All that has been said by Khairy - was said for the internal consumption of Malaysian politics; and it will take a monumental change in the Malaysian Malay thinking before the Singapore bogey will evaporate to advance their confidence without any further dependence on this "Singapore crutch".
Khairy has said more things then necessary, and has offended quite a few sectors of Malaysian Community, as was seen in his recent plea to his Malay Community not to take sides in the Mahathir inspired quarrels with Badawi; which he has warned will only weaken UMNO and the Malay community and which will allow the Chinese Community to take advantage of this split.
This careless insensitive political statement created an uproar with the Chinese Community, and led to the Youth Wing of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) to take the lead to seek clarification from Khairy - who is the current Deputy President of the UMNO Youth Wing.
Although, Khairy had explained that there was no "clear intent" to cast suspicion on the Malaysian Chinese Community - the clarification was not accepted by the larger Chinese Community, and not by everyone from the MCA Youth Wing - who has taken the lead in settling this matter, keeping "this storm inside the Tea Cup" and preventing it from getting any bigger.
With the "push-and-pulls and horse trading" of Malaysian politics, in which the "most talented and most qualified" has been prevented - and sacrificed - from contributing to the advancement of Malaysia economic strength. This can only result in Singapore having some breathing space to move light years ahead of any challenges from Malaysia.
For Singapore, it is fortunate that Badawi is the present Prime Minister of Malaysia, and we have always enjoyed excellent relations with Badawi - from the period of his tenure as the Malaysian Foreign Minister.
Badawi is a practical visionary - unlike Mahathir - as can be seen in the 9th Malaysian Plan - (9MP), which showed his boldness and vision in investing in the future for Malaysia. Badawi's 9MP does not feature any of Mahathir's mega iconic projects - such as the Petronas Twin Towers, Bakun Dam, and the Johor-Singapore Bridge - all of which had sapped the Malaysian Treasury.
In Peninsular Malaysia, the 9MP features three centers of economic excellence and take advantage of the available local expertise of the respective regions.
In the south, the 9th MP has the vision of creating a South Johor Economic Region that advance Malaysian industry in high technology and engineering; and it takes advantage of the large pool of human resource that shuttle daily between Johor and Singapore - to support the many Singapore high-tech and engineering heavy industries.
With a larger land space made available, new tax and investment incentives, the intended outcome of this project will be achieved - as evidenced by the positive response from many Singapore factories to new industrial sites opened on both sides of the Pasir Gudang Highway, encouraged by the Johor State Government.
In the north-east, Badawi had made a bold move into the heartland of the PAS opposition controlled state of Kelantan, by grouping Kelantan with Trengganu and Pahang into a north-east center of ecnonmic excellence and placing the biggest chunk of investment from the 9MP.
His bold move will invest in UMNO's political future by breaking the backward religious teachings of PAS religious schools, by elevating the educational and social infrastructure of this neglected rural community.
In the north-west, Badawi can be seen to be even bolder by moving deep into the home ground of Mahathir - seen as his political nemesis - and touching the Kedah grass-roots with bold plans to elevate the amount of financial and technical support programs to a largely neglected agricultural sector of this north-west region of Peninsula Malaysia.
With his broad and visionary 9th Malaysian Plan, Badawi has spread progress and economic development equally and without bankrupting his Treasury.
Some of the Malaysian political commentators have raised doubts to the extensive nature of this 9MP, and wonder if Badawi has over-stretched himself and the resources available.
Has the political commentators become trapped by their cynicism ?
Badawi has stated his clear goal of governance through " Transparency and Accountability " - and his 9MP has set out to achieve this by creating three centers of excellence, with each being managed by specific individuals, each having its own budget, and each having its set goals.
This makes the task of the Federal Government much easier in following up the progress of implementation by monitoring the effectiveness and results of the three separate management groups at the respective centers.
Singapore should make a positive contribution to strengthen the hands of Badawi in ensuring the 9MP will work by taking a positive role in that 9MP to benefit our own position in Malaysian economy.
The previous Malaysian government policies of RM100,000 transfer fees on private home transactions, as well as the banning of CLOB issues were made in knee-jerk response to certain crisis that affected Malaysia's larger interests; and its implementation had actually back-fired more on Malaysia future as well as to Singaporeans.
Lessons were learnt, and as matters stand now - the RM100,000 had been rescinded in view of the extreme glut in the Malaysian property sector; and the CLOB issue has been managed amicably - (this CLOB issue should not have come up if the Singapore Finance Ministry and SES had heeded the early warnings from Malaysia not to circumvent Malaysian laws by making indirect participation of the Malaysian Stock Exchange).
With new political leadership at the helms of both countries, Singapore and Malaysia should develop a more mature and sophisticated mechanism in guiding and developing the political attitudes and behaviors of those involved in politics.
This is critical as on the social, cultural and economic fronts - the relationship is mature, deep rooted, amicable, mutually supporting and beneficial.
The good relationship can be seen in the many cross-border marriages amongst the different ethnic communities of Malaysia and Singapore - which basically begs the question - can one differentiate between a Malaysian or Singapore Malay, Indian, Eurasian, or Chinese ?
We share the same food, customs, traditions, culture, social values, and way of life - (comparing like for like, i.e. the urbanites with the urbanites, rural folks with the rural folks). Is there any difference between the KL Pub Hopper with the Singaporean Pub Hopper ?
We enjoy our beer and music in the same manner, and are equally at home in any Pub in Malaysia or Singapore.
It is best that Malaysian and Singaporean politicians keep the interests of the common people in perspective, whenever they make any broad sweeping statements of their own politics or that of the wider world.
What comes around, will go around.