Though the cultures of modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia doubtless share similarities, there are also some fundamental differences that tend to be glossed over, such as language and religion, wrote NTU dean of CoHASS and RSIS Joseph Liow. The differences run deeper too. Notwithstanding periods of harmony, their historical relationship has also been defined by an equal measure of animosity that can be traced back to the pre-modern rivalry between the Javanese and Malay kingdoms.

… Joseph Chinyong Liow is dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, at Nanyang Technological University. He is the author of The Politics Of Indonesia-Malaysia Relations: One Kin, Two Nations.