A picture speaks a thousand words, or so the saying goes.

You might have seen this picture of Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir looking rather displeased while sitting side by side at the National Day Parade 2019.

Goh and Mahathir clashed frequently over a myriad of issues back in the day.

As fellow prime ministers, the duo have sparred over, among other things, air space, the sale of Malaysian sand to Singapore, and most famously, the price that Singapore was paying for Malaysian water.

"Mahathir is an amazing man"

But our grand ESM Goh was not about to allow that narrative to propagate.

Just look at the number of times he described Mahathir and his wife Siti Hasmah as "amazing":

That's right, no less than three.

In his post, Goh also said the presence of Mahathir and his wife honours Singapore, and is evidence of the strong bonds between the two nations.

He also hopes that the ties between Singapore and Malaysia may grow even stronger.

Mahathir does not weigh in

Unfortunately, we do not get to see a third point of view, as Mahathir did not make any remarks regarding his interaction with Goh.

His post-NDP Facebook post, probably not written by him, stuck to the bare facts — that he attended National Day in conjunction with Singapore's 200th anniversary, and met with PM Lee, Jokowi and other dignitaries shortly before the event.

Unrequited affection, perhaps — at least online.

Although it seems offline, the two old men are quite happy together — happy enough to smile for a wefie together at least.

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Top composite image from All Singapore Stuff and MParader Facebook post