Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, established political regimes across the region have been dismantled or have fallen apart. President Suharto's 30-year reign of autocracy came to an abrupt halt in Indonesia. Changes of government have occurred in Thailand, South Korea and India. Most recently, the ousting of the Kuomintang government in Taiwan is nothing short of a revolution. Now even officials from government party UMNO in Malaysia feel that their removal from office is a possibility.
These changes to government have their roots in the forces that were unleashed in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The forces - namely demands for accountability, transparency and decency - are the forces that are also changing Asia's business and financial landscape. Companies with established businesses in the old economy are being forced to change and adapt to the new economy if they want to see their stock keep pace with their competitors. Investors are forcing companies into this course of action and in the process forcing the companies to ditch their ways of the past.
Not a day passes that another old economy company announces that it is re-inventing itself for the internet age.
Shareholders want change
Whether or not this is the right thing to do, what is evident is that companies are doing this because of third parties. Asian companies are now more accountable to third parties - namely shareholders as well as customers - who want them to act transparently and decently, and in a different way from how they acted in the past. In short, they want change.
In the same way that companies are acting according to the wishes of their shareholders, governments in the region have to act according to the wishes of their electorates. It just goes to prove the old adage that the customer is always right. And if that customer is buying machine parts through a website, buying a company's stock online, or voting out a 30-year-old government, it is the faceless masses who hold the key to success.
While the faceless masses might not always be right, it is impossible not to be affected by their views. The days of dictatorial power are ebbing away in Asia, and the real power - political and financial - is moving into the hands of the people. Viva La Revolucion!
