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It's not hard to be impressed with Asia. Japan is still the second-most prosperous country in the globe. In China and India, it has two of the fastest growing economies of the decade. Bangladesh's success with micro-finance has lent a new dimension to banking with the poor of Asia.
Lee Kuan Yew and his leadership (and allowance of gambling) of Singapore (as Minister Mentor) have ensured its progress despite the displacement of high-wage jobs to poorer countries in rest of Asia. Vietnam has shed it shoddy communist past to embrace socio-capitalism, which has allowed it to grow at 7.5% in 2005 and an estimated 8.2% in 2006. Malaysia, which set its ambition in having its position in Asia, is reaching there with alacrity, according to its former dynamic Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. And South Korea, the better half of the Koreas, is close to a per capita GDP of $ 20,000.

But, just a reality check for investors who just can't seem to get enough of Asia.

It still has one of the most irrational and repressive regimes (North Korea) of the world that can threaten the Asian surge. Democracies are floundering at the edge. (Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, etc). Dictatorial regimes exist aplenty denying their citizens the basic human rights. (Pakistan, Burma, Mongolia). Ethnic divisions are pervasive. (India, Malaysia). Add to that the bizarre happenings that occur in Philippines where protestors coming out on streets to demand the removal of their chief leader are no longer enticing even for their robust media.

Asia's "paradoxical" situation isn't the first of its case. Gangsters ruled Chicago in the 1920's, but that didn't stop its economy from growing. Until recently, Italy had a powerful mafia and a thriving economy that made it into the select group of euro nations. Even more recently, Russian central bankers and journalists are being shot dead, but the dollar-based RTS Index is at more than 1600 points, close to its record high of 1765.

It's easy to claim that politics and economics are different entities and need not necessarily be correlated. But corrupt Zaire continued to receive foreign aid during the Cold war years not for feeding its poor and impoverished but for its crucial vote in multi-lateral institutions.

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* Contributed by: -
Vishal Bhargava,
Worked at BA Continuum Solutions,
Currently studying at Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai.