He said he would also hold informal talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Every year, Mahathir delivers his lecture at an annual forum organised by financial daily Nikkei Shimbun.

This time, he said he would meet Abe.

“But we are not talking about anything very substantial. The focus will be to strengthen friendship between Malaysia and Japan,” he added.

“Also, I want to speak a bit more on the Look East policy.”

Mahathir had introduced the Look East policy after he became the fourth prime minister in 1981, in the wake of a trade dispute with Britain.

Mahathir had then launched a “buy British last” campaign.

The Look East Policy was to encourage Malaysians to be trained with Japanese work ethics, and to emulate successful development models in Asia instead of looking to Western countries.

In January this year, Mahathir, 92, again expressed his admiration for Japanese work ethics.

“The Japanese worked hard to change their country which was so poor after the war. They’ve rebuilt it into a rich country,” he had said.

“They did it by working hard and being ashamed of failure. It was their culture that enabled them to change the future direction of their country,” he added.

Why Malaysia should still ‘look East’ to Japan

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/07/26/fresh-lease-for-dr-ms-look-east-policy/

Mahathir’s stinging appraisal of work ethics among Malays