It was the idea that Britain wasdividedintotwo nations, between rich and poor, and it was the job of a paternalistic government to unite the country into one nation.
It is also worth remembering that when Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia set up ASEAN in 1967, Southeast Asia wasdividedintotwo Cold War blocs: communist Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, versus the other essentially pro-Western nations (apart from non-aligned Burma).