China’s Great Wall, Trump’s ‘build the wall’ mantra and a Malaysian state’s wall ambitions
People from Kelantan in Malaysia go to Thailand for pleasure. Migrants enter the US from Mexico. Why leaders dream of walls to stop them
One of the touchstones of Donald Trump’s first presidency was his vow to “build the wall” to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States from Mexico.
In fact, walls already exist along the US-Mexico border, but they are not continuous. What Trump, who will become US president again in January 2025, appeared to promise was a single, uninterrupted barrier running the length of the 3,145-kilometre border.
Recently in Asia, a border wall was also proposed, albeit on a less ambitious scale and for different reasons.
The purpose of this wall, according to Kelantan state authorities, would be to combat smuggling and other cross-border crime, and to mitigate flooding. The plan has been submitted to Malaysia’s federal government, which says it will study the proposal.