Malaysian Ambassador to South Korea extolled the 50-plus years of bilateral ties with South Korea by underscoring her country’s renewed Look East Policy, during a reception celebrating the Southeast Asian nation’s 57th National Day at a hotel in Seoul in earlier this month.

Dato Rohana Ramli, Malaysia’s ambassador here, said Malaysia’s first Look East Policy was so successful that the country reintroduced it 30 years later in 2012 in the policy’s “second wave.”

“The difference from the first wave is in its focus. The second wave of the LEP will develop more targeted programs with specific outcomes to contribute toward Malaysia’s pursuit of becoming a high-income country by 2020,” she said. 

The first Look East Policy was initiated by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who sought to strengthen political and economic ties among East Asian nations, particularly looking to Japan and South Korea as models of national development.

“Malaysia finds Korea’s achievements in many areas, particularly its economic development, amazing. Malaysia introduced the Look East Policy in 1982 to learn from Korea. This policy has shown many benefits,” she said. “As such, it has been reintroduced. It is now known as the ‘second wave’ of the Look East Policy.”

The first phase of the LEP focused on training and human resource development, and obtaining needed foreign direct investment, mostly from Japan. The second wave appears focused on trade and industrial cooperation, particularly in green technology, information and communications technology, and biotechnology.

South Korea is now the second-largest foreign investor in Malaysia’s manufacturing sector with $1.7 billion over 13 projects.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2014@heraldcorp.com)