KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 ―  Celebrating its 50th year of independence, few Singaporeans will cry over its separation from Malaysia after escaping the “the political train wreck” across the causeway, said a column in the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

Instead, AFR said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has capitalised on the jubilant mood of the celebration to head into a general elections one year early, while his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Razak continues to be plagued by scandals.

“The odds are it will lift its vote as Singaporeans worry about the global economic outlook,” AFR columnist Greg Earl wrote, referring to ruling party People’s Action Party (PAP) headed by Lee.

“But this is really a transitional election where the new gaggle of opposition parties and modern candidates work out the right alternative policy approach for the future.

“Over the causeway in Malaysia, the cousin that has had the more feisty political system in the past seems more stuck in the rut, with the old rural conservative Malay elite not being prepared to cede control to more modern, liberal multi-ethnic leaders,” he added.

Singapore was expelled from Malaysia on Augut 9, 1965 after the Malaysia Parliament voted 126 to 0 in that favour, with no Singapore delegates present.

AFR pointed out that both countries are now showing a divergent path on managing a possible change of power after half a century of the same government, with Singapore’s PAP faring better by accepting the opposition’s challenge instead of resorting to service cut threats.

Meanwhile, it said Malaysia’s demand for change as demonstrated by the Bersih 4 rally over the weekend remains unsure due to alleged gerrymandering and the fractious opposition.

Instead, Malaysia’s opposition has now had to rely on an “unholy alliance” with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, it said.

“Father-knows-best democracy has helped the past economic growth of these two cousins. But with peers such as South Korea and Taiwan managing government change, any absence of a game plan on the Malay peninsula will become more of a question mark over the pair,” said Earl.

Ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) won 133 seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat against then Pakatan Rakyat’s 89 in Malaysia’s 13th general election. BN however won just 49 per cent of the popular vote.

Malaysia must call its 14th general elections on or before June 24, 2018.