Geographic proximity, ethnic and cultural links, and deep trade integration closely bind the economies and financial markets of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore together. In many respects, they are seen as a bloc despite the many substantial differences in their economic development, financial sophistication and regulatory framework. From the perspective of international investors, the circumstances of one affects perceptions of the other two, and this had an important bearing on financial market dynamics and positions in 1997 and 1998, intimately intertwining outcomes in the three countries' financial markets.

The experiences of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in 1997 and 1998 also feature many of the extremes of the east Asian financial crisis. Indonesia, on the one hand, had the most tempestuous experience, with its currency at one stage losing 85 per cent of its value against the dollar and its financial and economic system routed. Singapore, on the other hand, had one of the most stable economies and financial systems of the region, and its asset markets experienced the least disruption and volatility. Indonesia, on the one hand, experienced substantial buying of its currency by macro hedge funds in late 1997 after the falls in regional currencies left many with the view that the initial depreciations had been overdone. Malaysia, on the other hand, experienced some of the most aggressive currency selling by highly leveraged institutions seen in the region, especially in 1998.