The Asian Economic Crisis:
Effects of the Crisis on Asians

The economic crisis in Asia has long implemented its roots of pain within the hearts and minds of many Asians. It has caused many to be homeless, suffering under the immense and sudden loss of wealth. Looking at different countries, we can now understand what the effects the crisis had on its citizens.

Student dropout rates had been on the rise since the economic crisis. These students often had to work for hard-earned cash or help out at local businesses to support the family. Some had unemployed parents or retrenched parents. Therefore, these students had to dropout in order to keep a living. Hunger and malnutrition spread fast through India and other countries in Asia where the population had little to eat, and children were beginning to resort to each things such as flies. Child labor was on the rise, as young innocent children were being forced to work for others for a cheap sum of money, sometimes even for free. With that, prostitution comes into the picture, in which young ladies resort to selling their body just for some cash. Crime rates rose rapidly as well, with many resorting to rioting and stealing to get food or anything else that was lacking in the house.

The economic crisis bolstered the internal immigration between Asian countries. People from poor nations would flee to more prosperous ones hoping to get a better job there and earning more money. Examples include people emigrating from Philippines to Hong Kong and from Laos to Thailand. Quite a huge percentage of these immigrants were domestic maids.

Citizens in South Korea had turned desperate due to continuing unemployment, despite the fact that this is the country where people expect and plan to stay with the same company through their entire working lives. People were being let go from these companies, thus bringing significant changes in their lives. The change was made even more difficult by the fact that the city had become very prosperous after the Korean war. With the economic crisis, some people were not getting their monthly salary for more than 6 months.

Indonesia could be considered the worst hit among all countries affected by the economic crisis. This was because the nation was undergoing one of its most violent political upheavals, in which former President Suharto was forced to step down after 30+ years of reign. Many people starved due to inflation rates and the devaluation of the rupiah. Such starving people then resorted to rioting in East Timor and other cities in Indonesia. Ethnic Chinese were often the victims of riots and looting, for the Chinese were generally more prosperous -- many being hardworking by nature and with business prospects elsewhere in the world. Indonesians' unhappiness over the government's failure to aid them finally resorted to the overthrowing of Suharto's regime.