Floating on a Malayan Breeze: Travels in Malaysia and Singapore Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh

What happens when a country splits apart? Forty-five years ago, Singapore separated from Malaysia. Since then, the two countries have developed along their own paths. Malaysia has given preference to the majority of Malay Muslims - the bumiputera, or sons of the soil. Singapore, meanwhile, has tried to build a meritocracy - ostensibly color-blind, yet more encouraging perhaps to some Singaporeans than to others. How have these policies affected ordinary people? How do these two divergent nations and their peoples now see each other and the world around them?