> The whole region was undergoing transition from developing to highly developed
From the said region. This is objectively no.
Singapore and Korea are the only twos. Korea is not even in the region.
Other countries are rampant with corruptions, political problems, and incompetence. Think of Trump and multiply it by 10. My prediction is that Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines , Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, and etc. will never become developed. These countries are too big to change and the legacy systems (that are insanely corrupted) are too powerful.
Take Thailand for example. It's objectively bad to have military run the country. Apart from corruption, they are just incompentent; it's well known and blatant. Yet almost half of the country supports a military government.