Mahathir’s Look East Policy revisited: A closer look at its implementation and implication aspects

Mahathir’s Look East Policy was first announced in 1982 and had since been a popular discourse topic in and about Malaysia. However, very few of the discussion focused on the rationalizations and implication aspects of the policy and which this study sought to centre-stage. The study found that when Mahathir announced the policy there was a more implicit agenda of rigorously persuading Malaysians to look and go beyond the Japanese work ethics and developing a mindset liberated from the dictum that all from the West is best. Mahathir’s achievement in developing this new mindset was mixed as it proved very difficult to wean Malaysians off a long socialization of Western values given Malaysia’s British colonial history and the practical fact that Japanese is not an easy language to master and to help enable Malaysians appreciate Japanese culture, work ethics and other sensibilities in a big way.