, many of these China women have no qualms trading their bodies in exchange for material wealth and possessions if solely out of maternal instinct to give their children a bright future.

I would like to relate two cases in real life which has happened to somebody I know:

1. M is a very successful business woman who runs a fashion chain. She has been married for more than 20 years, but has no children. Her husband who works in the civil service, earn less than her. Being a career driven woman, M spends long hours at work in order to pay for the apartment, car and other household expenses. A few months ago, her husband started borrowing money from her to “invest” in stocks. Unwittingly, she lent him ten of thousands of dollars until she found out that he has been supporting a Peidu mama and her daughter behind her back. She was shocked, depressed and suicidal. However, she still wanted to salvage the marriage. Her husband filed for divorce, claiming that the China woman knows how to “please him better” in bed.

2. J is a retired dentist with 3 children who are married and living with their own families. His wife of 40 years is a homemaker. During a visit to a massage salon in Chinatown, he came to know this middle-aged Peidu mama whom he soon become bescotted with. Not surprisingly, he got into a rendezvous with her and began traveling with her frequently back to her hometown in China. A year into the affair, the Peidu mama requested for a loan of S$300,000 from J to build a “love-nest” in China for both of them to retire “happily” in. After J transferred the sum to her bank account in China, the woman vanished into thin air together with her child. Even her family in China had relocated en masse.

I am pretty sure this represents only the tip of the iceberg and readers here will have many similar stories to share too. There has never been any proper study conducted to analyze the social impact of this unregulated influx of Peidu mamas into Singapore – the number of strayed husbands, estranged couples, and divorces which are caused directly or indirectly by them, not to mention the number of sleepless nights, broken hearts and lonely lives our poor Singapore women have to endure.

Does the Singapore education system really need so many China students to boost their coffers ? And do these students need the constant presence of their mothers by their side in order to excel in their studies ? Will there be any supervision or guidance at all if their mothers are busy “earning” a living outside ? It is high time the relevant authorities review the positions of Peidu mamas in Singapore to assess their long-term impact and contributions if any, to both our society and economy.

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