Asia's economic crisis has threatened the continuation of the exchange programs that many countries of the region employ to send students to Japan. Acting prior to the start of a new school year in FY 1998 and on requests from the Malaysian and Thai governments, Japan extended emergency grants to keep government student exchange programs in those countries running at least for another year.

In line with the "Look East" policies championed by Prime Minister Mahathir, Malaysia has been running a student exchange program with Japan since 1982. However, austerity fiscal measures recently threatened that program with termination; in fact, some 250 Malaysian students who had already completed a two-year preparatory course in their country faced the prospect of abandoning their plans for study in Japan. However, responding to a request from the Malaysian government, Japan provided a total of around 450 million yen in emergency aid to cover the travel expenses and one-year living costs in Japan this year for about 250 new exchange students as well as the cost of preparatory courses (for approximately 500 students in two classes) essential to continuation of the exchange program for several more years. In addition, it has furnished Thailand with about 100 million yen in aid to cover the travel expenses and one-year living costs in Japan for 17 new Thai exchange students, as well as the one-year living expenses for 27 Thai students already studying in Japan.

Azumi Bin Abdul Hamid and Reduan Hanif Bin Hashim are two of the students who were on the verge of giving up their hopes of pursuing exchange study until the Japanese government stepped in with emergency aid. Both have expressed strong gratitude for the helping hand that Japan extended them. They are now studying mechanical and electrical engineering at Tokyo Industrial University. Their dream has been brought to life with Japanese assistance in the arena of human resources development.

Azumi Bin Abdul Hamid (left) and Reduan Hanif Bin Hashim