The Malaysian queen brought alive a sepia page from the Singapore-Malaysia history through a twitter post on Friday. And this page from history bears her signature culinary accomplishment as well! Queen Tunku Azizah tweeted about how much Singapore's founding leader and legendary statesman Lee Kuan Yew loved her special shrimp chilli paste (sambal belacan) preparation.
"I have wanted to share this with the people of Malaysia for a long time. I used to be the official sambal belacan supplier to the PM of Singapore, Dato Lee Kuan Yew... and now supply to his son, PM Lee, too!" the queen wrote. She also posted a letter from the former prime minister in which he told the queen that her belacan was "the best chilli belacan" that he had tasted.
This is the letter posted by the queen, who is the sister of the Johor Sultan, Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.
The current Malaysian King Abdullah, who is also the Sultan of the state of Pahang, and Queen Azizah of Malaysia were crowned in January 2019. Singapore and Malaysia, which now share cordial neighbourly relations, had a troubled past before the final separation in 1965. Singapore and Malaysia became distinct countries in 1966 and Lee is credited with developing the tiny state as one of the most advanced and prosperous territories in the world.
