Its comments about the unfamiliarity of many young people here with their sister-society across the Causeway are very well taken.

Sadly, current indications give too little ground for hope that this situation will change in the near future.

More broadly, however, many Singaporeans have, in fact, embraced the region.

The local private sector's understanding of Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia is, in many cases, deep and sophisticated. In addition, the South-east Asian Studies Programme here at NUS has offered a generation of students a superb preparation in the Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese languages, which many of its alumni speak with remarkable skill.

The programme has also operated a very successful part-time master's by coursework course in South-east Asian studies. Taught at night, this program has attracted many tens of teachers, civil servants and professionals, motivated above all by their personal interest in Singapore's nearest neighbours. Many of its students remain intensely engaged with South-east Asia after they complete their degrees.

In the face of reported steep tuition fee increases, however, that course now faces an uncertain future.

Finally, there are other indications that the 1960-2000 period will prove an aberrational era in Singapore's history. For, in many ways, the multi-stranded ties between the island and the rest of South-east Asia have weakened during the era of high nation-building, which seems to be gaining strength again.

The intra-regional linkages of the late Professor Wong Lin Ken's classic study, 'The Trade of Singapore, 1819-1869', and of subsequent decades as well, may yet re-emerge.

Michael J. Montesano