Sự phát triển của Singapore

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Hệ thống cây dùng năng lượng mặt trời khổng lồ ở Singapore

Các “siêu cây” có cấu trúc kiểu tháp, được làm từ bê tông và thép, có chiều cao lên tới 50 mét. Những siêu cây này sẽ tạo ra năng lượng từ mặt trời. Các hệ thống đặc biệt sẽ biến ánh sáng mặt trời thành năng lượng để thắp sáng. Thân cây được biến thành nơi sinh sống cho các loại thực vật khác.

Những chiếc cây nhân tạo này sẽ được sử dụng để trưng bày các loại cây cối đến từ khắp nơi trên thế giới.

Solar-Powered ‘Supertrees’ Light up Singapore

Eighteen “supertrees” — artificial trees up to 165 feet tall — will be unveiled to the public later this month in a new garden in Singapore.

The mechanical trees contain vertical gardens, generate solar power, collect rainwater and filter air for nearby buildings. They’re covered in over 162,900 tropical plants, including bromeliads, orchids, ferns, and tropical flowering climbers. Eleven of the trees have solar panels, providing energy to the conservatory buildings below. In the daytime, the trees will help provide shade and shelter for garden visitors, and absorb and disperse heat. At night, the solar power from the trees will be used to fill them with light.

Some of the tallest trees are connected by “skywalks,” allowing visitors to walk between them and look at the park below. The park, the new 250-acre Gardens by the Bay, also contains two conservatories holding plants from around the world. One of the conservatories uses plant waste to feed a steam turbine, generating more on-site renewable energy.

The park is part of the country’s plan to transform Singapore into a “city in a garden.” Costing $1 billion to build and designed by Grant Associates, the government hopes that the garden will help bring new visitors.[/QUOTE]

http://revmodo.com/2012/06/11/solar-...-up-singapore/

Singapore Grows Forest Of Solar-Powered Supertrees


http://www.earthtechling.com/2012/06...ed-supertrees/


Solar-powered 'supertrees' breathe life into Singapore's urban oasis


By Lauren Said-Moorhouse, for CNN
June 8, 2012 -- Updated 1108 GMT (1908 HKT)

(CNN) -- Singapore's latest development will finally blossom later this month, with an imposing canopy of artificial trees up to 50 meters high towering over a vast urban oasis.

The colossal solar-powered supertrees are found in the Bay South garden, which opens to the public on June 29. It is part of a 250-acre landscaping project -- Gardens by the Bay -- that is an initiative from Singapore's National Parks Board that will see the cultivation of flora and fauna from foreign lands.

The man-made mechanical forest consists of 18 supertrees that act as vertical gardens, generating solar power, acting as air venting ducts for nearby conservatories, and collecting rainwater. To generate electricity, 11 of the supertrees are fitted with solar photovoltaic systems that convert sunlight into energy, which provides lighting and aids water technology within the conservatories below...

Nguyên bài trong :

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/08/wo...bay/index.html

Singapore Is Building An Army Of 150-Foot Tall Supertrees

To develop its Marina Bay area, Singapore is building 18 "supertrees" as tall as 164 feet as part of a mulit-million project called Gardens by the Bay. The artificial forest will open to the public on June 29.

The trees will also generate solar power, collect rainwater and cool the buildings in the area. There will even be an aerial walkway between some of the trees to provide citizens and tourists with spectacular views of Singapore's downtown district.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/singa...#ixzz1ykMz7WQ4

Some of these super trees contain photovoltaic cells which bring in solar energy so the trees can light up at night.

http://www.businessinsider.com/singa...stories-tall-1

Những siêu cây năng lượng mặt trời được xây dựng tại South Bay, chính thức mở cửa cho công chúng thăm quan vào ngày 29/6. Nó nằm trong dự án khu vườn cảnh rộng của chính phủ Singapore nhằm cải thiện cảnh quan môi trường cũng như thu hút du khách.

http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/home.html

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Hình trong quá trình xây hôì tháng 4 / 2012

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Gardens by the Bay is just one of Singapore’s many initiatives towards a cleaner and greener future. ...

http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb...me-3668942.php


Die größte Herausforderung für ihn aber sind nicht Geld oder guter Wille der Politiker. Die größte Herausforderung für den Orchideenexperten ist die Uhr, die tickt: „Die Öffentlichkeit verlangt von uns, ihr innerhalb von fünf Jahren einen fertigen Botanischen Garten zu präsentieren. Wir müssen uns beeilen. Denn auch in den Tropen dauert es mindestens 15 Jahre, bis so ein Garten eingewachsen ist.“

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaf...-11779868.html

Báo Đức cho biết là áp lực lớn nhất đối với nhà thi hành công trình này không phải là vấn đề tiền hay các chính trị gia. Áp lực lớn nhất cho các chuyên gia Singapore là thơì gian thúc hôí : "Công chúng (nhân dân) đòi hỏi chúng tôi phải trình bày trong vòng năm năm một vườn thực vật. Chúng tôi đang gấp ...

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Chủ tịch “Hội VN-BL ĐK & HN” cho tôi hay, anh ta thao thao bất tuyệt ca ngợi đất nước Việt Nam phát triển vượt bậc, “ai cũng giàu có” và “ai cũng có thịt cá ăn hàng ngày”… Anh ta còn đề nghị cô nhà báo đừng có cái nhìn sai lệch về hình ảnh Việt Nam.

Một đất nước mà từ hàng chục năm nay, hàng trăm ngàn công dân cứ liều mạng, liều đời bỏ xứ ra đi đến miền đất khác tìm kế sinh nhai, ăn mày, làm dâu bắt buộc, làm đĩ, gây tội phạm, thì chắc chắn sự “phát triển”, “giàu có” của đất nước này phải rất đặc trưng, khác thường, cần phải xem lại, có khi phải viết thành sách cho các quốc gia nhược tiểu khác làm gương!

http://www.danchimviet.info/archives/9597

http://viet-studies.info/kinhte/VN_T...ng_Yomiuri.htm

Singapore bắt nhiêù đường dây người Việt chuyên trộm cắp

Police Bust Vietnamese Shop Theft Syndicate

8 Vietnamese Nationals, who are believed to be part of a shop theft syndicate responsible for a series of shop theft cases committed at various shopping centres in Singapore, were caught red handed by hawk-eyed Police officers who were lying in wait for them yesterday afternoon.

http://www.spf.gov.sg/mic/2010/10063...tsyndicate.htm

Vietnamese Duo Arrested for Serial Theft Cases

Police have arrested two Vietnamese nationals, a 47 year old woman and a 21 year old man, who are believed to be involved in a series of theft cases which occurred in shopping malls in the Central District between January 2010 to July 2010.

http://www.spf.gov.sg/mic/2010/10072...o_arrested.htm

Sau các cô dâu VN trình bày trong "bể cá" Singapore thì ...

20 cô gái Việt Nam bị bắt trong khi bán dâm ở Singapore

Hai mươi cô gái Việt Nam vừa bị bắt trong một cuộc tập kích của cảnh sát Singapore tại một quán ở đảo quốc này hôm thứ Tư, theo tờ báo Straits Times hôm 25 tháng Sáu.

Trong cuộc vây bắt này, các cô gái trên đã bị các cảnh sát bắt giữ trong lúc đang quan hệ với khách hàng tại khu vực Joo Chiat.

Tháng trước, 12 cô gái Việt Nam, tuổi từ 17 và 26, đã bị bắt tại một quán rượu ở Joo Chiat vì các hành vi được cho là liên quan tới tệ nạn xã hội.

20 Vietnamese hostesses were arrested during a police raid on Wednesday night.

A police spokesperson said none of the women were naked as had been reported in the media, but that they were "scantily-clad".

Lianhe Wanbao had reported that the hostesses were caught serving customers naked in a lounge along Joo Chiat.

Plainclothes policemen had visited the bar and saw the Vietnamese hostesses, some of whom were reportedly having sex with customers in the lounge.

The police conducted the raid at 8.50pm and arrested the women. They were ordered to put on their clothes before they were brought away for investigations. The lounge's customers were also asked to leave...

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singa...044914812.html

Vietnamese woman jailed for cheating by swapping iPhones

Another Vietnamese national involved in swopping of iPhones to cheat several mobile phone shops was jailed for 24 months on Wednesday.

Tong Thi Ngoc Minh, 28, had duped eight shops in various locations of a total of $7,680 together with her accomplice, Nguyen Van Huu, 33, last October.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2...g-iphones.html


Singapore lại bắt đường dây công dân ngươì Việt qua trộm cắp

Vietnamese theft syndicate busted

Police have arrested eight Vietnamese nationals, including five women, believed to have committed a series of thefts islandwide since July.

The suspects are aged between 17 and 47, and are believed to have stolen mobile phones, handbags and wallets from unsuspecting victims who had left the items out of sight or unattended in public areas.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...148742/1/.html

6 Vietnamese held over agarwood theft

Six Vietnamese were arrested when the state Anti-Smuggling Unit seized 51kg of agarwood during a raid on an apartment in Taman Merak Jaya, Simpang Ampat, here on Wednesday.

State Forestry Department enforcement and investigation officer Ramlee Ahmad said the unit raided the apartment in about 8.30pm and found the agarwood.

It is learnt that the agarwood was stolen from the Bukit Panchor Forest Reserve here...

http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general...#ixzz1zHo3sftC

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Các đường dây công dân Trung Quốc qua trộm cắp bên Singapore :

Two arrested for attempted theft on SIA planes

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2...22-341297.html

Crime syndicate targets Singapore flights—police

Singapore police warned Tuesday that members of a Chinese crime syndicate were believed to be stealing money from the bags of passengers while they slept on flights to and from the country.

Eighteen reports about in-flight thefts have been filed so far this year, up from only one in 2011, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Sam Tee, head of the airport police division.

“Investigations revealed that some of the thieves are suspected to be syndicate members from China working in groups of three to four individuals per flight,” Tee told AFP...

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/crime-syndi...070548243.html

Thefts on aeroplanes: Chinese gang fingered

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_804904.html

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Xuât´ khẩu cô dâu qua Hàn, Đài Loan, Singapore

Vietnam Mail Order Brides of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore

...There are private shows of match-making young Vietnamese women with Asian men, in which women are completely nude to potential husbands/buyers to buy them as brides...

http://www.eyedrd.org/2011/12/more-s...afficking.html

Malaysia cũng là thị trường xuât´ khẩu có tiềm năng. Trên cửa shop bên Malaysia có ghi Vietnamese brides :

Viet brides hot commodities

Statistics by the National Registration Department showed that between 2009 until Oct 15 this year, Vietnamese women continued to make up more than 30% of the foreign brides.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne...22-311871.html

Thị trường "xuât´ khẩu thịt" mang lại nhiêù ngoại hôí cho XHCN

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Singapore phạt nặng nêú quan hệ vơí gái vị thành niên, mà không hỏi tuổi . Nêú họ dươí 18 tuổi thì ai quan hệ vơí họ sẽ bị coi là ấu dâm, dù họ 16, 17 tuổi rôì cũng vậy. Bên Singapore luôn có nhiêù gái Việt qua Singapore bán dâm.


The men, aged 24 to 59, were charged in July 2011 with obtaining the sexual services of three Vietnamese girls, aged between 16 and 17.

They allegedly paid the girls S$100 to S$200 per session for sexual services...

Under the law, it is illegal to pay for sex with anyone under the age of 18...

The Vietnamese girls were said to have worked at various pubs located in Joo Chiat and Geylang at the time of the offence...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...192151/1/.html


Odd job worker jailed for paid sex with Viet minor

16 Jun 2012

A MAN who paid $120 to have sex with an underage Vietnamese prostitute was jailed for four months yesterday.

Odd-job worker Tan Wah Eng, 60, admitted to having commercial sex with the 17-year-old at Four Chain View Hotel in Geylang on June 19 last year.

It is an offence for any person to pay for the sexual services of a person who is under 18 years old.

The maximum punishment is seven years' jail and a fine.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Seraphina Fong said Tan would regularly meet an acquaintance, Seng Swee Meng, 42, at a coffeeshop in Lorong 42, Geylang.

Tan knew Seng was a pimp who had in his charge Vietnamese prostitutes, and said Seng told him that he had 'new arrivals'' of Vietnamese girls at one meeting.

Seng also said he could introduce them to him for sexual services in exchange for $100, the court heard.

On June 19, Seng told the underage girl to meet him at the coffeeshop in Lorong 42, Geylang.

He then instructed her to follow Tan, who was at the coffeeshop. Tan took her to a hotel and paid her $120 for her services.

Tan, who was among nine men brought to court in March for having commercial sex with underage girls, did not ask the victim for her age, the court heard.

Seng, who used to run a brothel in a Geylang flat with his Vietnamese wife Ngo Thien, 31, is now serving five years' jail after pleading guilty to 15 charges under the Women's Charter. His wife is on the run.

http://www.singaporelawwatch.sg/slw/...utm_medium=web

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Thiếu nữ Việt làm việc bất hợp pháp ở Singapore: đến đây để kiếm tiền

DVỹ chuyển ngữ

Nhiều người biết mình đến đây để làm gì, nhưng một số bị ép buộc làm nghề mãi dâm .

Thiếu nữ Việt bên ngoài một quán rượu tại Joo Chiat. Những thiếu nữ này nổi tiếng vài năm trước đây về việc đứng dọc trước các quán rượu, mồi chài mua dâm. Việc kiểm soát cứng rắn hơn của cảnh sát đã giảm bớt tệ nạn này rất nhiều.

Cô bay từ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sang Singapore đầu tháng này với tư cách là khách du lịch, nhưng đối với Kong (không phải là tên thật), những nơi mà cô quan tâm là các quán rượu tại Joo Chiat và những khách sạn rẻ tiền kế bên. Người mẹ độc thân 26 tuổi này là một thợ uốn tóc tại Việt Nam. Nhưng cô đã quyết định sang đây làm việc bất hợp pháp trong vai một tiếp viên quán rượu nhằm kiếm tiền dễ dàng hơn để nuôi đưá con trai 8 tuổi, cô nói.

Với vẻ ngoài hấp dẫn trong bộ váy ngắn màu đen, lông mi giả uốn cong, cô khép nép đến gần các khách hàng trong quán, uống với họ và để họ sờ mó.

Mục đích của cô là tạo ra "cảm giác bạn gái" trước khi thu từ $10 - $20 đô la từ khách hàng, những người này về sau có thể yêu cầu cô phục vụ tình dục. "Đôi khi" cô sẽ đồng ý với giá $150 đô la cho một lần qua đêm. Cô kể với The Straits Times: "Hy vọng tôi sẽ kiếm được 1000 đô la trước khi trở về nhà vào cuối tháng này."Kong là một trong nhiều phụ nữ Việt Nam đến đây để kiếm tiền bằng nghề tiếp viên hoặc mãi dâm trong những năm gần đây.

Những người Việt hành nghề trụy lạc này đã trở nên nổi tiếng khoảng sáu hoặc bảy năm trước, khi nhiều người bắt đầu đứng dọc bên ngoài những quán rượu tại Joo Chiat, mời gọi mua dâm một cách mạnh bạo. Việc này khiến cảnh sát kiểm tra gắt gao hơn và đã đẫy lùi hầu hết tệ nạn này.

Trong khi cơ hội làm ăn tại Joo Chiat giảm sút, một số thiếu nữ đã chuyển sang các quán rượu ở Geylang. Với việc bị truy lùng thường xuyên, một số bọn ma cô đã tìm cách mời chào gái mãi dâm trên mạng. Khách hàng sẽ gửi tin nhắn đến một ma cô, tên này sẽ sắp xếp họ đến gặp gái mãi dâm tại một khách sạn...

Vấn đề "cưỡng ép" mãi dâm xảy ra khi những thiếu nữ gặp khó khăn trong việc kiếm đủ tiền thưởng để trả cho những kẻ môi giới trong khoảng thời gian họ ở đây từ một đến hai tháng. Trong vài trường hợp, tiền nợ có thể lên đến 2000 đô la.

Đây là lúc mà người môi giới sẽ đưa ra những lời hăm dọa bóng gió cho biết rằng họ sẽ phải ngủ với khách.

Người phụ nữ trên nói: "Một số trong họ đồng ý. Một số thì không muốn. Khi họ từ chối, người môi giới nói rằng họ không thể quay về lại Việt Nam nếu không trả hết tiền.

"Đúng ra thì những kẻ môi giới đã sai trong hoàn cảnh nếu cô gái không hoàn trả được, họ đề nghị cô làm việc bán dâm. Trong những trường hợp này, khi các cô gái từ chối, họ sẽ đe doạ để làm các cô sợ hãi."

Một số thiếu nữ đã tìm đến cảnh sát.Kong nói rằng cô tự bay sang đây, nhưng ngày càng có nhiều thiếu nữ Việt khác dựa vào những người môi giới nằm trong những băng đảng tống tiền.Một tiếp viên quán rượu người Việt khác tên Tao nói rằng cô đã trả 1400 đô la cho một kẻ môi giới và bay sang đây sau khi biết được cơ hội này từ chị của cô, cũng làm ở đây. "Lần đầu tiên bạn sẽ phải cần sự giúp đỡ của người môi giới. Lần sau, bạn không cần nữa," người thiếu nữ li dị chồng vào tuổi 20 và có đứa con trai 5 tuổi ở nhà nói. Cô tính ra là cô có thể bay về lại với khoảng 1000 đô la sau khi khấu trừ tiền phí cho môi giới và tiền chi tiêu ăn uống, quần áo. Cô trả 10 đô la mỗi ngày để thuê một căn hộ ở Joo Chiat cùng với những thiếu nữ khác ...


Viet women here to make a quick buck

Many who come know what they are getting into, but some are coerced into prostitution

Vietnamese women outside a pub in Joo Chiat. These women gained notoriety a few years ago by thronging pubs there, soliciting for paid sex. Strict police enforcement has since reduced much of the sleaze. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
By Teh Joo Lin

SHE flew in from Ho Chi Minh City to Singapore as a tourist earlier this month, but for Kong (not her real name), her only places of interest are the pubs in Joo Chiat and nearby budget hotels.

The single mother, 26, was a hairdresser back home. But she decided to come here to work illegally as a pub hostess to make fast cash to bring up her eight-year-old son, she said.

Gaudily attractive in a black miniskirt, pumps and fake eyelashes, she sidles up to patrons in the pubs, drinking with them and letting them cop a feel.

Her aim is to provide the 'girlfriend effect' before collecting $10 or $20 from the patron, who may eventually ask her for sex. She 'sometimes' agrees, charging $150 for an overnight stay. She told The Straits Times: 'I hope I can make more than $1,000 before I go back later this month.'

Kong is one of many Vietnamese women who have come here to make a quick buck as pub hostesses or prostitutes in recent year ...

http://admpreview.straitstimes.com:9...000a35010aRCRD


Vietnamese Woman Arrested For Soliciting For Prostitution At Marina Bay Sands Hotel

http://www.spf.gov.sg/mic/2011/11060...mese_woman.htm

‘Scantily-clad’ hostesses busted in police raid

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singa...044914812.html

Gang of 8 Vietnamese jailed for stealing from Singapore shops

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_721765.html

Police arrest 3 Vietnamese nationals for mobile phone ruse

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_727372.html

More Vietnamese ‘foreign talents’ arrested in Joo Chiat raid



Following a recent raid by the police in Joo Chiat road where 20 naked Vietnamese hostesses were arrested, another 32 hostesses believed to be Vietnamese were arrested by the police in a raid last night.

The women were arrested in a lounge located along one of the shophouses in Joo Chiat.

According to a lounge patron who was at the scene, the women were seducing customers by taking off their underwear and letting men fondle them.

The patron said that when police barged in during the raid, many girls panicked and ran away, knocking over tables and chairs. The scene was extremely chaotic.

Many hostesses could not put on their underwear in time and were hauled off in a state of undress.

http://www.tremeritus.com/2011/06/27...oo-chiat-raid/

Together with his Vietnamese wife, Ngo Tien, 32, and two of her family members, they managed women from Vietnam who were flown into Singapore to work as prostitutes.

During a raid last August, police officers rounded up 30 Vietnamese hostesses and prostitutes working in various pubs in Joo Chiat and Geylang.

Half of them were managed by Seng and his wife. And four out of the 15 managed by the couple were virgins aged 16 and 17.

Seng faced four charges of harbouring prostitutes, four counts of receiving them at Changi Airport, four counts of living in part on earnings of prostitution, two counts of abetting to obtain commercial sex with minors and one count of managing a place where the sex workers were assigned.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne...30-356399.html

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Thị trường xuât´ khẩu phụ nữ mang lại nhiêù ngoại hôí cho CH XHCN VN





The Plight of Vietnam’s ‘Mail-Order’ Bride

Every year, thousands of Vietnamese women are sold into marriages abroad.




Brokered Marriages: Matchmaking or Exploitation?

May 29th, 2012 by Andrew Billo

A screenshot from J&N Viet-Bride's website showcases couples who met through the Singapore-based matchmaking service. (jnvietbride.com.sg)

In today's edition of the Global Times, the Chinese English-language newspaper tells us "Vietnam's mail-order bride business is booming." This, of course, is nothing new. But the story, and the controversy surrounding international marriage migration in Vietnam, reminded me of my time in the country.

Back in 2007, when I was working to support the health and welfare of migrant brides from Vietnam, an acquaintance sent a photograph he had taken while visiting Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5. It was of a poster advertising a marriage broker’s services, and its bulleted text read: “She is a virgin, she will be yours in only three months, fixed price, if she escapes in the first year, guaranteed to be replaced.” Although cross-border migration between countries of the region has existed for centuries, the mid-1990s saw a rapid uptick in the number of Vietnamese women marrying foreign men from countries around East and Southeast Asia. Living by the hundreds in viewing hotels around Ho Chi Minh City, women wait day after day for a prospective foreign husband to come and choose them.



How migrant brides eventually arrive in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and even China is controlled by a network of agents whose motives are more driven by profits than the welfare of the people they profess to help.

The proliferation of marriage brokering is largely market driven, and at the intersection of supply and demand, is the market price for these women: about US$5,000. One Singaporean agency, J&N Viet-Bride, advertises that men can travel to Vietnam, select a bride, get married, and return home, all in the space of a week. Their new wives join them a month later, once the visa formalities are completed.

As I found when working on this issue with regional governments as an official with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Vietnamese women are often living in isolation and are therefore highly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. But because policies are insufficient for mitigating the cross-border disparities that lead to this type of migration, governments should invest in empowering marriage migrants through education, while concentrating on effectively implementing existing laws.

What drives marriage migration?

The marriage migration phenomenon gained momentum after the opening of Vietnam’s economy to foreign investment. In the 1990s, there was an influx of Taiwanese businessmen traveling to work in the country. They found Vietnamese women, with Confucian values similar to their own, to make suitable partners. Upon returning to Taiwan, friends and family members caught on, and opportunists realized they could turn a profit on arranging marriages ... According to IOM, 133,000 Vietnamese women married foreigners between 2005 and 2010.

Many Vietnamese women, often from poor rural villages, favor the opportunity to live abroad, stating that they risk domestic abuse within their own villages if they are to stay behind. The lure of relative wealth overseas, and financial pressure to support their families, means migration can be a better option for many, even though they’ve heard some of the stories of marriages gone wrong.

Sometimes the marriages do go very wrong: Vietnamese women have been tricked into sham-marriages that were just a front for organized prostitution and others have been murdered by their husbands.

In spite of the known dangers and challenges, most Vietnamese women remain hopeful that language barriers may be overcome and their own marriages might be rosy. At the very least, the chance for the brides to remit some money to their families is enough incentive to tie the knot.

Trafficking, domestic abuse, or just loneliness?

The exploitation of marriage migrants sits in a policy gray area. Additional support that sometimes comes by way of strict anti-trafficking laws and large, Western-funded anti-trafficking projects, is not largely available to this group, and there are unclear guidelines for destination countries on how to handle cases involving abused migrants.

As non-citizens often unable to communicate with local law enforcement agencies, marriage migrants run the risk of being subjected to years of mistreatment behind closed doors.

Prevention is not an effective option, for one, because most of the women enter into the marriages voluntarily. Financial transactions associated with marriage are also common practice in the region, and so and it’s challenging for authorities to pinpoint whether a client’s fee is going toward the marriage or simply a tour of the country.

There are also few economic alternatives for the women involved, and local Vietnamese officials also lack the resources to adequately identify marriages likely to end in abuse. Demographic shifts, particularly growing populations in developing countries like Vietnam, and shrinking populations in developed countries like Singapore, exacerbate push and pull factors in sending and receiving countries.

Anything to be done?

When I worked on this issue , governments acknowledged that an outright ban on commercially arranged marriage migration was not a viable solution: enforcement wouldn’t be possible.

For example, Vietnamese police would periodically raid viewing hotels, thus pushing agents to neighboring, and less well regulated, Cambodia. Hoping to curb the rapid development of a marriage migration industry itself, Cambodia banned all such marriages for a few months in 2008. Commercial matchmakers subsequently re-focused their attentions on Vietnam.

Yet it’s not all about abuse. Many of the marriages work out to the couple’s mutual liking. And there are many Vietnamese women who capitalize on opportunities at the destination to undergo language training and become integrated into the destination societies.

But integration is seldom easy, particularly owing to regional classism between countries, the same problem that marginalizes thousands of labor migrants as well. More educational programs are needed in order to empower migrant brides to know their rights at the destination. Husbands, their families, and destination societies as a whole also have a significant role to play as well and should also be required to undergo orientation programs about cross-cultural relations, even from primary school onwards.

But the reasons for better understanding are not simply humanitarian in nature: In countries like Singapore, where close to 35 percent of workers are foreign, migrant brides will increasingly be a political force to reckon with, as will their children. Increased emphasis on inclusion would go a long way toward maintaining the stability of destination countries.

Before I left Vietnam in 2008, several departing migrant brides told me all they could do to protect themselves was to go to temple and pray. I hope they found happiness in their marriages and with their new lives abroad.

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/bro...r-exploitation

http://eyedrd.org/2012/06/the-plight...der-bride.html

[Dac Trung]

Sau 197 năm thì Việt Nam mới đuổi kịp Singapore

Two centuries for Vietnam to catch up with Singapore

... it would take Vietnam at least 197 years to catch up with Singapore ...

http://www.intellasia.net/two-centur...ingapore-19964


Singapore goes green

Posted on 3 July 2012 - 04:27pm

IN AN effort to raise the quality of life in Singapore, the government has embarked on a mammoth project called The Gardens by the Bay to enhance greenery and also to promote eco-tourism in the city....

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/423813