We begin this series in Malaysia. When Mahathir Mohamad was first prime minister of the country, he was known as an advocate of "Asian values". He promoted a "Look East" policy that looked to Asia to find economic partners and role models for Malaysia's development. Now, 15 years after he stepped down, Mahathir is back in power and touting some of those same principals. He seems to have inspired Malaysians to uphold values like hard work and frugality, as Rian Maelzer reports from Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia's new cabinet ministers admit they struggle to keep up with the 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, whose tireless work ethic reflects the Asian values he long espoused. Those values also include thrift. But while Malaysians have a high savings rate, under the previous government, the national debt soared. Reducing that debt is a priority for the new governmen, just as back in 1997, 98, Mahathir sought to dig Malaysia out of the Asian financial crisis without blindly following the injunctions of Western institutions.

PROF. YEAH KIM LENG ECONOMIST, SUNWAY UNIVERSITY "We have seen some of these so-called values being implemented in a way that we see now the need to reduce our debt levels to make sure we remain independent of all the lenders."

Knowingly or not, Malaysians are now also reflecting those Asian values by pitching in to help alleviate the country's debt. This restaurant donated its day's take to a campaign called the Fund of Hope.

WONG SIEW LING RESTAURANT OWNER "We want to help the new government and to help make sure our future generations have a better future. We sell one dish for six ringgit, for 20 dishes people would give us 50 ringgit. We're working together to help the new government."

The restaurant raised nearly 6000 dollars. The national effort has topped 30 million.

RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "Mahathir 2.0 has also reaffirmed his support for a policy he espoused last time round, which he called 'Look East'. In those days, that largely meant emulating Japan's hard work, loyalty and collective effort, and looking to that country as an economic partner."

But much has changed since 80s and 90s.

PROF. YEAH KIM LENG ECONOMIST, SUNWAY UNIVERSITY "We need to broaden the concept of the 'Look East' policy to actually cover both Japan and importantly, China, being the second largest economy in the world."

No matter what tag one puts on Mahathir's guiding philosophy, though, we can be sure that to paraphrase his favourite song, he'll do it his way. Rian Maelzer, CGTN, Kuala Lumpur.