When telco project engineer Loke Hing Seong decided to propose to his girlfriend of four years, little did he know that his proposal would go viral and be witnessed by tens of thousands of people.
Instead of getting down on one knee the old-fashioned way, he “sold” himself on popular online daily deals website Groupon for marriage to his sweetheart Hon Mei Chen, a 30-year-old secretary for an NGO.
The “deal” was published at 8am Tuesday (November 8) and within hours it garnered more than 23,000 “buys” and counting, undoubtedly from people supporting Loke in his quest for lifelong happiness.
He was also inundated by calls from his curious friends who spotted his online proposal.
By about 10am, an emotional Mei Chen called him to say, “Yes”.
On the Groupon page, among the highlights of the “deal” was a lifetime of marital bliss, child rearing and IT support, free cuddles, nuzzles and snuggles and infrared sensors to detect female emotions.
When contacted by The Star, Loke said that he got the idea about three weeks ago when he noticed that his girlfriend would look at the Groupon website first thing every morning to scour for the best deals and offers.
“So I e-mailed them and met them to work out the details. At first I told them that maybe we could come up with a deal that would cost a minimal amount and that the proceeds go to charity.
“Then later they decided not to charge me anything. For that I'm very grateful,” he said.
In an e-mail to The Star, Groupon Malaysia revealed that they were also taken aback when Loke first wrote to them with his request.
“When we received his request, we initially thought it was a prank of sorts. Our minds changed when Loke showed up at our office unexpectedly, and poured out his love story to us.
“We thought it was pretty unbelievable, but through this young man's expressions, we knew from the start that he was utterly in love with Mei Chen, and wanted nothing lesser than the best surprise for her,” they said, calling the deal a Grouposal' as a combination of the words Groupon and proposal.
“As Groupon's main purpose of existence is to provide customers with the best experiences in life, we thought this would be a great Groupon for Mei Chen a lifetime's worth of marital bliss,” said Groupon Malaysia chief executive officer Joel Neoh.
