SINGAPORE: The couple is all smiles as they sit, hand-in-hand, at a local Italian bistro in Singapore, chatting away about the recent nuptials and the bright future they hope to have together. For Thomas and Sunita, their recent wedding in April has been the highlight of their lives. They are a vibrant couple full of optimism, but they understand the hardships ahead of them. “Definitely we are serious about trying to make anything work and get ourselves to have a good life together, but we aren't without fear,” Thomas, a British banker living in Singapore for the past decade, told Bikyamasr.com. He believes that “marriage is hard, and for a lot of people, they just can't do it. I hope we are different.” His young wife, Sunita, nods in agreement. Her Indian background had been a contentious issue for her parents, who wanted her to marry an Indian man, but she fell in love with Thomas, and together they hope to live out their dream. “I couldn't be happier and even my parents are happy for us, so that is great,” she said. But in Singapore, there is a growing trend that is seeing more couples tying the knot, but at the same time, more couples are failing, ending in divorce. According to Singapore's Department of Statistics, the number of marriages in 2011 rose to 27,258 compared to 24,363 the previous year. At the same time, the number of divorces in the country rose to 7,604 compared to 7,338. Psychiatrist Mahan Chu told Bikyamasr.com that this shouldn't really give off red flags, as he pointed to a corresponding rise in both marriages and divorces. “What we should try to do is ensure that couples are ready to get married, so as to avoid the high divorce rate we have seen in recent years,” he argued. Still, he was quick to point out that even those statistics show that Singapore's divorce rate is lower than other developed countries. “In the United States, we know that half of marriages end in divorce, so here it is positive to know it's lower, but that means we need to examine why and more research is needed on that,” he added. Chu said a positive sign was the increasing marriage age for both women and men. The statistics revealed that the median age of first-time grooms rose from 29.7 in 2006 to 30.1 in 2011, while the median age for first-time brides rose from 27.0 to 28.0. The ages of divorcees have increased as well. The median age of male and female divorcees in 2011 were 41.3 and 37.7 respectively, compared to 29.6 and 35.7 in 2006. Last year also saw an increase in inter-ethnic marriages. They represented 20 percent of the total marriages in 2011, compared to 13 percent in 2001. And Sunita and Thomas believe those marriages can be more successful. “We have to be aware of more things, I believe, in our marriage because we come from different cultural backgrounds and have a different world perspective, but we know this and have already discussed a lot of issues,” added Sunita, a PhD student in the country.
