I think it can be boiled down to how the majority of Asia (that includes regions like SEA) that heavily value national representation due to how a lack of representation of them on the international stage, especially in a global PC esports scene like Valorant (and insert other national sports teams here).
When we heavily pride ourselves of being from that region in particular, naturally we would want to see homegrown talents from said region to be seen on a global stage. Representation comes first, performance second.
That's the true Achilles Heel of our regional mindset as a whole. When people want their country to be seen, is it worth the potential drop or rise in performance? SA is already troubled with pings and an isolation in scrims since the inception of the Conquerers Championship all the way in 2021. I've seen the amount of good talents there, it's just the matter of getting the talent out of the bubble.