Our differences were quite uncanny; maybe we looked pretty similar, but we were different. Indonesians and Malaysians could understand each other, but we were still distinct.
As an Indonesian, I can answer this based on my experience with my friends from that country, and I feel the differences between us. Here are the differences:
- Language: Indonesians speak Indonesia, Malaysians speak Malay, and Filipinos speak Tagalog. Indonesians and Malaysians can eerily understand each other, mostly from media such as Upin Ipin and other Malaysian cartoons or Indonesian music. But we don't understand the Filipinos.
- Religion: Indonesians and Malaysians were predominately Muslim, but the Filipinos were predominately catholic
- History: The reason our country was different was that a different European power colonized us in the past; the Dutch colonized us Indonesians, the British colonized the Malaysians, and the Spanish colonized Filipinos, then the United States.
But with all those differences, we still have much in common, like how we like our music and arts. The three of us love storytelling, folk art, and food, and well, don't get me started there, as we love eating rice and spices! And also coconut oil, our food was different, but we still have the same ingredients.
We were lovely, kind and friendly. We treat foreigners with utmost hospitality. It is within our blood to do, and we love to do it; that's why we were colonized back then: we were too kind to foreigners, haha.
I think that quite sums up the question about our differences and commonalities in a short answer: we love to mock each other in online games or online discussions, well we love to, not because we hate each other, but because that's what brothers do, they mock each other, but only them could mock each other, no other people could do that to their brother, only them. Our brotherhoods may look similar to how the Canadians treated the Americans or Australia; it's also the case with Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, three Southeast Asian brothers.
Sources: Philippines_Ball in X. Link: Philippines_ball (@PhilippinesBall) on X
Thank you for reading my short answer about three brothers from Southeast Asia; I hope you enjoyed my writing, and don't forget to upvote the answer, as it is significant to me. Thank you, and have a nice day!
