We all know that there is a saying that "a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor", which means that neighbors who are not relatives are often stronger than relatives in the distance. After all, once there is something wrong, no matter how close the relatives are, they will not quench their thirst, while neighbors who are close at hand can provide help within their ability as soon as possible. But in reality, such beautiful pictures are more of wishful thinking and beautiful wishes. Just as Hedgehog is too close to each other and will stab each other, the distance between neighbors is more likely to cause friction or even conflict in interests. At the overseas Q&A forum, Southeast Asian netizens asked: How do East Asians and Southeast Asians view each other? Let’s take a look at the views of foreign netizens.
Questions
Philippine netizen Meiji Marts' answer
I am from the Philippines. When I think of our ASEAN neighbors, the following is my personal opinion:
Indonesia:
cousins with larger land area and more Muslim cousins. Malaysian twins, because they are so similar, it seems to have a love-hate relationship. They are most similar to us (in terms of personality, music taste, sense of humor, etc.), and we get along well, especially the Christian Indonesian Easterners.
Both countries are similar terrain of a very large tropical island archipelago. As far as volcanoes and earthquakes are concerned, they are as prone to disasters as we do, but they are lucky because they don’t have typhoons. Poverty and corruption are similar to those in the Philippines. Like us, Indonesia also has a large overseas workforce.
Bali temples are our common tourist destinations. Great food, similar to Malaysia.
Malaysia:
Rich cousins. Similarly, people usually talk about the same topic with Indonesians. There is also a little Singapore flavor. Great food, similar to ours, except that it is more developed and not as pork-based as our dishes.
is very similar to our culture, just like Indonesia, we usually get along well. However, they are a little more conservative than Indonesians.
has a certain degree of racist policies and poor records when it comes to maids. I used to think their success was because their government was less corrupt, but recent events have changed that perception, the MDB scandal.
is religiously strict, but not as strict as Indonesian Aceh or Brunei . As refugees in the violence in southwestern Mindanao tend to flee to Sabah, there is a certain degree of suspicion, which inadvertently caused the consequences of Sabah becoming a terrorist and being hunted by our army to a safe harbor.
Brunei:
This snobbish cousin decided that they were more like an Middle East country than a Southeast Asian country. Rich oil stains. We know very little about them except their harsh Shariah.
Thailand:
role model for development. A model for Southeast Asia and tourism superpowers. Beautiful temples and artworks. Delicious food. Admiration for their prosperity and preservation of culture.
That is to say, their language often uses nasal sounds, which sounds very interesting, similar to most languages in China and India. Few people speak English and they speak their native language, so there is a great language barrier. Nowadays, many Filipinos are English teachers in Thailand, so one day we can communicate better.
Some Thai movies are very popular in the Philippines, especially horror and martial arts movies. They seem to be more shy and introverted than the Southeast Asian islanders.
Vietnam:
An unexpected friend who opposes expansionism. Especially after we experienced the Vietnam War .Admiring their courage and the fact that they fought side by side with the United States and China and held their positions. The strange combination of socialism and capitalism seems to work very well. Everyone seems to be consciously working to improve the country. Because of our corrupt local politicians, we can only hope for something now.
We know very little about their culture, only knowing that it is deeply influenced by Chinese culture, some of which come from their distant past (such as Japan and South Korea), and a little bit of Indochina culture. Their alphabet is confusing. Their language is also nasal and funny to us, a bit like a mix of Thai and Chinese. Great food and we all share the bread. They have a large number of scooters and bikes on the road.
In terms of personality, they look like Thai, but are more open and outgoing.
Cambodia , Laos and Myanmar :
It is difficult for us to separate these three. Beautiful temples, strange art forms and rich culture, but I personally think they are somewhat like the dark hearts of Southeast Asia. These three countries have suffered from civil war, genocide, drug trade and cruel militarist regimes for most of their existence (and continue to this day in some regions). They are recovering, but their relationship with other ASEAN members is more closed and seems to be increasingly affected by China. They are the most recent countries to join ASEAN.
Specifically: Myanmar is famous for temples in the Bagan Plain and the Rohingya crisis. Cambodia is famous for Angkor Wat . Laos is known for being involved in the Vietnam War and for the unexploded mines that are still killing and damaging people.
Singapore:
That rich and popular child. Sometimes good, sometimes arrogant. An economic role model like Thailand, but for our tastes, the wealth drive may be too strong. The relationship is a bit tense because they tend to look down on our Filipino maids and there are also racist incidents.
Like us, their views on things are often more westernized, and although their media is not like our freedom, they also have some strange civil law. Everyone seems to be professionally driven and under a lot of pressure, which is in sharp contrast to our more laissez-faire islander personality. But their party was very hard. Maybe it's a bit too difficult.
Their English is strange to us and difficult to understand. It is British English with a strong Chinese accent mixed with Chinese, South Asian and Malay words. Tenses, conjunctions, pronouns, etc. are often missing. However, as two of the most English-speaking countries in ASEAN, I wonder why we don’t have much cultural exchanges in terms of music or entertainment.
For non-ASEAN countries that are associated with or are joining ASEAN:
East Timor :
Our Christian cousin. It is still a new country, so we don't know much about them. We do know that our government has given them some help in teachers and other aspects.
Papua New Guinea :
A mystery. We know almost nothing about them, only knowing that some of them have very similar cultures to our black people. They have vast territory, but most of them are yet to be developed.
bangladesh :
Little India, although more Muslims. Disasters are prone to occur. Poverty, education, corruption and other issues.
Pakistan :
bin Laden hiding place. Very similar to India, but more like Muslims, and don't know much about them.
Sri Lanka :
Historically, as part of our trade route to the Middle East and the stopover to Madagascar , we are closely connected with Southeast Asian sailors. Similar to India. They have been very close to China recently. Until recently, little was known about them, and they had been fighting a rather vicious civil war.
does not belong to ASEAN, nor does it intend to join ASEAN, but we are close to countries.
India:
Southeast Asia uncle. In ancient times before the arrival of Islam and Christianity, it had a significant impact on our culture. Large country and population. Very diverse and colorful, which also applies to their cooking, entertainment, etc.
Another English-speaking country. We are easier to understand than Singapore English , but their accents are unique and interesting.
Beautiful temples and art, but also problems of poverty and corruption.
China:
The cultural source of East and Southeast Asia, like India, in ancient times, it also seriously affected our culture through people scattered in Fujian and Guangdong. About 20% of Filipinos have Chinese ancestry in both groups, although most have been completely assimilated. There is a strange competitive relationship with the United States, which affects their relationship with all the countries around them.
is very developed and has a wealth-driven culture similar to Singapore. She has beautiful art, diverse culinary dishes and nations, and is also the world's manufacturing capital.
Japan:
role model for economic development. Very rich culture and high art. Common destination for our travels. The world's capital of technological innovation. They have close ties with South Korea and have a similar culture (they also have love-hate relationships). Considered as a workaholic and very polite. Fascinated by etiquette and proper etiquette. Very conservative and almost cold, which forms a strange contrast to the Kawai culture.
Japanese anime is very popular in the Philippines, as are some Japanese movies.
The past days were dark due to their atrocities in World War II , but now the relationship between the two countries is very friendly. Japanese islands are also prone to disasters, such as earthquakes and floods.
Korea:
Another role model is probably the most popular Asian neighbor in the Philippines. Similar to Japanese culture, but less workaholic and more outgoing and friendly. Christianity has a large population. It is closely related to automobiles, electronics, K-Pop, plastic surgery and K-TV series. A common tourist destination for Filipinos. In turn, Korean is the country with the largest number of tourists in the Philippines. Many Koreans also learn English in the Philippines.
Thai netizen thanarat's answer
My opinion as a Thai.
Malaysia: Here are the advantages of higher wages, better roads, richer and more economical. We think this is a livable country, with the exception of food and rents being more expensive. Many people think they are economic opponents.
Singapore: Go three times. We think they are a relatively developed country with very small living space. Higher skyscrapers and higher cost of living. They are good at speaking English and Chinese. Many container ships and tankers pass by and unload there, they are good traders. I heard from retired Singaporean that this is a stressful country with strong and strict laws. We think they are our own alliance. We cannot compete with them in terms of trade, technology and education systems.
Indonesia: I have never been there. All I know is that their city is crowded and Bali is nice.Their GDP is the highest in ASEAN, which is great for them to invest in a lot of things. Indeed, my opinion of them is positive. I can say that I think they are siblings. Not all Thais do this. At least, we never had any problems with them.
Brunei: a small country rich in oil. When we hear the name of this country, we always think of the Middle East ( Saudi Arabia or UAE).
Laos: Friendly people have a lot of beautiful women, even on social media, they have a negative view of us because of history. Well, no one in our history class said that before World War I , we treated Laos and Cambodia as vassal states. Most Thais only knew in high school that parts of Laos and Cambodia were Thai before the French occupied Laos and Cambodia. That's all. They also rarely mention the Siam-Vietnam War in the 19th century. But look at Myanmar. During this period, their empire conquered most of Southeast Asia ( Lanna , Ayutthaya , Lansang) and burned down the Siam Palace to obtain gold.
Overall, I think Laos is kind and friendly. As a country, I see some of the nearby socialist countries , China and Vietnam, which are getting richer. S, P.P Lao needs to catch up as soon as possible.
Cambodia: Many Thais don’t like them, especially Hun Sen Prime Minister. They say Cambodia burned down the Thai embassy. However, if we see a good business that can be invested, I think we will go there but not elsewhere.
Myanmar: Most of the things I think of are pagodas and a rusty passenger train running in the wild. In addition, a large number of immigrants in Thailand are Karen. They call themselves Carioners, ethnic minorities or mountain people, which stunned many Thais. In the past, we linked the word “Kariangs” to the long-necked “Kariang” living on high mountains, but they didn’t look like that. Despite conflicts in the past, many Thais feel that they are closest and friendly to their neighbors, and this is mostly the view on Thai forums.
Vietnam: Some Vietnamese think Thai products are good. We think our goods are average. Some people may be excellent enough to compete on the world stage. Many are not. I think we don't know each other well except the Vietnam War. I think their economy has grown very fast in recent years and the beaches are beautiful. It would be great to visit there one day.
Philippines: I would think of bananas and hundreds of islands. They have the deepest part of the ocean and speak very well in English. We know they were once colonies of the United States, and the Japanese Empire controlled them during the Second World War . I think a lot of Filipinos like to work in the United States. I have a few Filipino friends and they are very good. Seriously, I think Filipinos are more free than us. We have a lot of transgender , but that doesn't mean we're open to it. Most of us are still conservative in our hearts. We were also surprised when we saw Westerners (mostly Russians) lying naked on the beach.
Thailand: We never take great respect for ourselves. Indonesia is much better in terms of GDP and national income. Malaysia and Singapore are more developed and richer ( per capita GDP). Vietnam is always working harder than we are and making progress in every way. The Philippines, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have a large number of forests and natural resources. Even now, people still complain about why the government did not promote the electronics industry, but focused only on the automobile and tourism industries of the past.
Anyway, if there is any ASEAN country that wants to compete with us, I will say "Welcome and good luck". They are not the first, nor are they definitely the last to win us in the business and sport (military) fields. Finally, I think we will survive as always.
