Floating on a Malayan Breeze by Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh

Well, if not exactly our countrymen, then our cousins, our brothers from another mother. We would, in short, soak in Malaysia, her people, her nature, everything about this vast country. We would stop at roadside vendors, slurping up tropical fruits for a song, and yet still wonder, all the way home, whether we had just been fleeced. We would visit relatives, sometimes five or six homes in a day, popping our heads in to sip tea, nibble cakes and watch the oldies play Cupid-'Is there a nice boy for her in Singapore?' As a little boy, I remember travelling from Singapore to Malaysia, sitting in the backseat of my dad's car, swerving through Malaysia's old single-lane highways, evading smog-emitting trucks piled high with oil palm fruit. I use 'Malaya' because I grew up thinking of the two countries as one. This is a story about Malaysia and Singapore-or Malaya, if you will. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.

What they found are two countries that have developed economically but are still struggling to find their souls. Not satisfied, they then went on to interview many more people in Malaysia and Singapore. They spent 30 days on the road, cycling through every Malaysian state, and chatting with hundreds of Malaysians. How have these policies affected ordinary people? How do these two divergent nations now see each other and the world around them? Seeking answers to these questions, two Singaporeans set off to cycle around Peninsular Malaysia, armed with a tent, two pairs of clothes and a daily budget of three US dollars each. Singapore, meanwhile, has tried to build a meritocracy - ostensibly colour-blind, yet more encouraging perhaps to some Singaporeans than to others. Malaysia has given preference to the majority Malay Muslims - the bumiputera, or sons of the soil. Since then, the two countries have developed along their own paths. What happens after a country splits apart? Forty-seven years ago Singapore separated from Malaysia.

Floating on a Malayan Breeze by Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh