On June 28, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad flew to Jakarta, Indonesia, for a two-day visit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

The visit to Indonesia marks Mahathir's first visit to a Southeast Asian country since becoming the Prime Minister again in May.

Mahathir's reasoning for doing so is because Indonesia is Malaysia's "closest neighbour" and the two countries have a "family relationship".

What's more, according to Mahathir, "...a lot of Malaysians originally are from Indonesia, including my father-in-law."

Widodo charmed

Widodo was apparently charmed enough by Mahathir's comments to tweet about it afterwards.

Kunjungan pertama Bapak Mahathir Mohamad ke luar Malaysia sejak menjadi perdana menteri baru adalah ke Indonesia. Alasannya, Indonesia ini jiran terdekat dan memiliki hubungan kekeluargaan. “Ramai penduduk Malaysia itu dari Indonesia, termasuk bapak mertua saya,” katanya. pic.twitter.com/atA9ouFKQY

— Joko Widodo (@jokowi) June 29, 2018

For non-Bahasa Indonesian speakers, Widodo's tweet translates as:

"The first overseas visit by Bapak Mahathir Mohamad since he became the new prime minister is to Indonesia. His reason is because Indonesia is a close neighbour and have family relationship.'Many residents of Malaysia were from Indonesia, including my father-in-law,' he said."

Widodo accorded Mahathir with a state welcome at the Istana Bogor on Friday that consisted of a guard-of-honour mounted by the Indonesian Presidential Security Force, children waving Malaysian flags whom Mahathir shook hands with, and a joint planting of a tree between the two leaders.

Pohon meranti yang ditanam Bapak Mahathir Mohamad di halaman Istana Bogor ini akan tumbuh kuat, dan dikenang sebagai penanda kehadiran beliau di Indonesia dalam kunjungan resmi kenegaraan pertamanya ke luar negeri semenjak dilantik sebagai Perdana Menteri Malaysia yang baru. pic.twitter.com/JNvHZvWVR6

— Joko Widodo (@jokowi) June 30, 2018

It was more or less the same welcome that the late Muhammad Suharto had given to Mahathir 24 years ago. 

Prior to their meeting on Friday, Widodo had also personally received Mahathir when he touched down at the airport on Thursday.

Topics discussed between the two leaders included opposing pressure from Europe on the palm oil industry and reviving the joint development of the Proton car.

Opposing environmental concerns on palm oil

On the issue of palm oil, much of the pressure from Europe has arisen over environmental concerns.

The European Union is the largest export market for palm oil products for both Malaysia and Indonesia but the industry has been subjected to greater scrutiny in recent years as Europe has curbed its usage of palm oil to meet climate goals. As such, criticism of the industry has emerged over how it fuels deforestation and forest fires.

In his meeting with Widodo, Mahathir addressed the environmental criticisms by stating, "“European countries used to be covered with forests but they’ve cut them down and nobody argues with them about it. But when we clear land they say it pollutes the climate."

Reviving Proton

On the topic of Proton, Mahathir noted that in 2015, Proton had signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s PT Adiputra Citra Lestari to further “business opportunities between both companies” and possibly in jointly developing and manufacturing a car. However, the project did not take off due to Proton's restructuring.

Mahathir was the chairman of Proton at that time.

The goal of Proton is to eventually sell the jointly-developed car across Southeast Asia.

It remains to be seen if this is successful as Proton has been struggling to do well and last year saw Chinese auto company Geely taking a 49.9 percent stake in the carmaker.

Reactions in Singapore

When news of Mahathir's visit broke on social media, many Singaporeans reacted with pointed mockery, especially on Proton.

Others threw in a dash of patriotism for good measure

Mahathir on Singapore

Since taking on the post of Prime Minister again, Mahathir has made visits to Japan and Indonesia. At the same time, the 92-year-old talked about cancelling the High Speed Rail project with Singapore, about making Middle Rocks an island and wanted to review the price of water sold to Singapore.

Conversely, the Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Idris thanked Singapore for helping out during the drought seasons and the Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu likened the two countries' relationship to that of a married couple.

Top image from Joko Widodo Twitter