JAKARTA/LONDON -- In his memoirs, Singapore's late-founding father Lee Kuan Yew reminisced about attending a 1962 Commonwealth meeting between the British prime minister and leaders of the Dominions to discuss the U.K.'s application to join the European Economic Community, now the European Union.

Asia Insight
'Global Britain' woos ASEAN in fields of former empire
But post-Brexit UK may have to wait out higher priorities for Southeast Asia