“I pay la”
“No la, let me pay”
“Eh, you come from far just to see me. Never mind, let me pay.”
“Aiya… don’t be like that la. Pai seh.”
“No need to pai seh one. This time it’s my treat; next time it’s yours.”
“Ok la, thank you.”

The end

It began some time in the 17th century when the Dutch and the British were at war. They fought for 3 years and the Dutch was too strong. Of course, the Englishmen didn’t like them as they were mortal enemies, so they began to form stereotypical views of the Dutch. Among those views, the Dutch were misers or stingy. So when someone says “Let’s go Dutch”, they’re probably trying to say “Hey, since neither of us want to give a treat because we’re stingy, might as well pay for our own meal.”

Cool, huh? By the way, I didn’t make up this story. I found it somewhere – true or not, I don’t know. If you discover a different version somewhere else, share with us.

Let’s go Malaysian? Hmm… yeah, perhaps. It can be used to mean “no need to be so punctual”