GEORGE TOWN: A social media post by a 50-year-old popiah seller looking for a wife in Penang is generating a buzz here.
Promising that his future partner would "never live a life of hardship" being with him, Tay Soon Teik, who sells popiah at Padang Brown, Datuk Keramat, said he has never been in a relationship and that he was looking for someone to spend the rest of his life with.
He said he has gone on matchmaking dates in his youth but they did not end up bearing fruit.
Tay added that he thought it was due to the perception that being a hawker was not a glamorous profession.
"Moreover, I come from a single-parent family. Maybe that is why people think I may not be a good candidate," he told China Press.
However, Tay claimed that he was financially stable and he owned properties on the island worth more than a million ringgit.
"I have several properties, including landed terrace houses and flats. I also have savings in my bank account," he said.
Tay, who has been a hawker for 30 years, added that because he was financially sound, he has kept the prices at RM3 for every two popiah the same for the past nine years.
"Why did I not raise my prices? It is because I do not have a financial problem. I do not need to raise my prices. Anyone becoming my wife will never live a life of hardship.
"I hope to find a wife, and I also hope for someone to one day inherit my popiah stall," he said.
Tay said he had no requirements apart from the fact that his wife must be Chinese as it was his mother's request.
He added that he would post matrimonial advertisements every four years but none of them has borne fruit so far.
Tay said that if he does not find a wife in the next two years, he is ready to retire and let his sisters and their children inherit his properties.
"These things (properties) have no use to me. Who am I to leave them to? If I still can't find a wife, I am ready to retire and enjoy life," he said.
Tay's latest matrimonial advertisement, which was uploaded onto a Penang-based Facebook group on April 18, generated some interest on social media and received around 60 comments in less than a day.
