He acknowledged that it was the “accepted norm” to look to the Western economies for Malaysia to learn from, but that he found the West “unappealing”.

“They seemed to suffer from the derailment of their (economic) progress, making them somewhat unappealing as a model nation for an ambitious Third World nation (Malaysia) to learn from,” he said at the “40th Anniversary of the Look East Policy – A conversation with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad” organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.

“It was different with the East, especially with Japan. It was an exciting period as we witnessed how Japan was like the proverbial ‘rising phoenix’.

“It was literally rising from the ashes of war and was rebuilding itself from utter devastation, and (rebuilding) its economy that had been crippled and crumbled,” he said.

Mahathir went on to say that Malaysia was in need of a policy shift and to emulate a nation that could be used as a model in charting its progress and economic pursuits.

Apart from the country’s progress in industrialisation, he said, he was impressed by the Japanese work ethic that emphasised a sense of responsibility, ensuring organisational success.

The Japanese workers, he noted, took pride in their work and believed that failure to perform was something to be ashamed of.

“With such an attitude in everything that they manufacture and produce, Japan is associated with efficiency and quality, and it was only a matter of time before they would overtake the West.”

Mahathir said that when he served as the fourth prime minister, he sent 10,000 Malaysians, including students and civil servants, to Japan to learn the Japanese work ethic. Now the number has increased to 26,000.

He called upon the country to send more people to study in Japan, and for Malaysia to look to Japan to improve its education system.

Meanwhile, in his proposal to update the Look East Policy as it enters its 40th anniversary, Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Takahashi Katsuhiko also encouraged Japan to send more Japanese to further their studies here, as well as to learn how to manage a diverse society.