firstly, i really dun think the term first world, 3rd world,
whatever, applies in the today's context, nor is it diplomatically
an acceptable term.
2ndly, `3rd world region', not sure if mr menthol is implying Asia
Pacific, or even SEA, cannot be correctly be substantiated becos
even 3rd world countries like china, india, thailand,malaysia, etc.
clearly have caught up with sg in any of the infrastructure
advantage, pool of skilled workers, etc. i mean, case in point, 10
years ago, u go to shanghai and u can deduce that it's decidedly
`3rd world', but today? no way. similarly, sg `looked down' on
malaysia in the late 20th century (circa 80s/90s) as having the 2nd
best in every thing. today? whilst sg is still ahead in certain
areas, i argue tt malaysia is on par with sg on many other areas,
or even surpass sg in certain areas like road infrastructure. the
gap is certainly narrowed.
political instability? i dun see any crippling dissent that is
turning any ctry upside down. for all the reports we read about the
spat in MY via Dr M, the political upheavel in TH, etc., i was in
those places recently and life goes on for the majority of the
people. i wld argue that is will actually help in the process of
`maturing' the society in those countries in the long run.
