Reflections | Singaporeans and Malaysians squabbling over border behaviour should look at 2 ancient Chinese states before forgetting how close they really are
- Despite being separate, equal and independent nations, Singapore and Malaysia are symbiotic in a manner that is rarely encountered in present times
- Two similarly close Chinese states discovered why such ties shouldn’t be taken for granted, giving rise to the saying: ‘without lips, the teeth will be cold’
Malaysia and Singapore further opened their borders to each other’s citizens and residents on April 1, restoring pre-Covid travel protocols for fully vaccinated individuals. But the initial euphoria quickly dissipated when photographs and videos of badly behaving owners of Singapore-registered vehicles went viral.
There were a handful of incidents like reckless driving, pumping subsidised petrol meant for Malaysians only, and so on, but human nature being what it is, many Malaysians conflated the perpetrators of these isolated but widely shared incidents with the entire population of a country.
It doesn’t matter that hundreds of thousands of Singaporean visitors, friends and relatives are generally well-behaved in Malaysia. Some people will see what they want to see. It doesn’t help, of course, when opportunistic politicians wade in to muddy the waters.
When we consider the recorded past – all seven centuries of it – the island of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula have been together much longer than they have been apart.
The sultans of Melaka justified their right to rule by claiming descent from the legendary kings of Temasek (the ancient name of Singapore). The present royal family of the state of Johor, the Malaysian state immediately north of Singapore, are direct descendants of Temenggong Abdul Rahman, an important official in Singapore who played an instrumental role in establishing the British presence on the island in 1819.
