Mahathir says no plan to export M'sian culture, praises Japanese and Korean values

PUTRAJAYA ― The government does not plan to have Malaysia export arts and culture despite adopting a return of the Look East Policy, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday (June 21).

The prime minister told Malay Mail that making arts, culture and heritage a viable export was not on the cards just yet, as “all that comes after you have good values”.

Japan and South Korea have seen a rise of pop culture exports over the last three decades including anime, manga, music, movies, design, fashion, food and tourism in government-backed initiatives.

The currency of soft power is culture, political values, and foreign policies. Japan and South Korea, and more recently China, have adopted culture as a means to expand their economy.

“The reason why Japan and South Korea succeeded is their culture, their value system,” said Dr Mahathir.

“For them, working hard is normal. For them, there is a strong sense of shame if you are asked to do something and you fail.”

The Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman said while in the old days, shame of failure would have led to them killing themselves, “that sense of shame is still there, so striving to be the best is a part of their culture”.

“They are hardworking, they want to do their best, they don’t want to be caught cheating because ‘malu’ (shame),” he said.

He said the understanding of “malu” differed in Malaysia.

“The Malay concept of ‘malu’ is if you go to a public place and suddenly your trousers fall off... ‘aaa malu’. That is the Malay ‘malu’.

“The Japanese ‘malu’ is failure. And because of that desire not to fail, they have to work hard, they have to be trustworthy and those values contribute to the success of Japan,” said Dr Mahathir.

While he agreed that the “Made in Malaysia” pride too should make a return, he pointed out that it all comes after embracing pride and honour as core values. MALAY MAIL