Th is story began when my best friend, Sumana Rajarethnam, and I decided in 2004 to spend a month cycling around Malaysia on a daily budget of RM10 (US$3) each, meeting people wherever we went. Th ough the impetus for the trip was our own desire—naive as it was—to “bett er relations” between our two countries, it ended up being a wonderful journey of observation, interaction and self-discovery.

The fi rst, perhaps obvious point, is that Malaysians and Singaporeans do indeed have much in common. All across Malaysia we met people who had connections to
Singapore. An old man who had lived and worked there under the British administration; a daughter who had been sent to school; a young man who, originally from Kelantan, a northern state, now lives in Johor, the southernmost, in order to commute every day to Singapore for work. Similarly, there are so many people in Singapore with relatives, friends or business contacts in Malaysia—more than 5 percent of Singapore’s population is, in fact, Malaysian.

Pahang is famous for lepak,relax, Kelantan is good for women, because they are mixed with Siam, they are beautiful up there, Terengganu is great for food and Johor is the place to look for work.

Malaysia is a country where one ethno-religious group—the majority Malay Muslims, the so-called bumiputeras, sons of the land—is given preference over the others.2 Singapore, which is majority Chinese, tries its best to run a race-neutral meritocracy. Th is diff erence in our worldview is the major reason our countries split apart in 1965.

We think their system is unfair; they think our system is unfair.

In 2004, as we cycled around Malaysia, many people lamented Singapore’s cold capitalism, and predicted that income inequality would prove a big problem. Even back then, this was not really a new idea. Many Malaysians, including Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister, had made similar observations before.

In other words, excellent behind the scenes, stage fright in front.

Perhaps that refl ects what we value in life. Malaysians, by and large, appear to place a greater importance on big families. We Singaporeans, meanwhile, are clearly more interested than Malaysians in making money. Singapore’s society has long pushed a materialistic defi nition of success, the socalled “5 C’s”—Cash, Credit card, Car, Country Club, Condominium. Sadly, somebody forgot to include the most important one—Children.