a war doesn't happen out of a sudden. there will be clear signs that a war is about to break out. at that stage, the majority of the FT would have get out of Singapore already. the Malaysians who haven't left Singapore will be rounded up and placed in prison camps. China apparently has 1 million citizens in Singapore. if the signs are clear that the war is certain to happen. China will send sea and air transports accompanied by military power to evacuate their 1 million citizens, and they would demand that Singapore and Malaysia to hold back their military operations until the evacuation is complete. don't think Singapore nor Malaysia will dare to start the war when the Chinese evacuation is ongoing. evacuate 1 million people ? how long would it take ?
even if it is just a limited scale battle like some air or sea battles or artillery strikes over the causeway. the region is still considered a war zone now. bet the vast majority of FT will still get out of Singapore.
U are exactly right in the assessment except for the part about the 2 countries holding hostility until China evacuates its citizens or other countries evacuate theirs. That is not going to happen. Each side will strike when they think it suits them. When hostilities are imminent, (maybe a little exchange of gun fire on the causeway, maybe the 2 navies have a little shoot out in the south china sea, etc.) and other countries will be telling their citizens to avoid singapore and malaysia, and to leave. there will be a stampede to get out. Only the rich and privilege will be able to get out on private jets and whatever airline flights are available. Imagine the largest airliner can take 550 passengers, and the average airliner maybe 200 passengers. You need thousands of flights in a very short time period to airlift out 2 million FTs, plus at any one time 300,000 tourists. To make it worse, All major airlines will stop flying here because their insurance coverage does not extend to a war zone or conflict zone. Same for ships. Unless the FTs have money, they will not be able to get out. the rest, and that means well over a million who don't have the money will have to wait for their countries to send their respective navies to sealift them out of singapore.
In fact, its to our advantage if non of the FTs leave at all. FTs comprise 40% of the population, which means that for every 100 people killed in any attacks by Malaysia, 40 of them will be citizens of other countries. Its a great hostage tool. I have long maintain that if you let in so many FTs, there has to be a pay off in some other areas. We can reduce our defence spending from $12 billion to $2 billion with all these FTs around. stupid PAP.