Kuala Lampur, Nov. 21 -- Walk into a crowded Bangsar coffee shop on a Sunday. Read out these names:

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh, Mahadi Che Ngah, Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan and Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz.

Then ask, who are they?

A miracle if anyone chimes in, "So obvious, dude, it's the last five Kuala Lumpur mayors."

Verily, you can hand the keys to the city to the genius who offers the answer.

My impudence extends as far as to suggest these coffee drinkers through this exercise are shocked to learn the city has a mayor.

After all, it's probably the only major city in the world inside a democracy without an elected mayor, ever. Put that in the Malaysian Book of Records.

Nothing particular against the five names, th...