Success and failure are always relative to something. If the zeitgeist (whatever that means) is no longer in favor of direct colonization then a "successful" policy would be one that achieves a soft landing. Since the zeitgeist is (almost by definition) unknowable in full in real time, even the soft landing is not going to land where the first planners of soft landing imagined it was headed. Being able to land softly, wherever that may be (mildly in favor of the Sarawak People's Front if need be) is the best outcome in most cases.
I will now take off my stoic-cynic-zenpundit hat... until next time