It's barely three weeks into Mahathir Mohamad's comeback as Malaysian prime minister, and people are watching closely to see how much the 92-year-old has really changed now that he heads an entirely different ruling alliance. During his previous time in power from 1981 to 2003, Malaysia's relations with its nextdoor neighbour Singapore were often rocky. But for the first time, Mahathir is now dealing with the son of Singapore's late founder Lee Kwan Yew and many are wondering how bilateral relations will fare this time round. Rian Maelzer reports from Kuala Lumpur.

RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "Malaysia's new government had been in office barely a week when Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong flew up to meet with prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, a seemingly cordial start to the new phase of bilateral relations.

But then Mahathir announced that Malaysia wants to scrap the planned 17 billion dollar high-speed rail link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, an initiative that Singapore strongly backed.

And at a press conference this week, Mahathir revealed that Malaysia intends to create a small island on some offshore rocks that Malaysia and Singapore had both previously claimed.

The International Court of Justice had awarded those rocks to Malaysia. Another outcrop called Pedra Branca was awarded to Singapore but Malaysia appealed the decision. This week Malaysia announced it has dropped that appeal, a move Singapore's government welcomed.

And while Malaysia is scrapping the high-speed rail, it remains committed to building a mass rapid transit link between its southern-most city and Singapore.

And there have been other early examples of cooperation. Singaporean investigators met with their Malaysian counterparts Thursday to discuss how they can work together to unravel the giant corruption scandal involving state investment firm 1MDB.

So overall, a promising start to relations between Singapore and the new Malaysian government, with none of the fractious rhetoric that so often marked ties last time Mahathir was prime minister. RM, CGTN, KL."