East Asia to lead the charge.

According to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir,East Asia namely China,Taiwan,Japan,South Korea and to a lesser extend India will lead the Asian charge.There are two reasons why these Asian nations have done so well in their economic pursuits i.e its productivity and strong work ethic.These two traits will ensure that the 21st century belongs to Asia.He even mentioned that Middle East is the "the failed part" of the continent and mocking them as a people who stabbed each other despite "loving peace a lot".These Middle Eastern countries are not going to exert much impact on the Asian economic front.But it doesn't matter because Asia is such a big place.However,the former premier warned of the increasing trend among young people to ape Western culture.Today there are places in Tokyo where you see young people with multi-coloured hair who look like Red Indians.These are young people who have adopted Western values.Dr.Mahathir also said that Asia would lose its competitive advantage if it allowed such thinking to flourish.