I have read numerous letters here of late that seem to radiate a certain tension every time the issue of Malay Malaysians and their brethren across the causeway surface. Let me paint a few broad strokes to frame this contentious issue.

The former believe that Malay identity is centered on a socio-politic defined by its leaders - a permutation of Umno elites, religious heads and royalty. This is an empirical definition post-1945. On the other hand, Singaporean Malays see themselves as a subset of a wider Singaporean national identity - a phenomenon since 1965. As such, they don't necessarily feel displaced from the Malay motherland.