Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday urged Japan to continue to play a leading role in Asia through continued investment and stressed that a new international financial system to stabilize currencies is needed.

In a keynote speech at a Tokyo symposium sponsored by the Institute for International Monetary Affairs, Mahathir stressed that his country still believes there is much to learn from Japan. "Japan must rebuild its economy by employing all its assets, and providing the leadership all of Asia needs. Japan has the means to resuscitate East Asia," he said, calling especially for more investment from Japan.

Investment would shore up the economy of a recipient nation and as a result enable it to become a better buyer of Japanese products, he said. At the same time, he reiterated his concern over short-term capital flows from investors that he said were leading to excessive volatility in the exchange markets of Asia regardless of relatively solid economic fundamentals.