DR Mahathir Mohamad’s return as prime minister after the 14th general election has restored the faith of Japanese industries in the Malaysian market, said a high-ranking Japanese official.

The Japanese ambassador to Malaysia, Makio Miyagawa, said Japanese industries had hesitated to make investments in Malaysia over the past three years due to risks in the country’s political and economic circumstances.

“Media reports in the past few years did not give us good prospects for the future of Malaysia, particularly in its strategic engagement, industrial policies, and economic strategy.

“With the comeback of Dr Mahathir, I’m sure our industries will be very delighted to think positively of their engagement with Malaysia and its industries,” he told Bernama today.

Japan is Malaysia’s largest foreign direct investment (FDI) contributor. Last year, its FDI stock to Malaysia was approximately US$13 billion (RM51.7 billion).

Miyagawa said the new policies announced by the new Malaysian government showed the country was ready to keep “its house in order” by cleaning up its debts, and Japan was keen to engage with Malaysia’s new administration.

He said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was looking forward to meeting Dr Mahathir when the latter visits Tokyo for the 24th International Conference on The Future of Asia from June 11-12.

Both sides are currently preparing for what will be Dr Mahathir’s first visit since being sworn in as the country’s seventh prime minister last month.

During Dr Mahathir first stint as the country’s fourth prime minister from 1981-2003, he introduced the Look East Policy, which created a benchmark for Malaysia-Japan bilateral relations.

Reciprocating Dr Mahathir’s desire to revive the Look East Policy, Miyagawa said Abe and the Japanese government looked forward to reinvigorating relations between the two countries, including in trade and investments.

“We would like to evaluate the effectiveness and meanings of the policy and we would be very happy to expand and broaden the policy,” he said, adding that with the current positive outlook, Japan hoped its cooperation with Malaysia would help expand employment and improve Malaysia’s technology.

On the Mahathir administration’s decision to scrap the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed railway (HSR) project, in which Japan was a keen bidder, Miyagawa said he understood and respected the decision.

The envoy said Japan was willing to wait and would be there once Malaysia was ready to reconsider the project in the future.

“With the accumulated debt being so huge, I think Malaysia’s priority is to keep the house in order. When Malaysia is ready, we will be more than happy to engage with Malaysia once again,” he said.

Miyagawa said that when that time came, Japan’s proposal would consider human resource development, technology transfer, and beneficial engagement with Malaysia and Singapore industries. – Bernama, June 4, 2018.