I still dislike the word “Laotian.” It just doesn’t sound right to me. I guess I’m too used to saying “Lao.”
BTW: “Lao” can mean “liquor” and it can mean “Laotian”; it’s just a matter of pronouncing the word with the proper tone. I remember one time trying to explain about Midori, that green melon liqeur from Japan. I was trying to say it was “lao kheeo” ( “a green liquor”, “liqueur” having no linguistic equivalent and indeed being a strange concept to the hard-drinking Thais), but I could not get the tone correct. They thought I was trying to tell them about some green Laotians. Since we were pretty well lit to begin with, the whole thing degenerated into massive laughter.
No wonder I’m confused. Wikipedia says Singapore was expelled after an ideological dispute. Another website says: “In Singapore, the interpretation is that Singapore was expelled' from Malaysia, while in Malaysia, Singapore is seen as having withdrawn’ from the Federation.” Sheesh! They can’t even agree on why Singapore left!
I do know Malaysia and Singapore continues to bitch-slap each other from time to time today.