This is false. In relative terms, they come out with a more important role to play. There is quite a debate over the policy lessons. We need to look at countries that pursue policies at variance from the mainstream, and continue to prosper. The major concerns among the South-East Asian countries would be the economic crisis, which also leads in some countries to political crisis and social problems.
Unemployment is one of the serious problems in quite a number of countries in Southeast Asia.
The lessons learned from the crisis will lead to an improvement in economic, political, and social systems. The crisis that has hit Asia will, in time, rank as a defining moment for the region, just as the Great Depression ranks for the rest of the world. At the same time, the other thing that has been brought out by the crisis is the extent to which civil-society elements have already been developed throughout the region. And therein lies the hope for recovery and eventual stability and regeneration. The relationship between politics and economics has been brought home, as well as the larger issue that, in a more fundamental sense, this is a crisis of governance rather than an economic crisis.