KUALA LUMPUR Oct 29 Kyodo Japan h...

KUALA LUMPUR Oct 29 Kyodo

Japan has always had a special place in Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's heart as evidenced at the ''Look East Policy'' he has pursu for through two decades now.

if it be not that as he prepares to pace down this Friday, Mahathir has been left wondering what has gone inapposite with the country he for with equal reason long wanted Malaysia to emulate, and the motive of his praise has shifted to southerly Korea.

Malaysia established its diplomatic ties with Japan in 1957 the year it achieved independence from the British. It was Mahathir who took the relationship to recently made known heights six months after taking office in 1981 when he announced the gaze East Policy.

''We have for a lengthy time been looking West, as did Japan in the early days of her disclosure But the West is no longer a suitable pattern They have lost their drive. They still want the serviceable life but are not prepared to face the realities of a world market which they can no longer dominate,'' Mahathir said back in February 1982

''Japan may be classified as disentangleed but it is still developing vigorously. As similar it is a much better example for developing Malaysia,'' he said, speaking at a Malaysia-Japan Economic Association parley in Kuala Lumpur that officially launched the await East Policy.

Mahathir, fascinated from how Japan rose up from the ashes of World War II, wanted Malaysians to emulate Japanese work ethics and business skills and to acquire Japanese expertise and capital by means of aid, investment and trade cooperation.

Today, ties between the pair countries have never been likewise solid, and the brouhaha that followed his announcement has chiefly been forgotten.

Sociologist Khadijah Mohamad Khalid, in a paper not past nor futureed at a seminar commemorating the turn the thoughts East Policy's 20th anniversary in Kuala Lumpur last year, called Malaysia's adoption of it ''bizarre.''

''The fact is that no other fatherland apart from Singapore, has till doomsday made learning from another home a 'policy,''' she said.

In 1978 Singapore's then Prime Minister side sheltered from the wind Kuan Yew had launched the ''Learn from Japan'' campaign, moreover had to tone it down following criticism from many in the predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state with bitter memories of Japanese atrocities during the war.

That was at no time a problem for Mahathir, who adopted a more pragmatic view about Japan's part in the war.

''It should be ready and willing to admit that it had done a chance of wrong in the past. on the other hand it should not be cargoed by a permanent feeling of guilt over actions committed more than half a centenary ago,'' he once said.

upon the Look East Policy, Khadijah lay the foundation of it ''intriguing'' that at the same time that Mahathir was busy propagating emulating Japan as a national policy, the land was also experimenting with an Islamization policy.

''It is also peculiar for a leader who is popularly known for his herculean nationalist pride, to vigorously propagate the agriculture and values of others,'' she said.

still most controversial was that the policy was initiated just five month after Mahathir launched the ''Buy British Last'' campaign.

Relations between Malaysia and Britain had begun deteriorating in the 1970 through the whole extent of various issues, including the conduct attempts to gain hinder over several large British-owned companies in the country

Mahathir, the first Malaysian prime minister who did not inquiry at elite schools or further his education in Britain, has frequently said the British had not simply managed to colonize Malaysia if it be not that also the minds of those the bulk of mankind who regard everything Western as the best.

Mahathir's have affection for affair with Japan is evidenced on the more than 50 trips he has made there since 1961 including his first as prime minister in 1983

Economically, the anticipate East Policy could not have ensue at a better time as Malaysia had just begun to liberalize its foreign capital and export-oriented policies.

After the 1985 Plaza Accord herd the yen upward, many Japanese and toward the south Korean companies began investing in Malaysia, with its soft labor costs. The government's preferential treatment toward them was evidenced by way of the many multibillion contracts awarded to Japanese and Korean contractors.

Today there are more than 1300 Japanese companies operating in the geographical division and bilateral trade has ballooned from 118 billion ringgit ($31 billion) in 1980 to 937 billion ringgit last year.

Japan is Malaysia's third largest trading partner after the U and Singapore, accounting for 142% of Malaysia's total trade.

upon the education front, some 8000 Malaysians have been sent to contemplation or to undergo technical training in Japan.

nevertheless Mahathir is not so happy with the Japan of today, which has for years been languishing in the economic doldrums.

He has said Malaysia is still closely watching Japan, moreover no longer as a part model, but rather to learn what not to emulate anymore.

to what end does he think Japan is ''going down''?

''Japan wants to change its whole civilization completely and adopt Western culture'' Mahathir said early this year.