Differences Between Singapore and Indonesia as Countries in Southeast Asia

Although Indonesia and Singapore are countries that are both member countries in Southeast Asia and are also the founding countries of ASEAN, there are many differences between these two countries.

The first and most prominent difference between these two countries is the culture that is formed within them. If Indonesia is famous for its large number of indigenous people with various ethnicities and languages that developed in one unitary state, then Singapore's majority of the population are foreign nationals. It is recorded in the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2009) that the population of Singapore comprises 42% of foreign countries working or studying.

Talking about the language differences between Indonesia and Singapore, it is certainly different, but actually, there are also similarities in the languages that are commonly used in Singapore and Indonesia. In Singapore, the language spoken is Singlish, which is an interesting combination of English, Hokkien, Malay, Cantonese, and Tamil. While Indonesia itself uses the national language, namely Indonesian, Indonesian itself is actually based on the modified Malay language, and some Indonesian languages have loan words from English.

Even though it is included in the category of an archipelagic country, Indonesia basically does not have a maritime status. However, on the other hand, Singapore is not an archipelagic country, but this country is included in the category of a maritime country. Singapore can be called a maritime country because it can take advantage of the sea and control the sea by sharing technological advantages and qualified human resources. Singapore is a smaller country than Indonesia, of course, but because of its strategic position, it can get maximum benefits from global sea trade through the large ports being built.

Judging from the differences between these two countries, even though they both come from the same family, namely Malays, they do not make this country hostile to each other. In fact, with this difference, the two can complement each other's needs.

Singapore and Indonesia have become old friends who are both struggling to establish ASEAN and are active members of it. Moreover, both of them belong to the Southeast Asia region.