Rent-a-wife common in KalimantanPAY $5,000 and take home a 'wife' for a few years. That was a scheme in West Kalimantan that The New Paper on Sunday exposed in November.
While visiting the area on another assignment, reporter Esther Au Yong discovered that contract marriages were common among poor Chinese girls in Singkawang, a town three hours' drive from Pontianak.
Foreign men paid money to their families and the girls become 'wives' - with some conditions.
The fee was not a dowry. There was no legal marriage. And the contract, either verbal or in writing, often stipulated the period of marriage - five or two years, or even shorter.
Agents match-made pretty girls and interested men - often Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean men in the area for short-term work assignments, or who who had flown in solely to select a 'bride'.
Once an agreement was reached, the contract was drawn up between the bride's parents, the man and the agent. The man paid the fee, usually 30 million rupiah ($5,070), and took the girl away.
Ceremonial rituals are held but the marriage is not registered. The deals are not legal in Indonesia.
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