What does Southeast Asia really want?

KUALA LUMPUR: These are perhaps glory days for Southeast Asia, at least in the eyes of many from outside the region. Economically, ours is the fastest-growing region in the world, the envy of many others who are still wallowing in their stagnation. And while many neighbor countries in other parts of the world are sporadically — if not periodically — getting at each other's throats, most if not all Southeast Asian nations, despite their vastly different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, are prospering in their relative harmony with one another.

Sure, those of us who have to make our livelihood within the region sometimes have our vociferous complaints about our socioeconomic or political conditions. We are not immune from the wide disparity between the very rich and the very poor, for example. But which region of the world does not suffer from the same? At least our economies are growing, while theirs are not necessarily so.