In Korea, General Park, in Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, in Indonesia General Suharto, in Malaysia, Dr. Mahatir Mohammad, in the Philippines General Ramos after Marcos were the shining lights in their respective countries. Whatever their faults they took upon themselves the responsibility to steer the course of economic development and produced tangible results for their nations.
In the absence of strong leadership or strong institutions, the difficulties are compounded and the time taken to reach the goal post is elongated. (k) Regional integration: Finally, the Asian economies have been recording very high growth rates in times of turbulence in the world economy, slow down in the US and European economies and overall stagnation.