I think it is an excellent project. Even if its not a Chinese project, it would have been impressive on its own. But this being a Chinese project with some of the latest in high speed rail (HSR) technology is going to put some respect on China in ASEAN. People in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore generally desire HSR. But they also generally don't want Chinese HSR. They preffered the non-Chinese HSR like the Japanese Shinkansen HSR. The Indonesian government spent a few years of back and forth on whether to award their HSR project to Japan or China. China won the project because it had the best price, financing flexibility, and project delivery timeline. This reminds me of a famous saying in Africa: "The Westerners and Japanese would want to do a feasibility study. The Chinese would ask: when shall we start?". But the opposition pressure on the Indonesian government was still tremendous, there were protests, lawsuits, and some political infighting. The Chinese HSR project was off and on for a few years. But finally it is now going ahead. Hopefully there will be no U-turns anymore.
Malaysia and Singapore wanted HSR too, they've signed a joint agreement during the Najib administration in Malaysia. More than 90% of the HSR routes will be in Malaysia. The first route will connect the cities of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The distance between these two is around 300km, a 3 hour drive, 4 hours by slow rail, or a 45 minute flight. HSR would make the journey around 1.5 hours, a project that makes perfect sense. Malaysia and Singapore were debating for years whether to go with Japanese or Chinese options. TBH, I don't really care, who gets the project. Hell even China doesn't really care if they lose out this project. What is most important to China, is that it could connect with the upcoming HSR route coming from Thailand in the north of Malaysia when the time comes. To complete a part of the ASEAN BRI. Eventually, there were rumours in 2018, that the Chinese option is leading the race because its just the better option overall. Many ordinary people in Malaysia and possibly Singapore were unhappy about this. They always thought that Japan>China in everything. They think that this China has lobbied and bribed to win the project. Well, then came the 2018 Malaysian election and the Malaysian government changed. This new government, led by the most Sinophobic PM in Malaysian history, Mahathir Mohammad instantly cancelled the project. There was no consultation with Singapore about this, hence Singapore was very pissed-off. Mahathir cancelled the project unilaterally for two reasons: 1) To give the middle finger to China. 2) More importantly, to deny HSR to Singapore, who is an ethnic Chinese majority country. So its actually 100% Malaysia's fault, and 0% Singapore's fault for the cancellation of the HSR project. Then the rest is history.
Anti-China sentiment in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore is not going anytime soon. The Chinese HSR project in Indonesia is proof that China is not inferior to Japan and the West in infrastructure building. But the racists will always view Chinese construction ability with contempt. Too many Malaysians still do not trust China, or just hate China. Well fine, but what then has the West, Japan, Taiwan, SK, and other democracies have offered as alternative to China? Nothing. Because they do not view Malaysia as a country worth investing in. Its just to screwed up to do FDI business in Malaysia now if you want stability and good ROI. So now Malaysia is in a whirlpool of anti-China hysteria, massive loss of FDI, and economic stagnation. A fitting punishment for idiotic hubris.
