But before we start throwing our weight around and pulling money out of the region, and out of some big-name funds, a little perspective is required.
In a year that has been characterised by volatility and risk aversion, it is hardly surprising that regions viewed as high risk have suffered.
If you look at any of the market indices and quite a few of the currencies in Asia, they have fallen sharply since the start of the year.
Depending on the index and time period referenced, the size of the slump differs. But it is virtually universal to see losses of mid- to high- teens.
On that basis, some funds in the sector have performed rather well.
Beating the benchmark
"The market is down 16.5% YTD, so you would need a lot of risk, a lot of tracking error, just to get to zero," says Ben Gutteridge, head of fund research at Brewin Dolphin.
Simon James, founder partner at Gore Browne Investment Management, agrees: "Rather than saying they have done badly, they have actually done well and the ones who have done well are the usual suspects.
"You typically find Newton, Schroders and First State tend to do well and indeed they are the companies whose funds have outperformed this year," he added.
According to Financial Express, in the 12 months to the end of November, the Newton Asian Income Fund has returned 0.27% – the only fund in positive territory.
Next in line is the First State Asia Pacific Leaders Fund, with a loss of 4.5% over the period, followed by the Schroder Asian Income Maximiser down 4.86% for the year.
Over three and five years, each of these funds has returned significantly higher though, and this is something that should be kept in mind.
"There’s a good lesson to be learned here about not being short-termist," says James.
While advisers and fund pickers espouse the long-term approach, in the face of poor results over a shorter timeframe, it can be hard to stick to your guns.
These funds do not have absolute return mandates though and given the fact the top 50 or so funds have outperformed the index, perhaps it’s time to cut the active fund managers some slack.
The best will come good
James says: "Those managers that are invested in companies with strong balance sheets, good cash flow, stable demand for their products and which are probably paying dividends are the ones that have done well, and over the long term they have done extremely well."
The manager of the Newton Asian Income Fund, Jason Pidcock, is one of these men, and he agrees the income bias of his fund helps it outperform in bear markets.
"It is certainly the case that the fund should find it easier to outperform when markets are falling. It has outperformed every time there has been a significant fall in markets and has also managed to outperform in some of the periods when markets have gone up."
He said when you combine these strong performances in both bull and bear markets over five years his fund has had a very strong run.
Since the start of the year, Pidcock’s fund has seen positive inflows from both existing clients and new clients, which suggests investors are viewing it favourably within the sector.
He is philosophical about the fund’s performance over the past year: "There are some years where just going sideways and protecting your capital is all you can do because the environment is so negative.
"Given that equity markets globally have been down over that period, I would think many of our shareholders would be happy with the 0.27% return and if they have held it for three or five years they will be even happier," he concluded.