Malaysia may be in uncharted waters with a new coalition in power for the first time, but regional watchers predict that the country's relationship with Singapore will stay the same at its core, given the deepening of common interests over the years.

They acknowledge that there could be concern of a return to occasional strains in relations, seen during the 1990s when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister. But old quarrels are unlikely to resurface and cooperation will remain the order of the day, as both Singapore and Malaysia grapple with new challenges posed by a more complex global environment, observers note.