Prashant Waikar, a research analyst at RSIS, said that during Malaysia Finance Minister Lim Guan’s Budget 2019 speech, one statement that caught media attention was the plan to issue “samurai” bonds – yen-denominated bonds that foreign entities can issue to raise capital – in Japan. He said that this signified PM Mahathir Mohamad’s move to expand the possibilities of cooperation with Japan, a country that he has long admired.