Kuala Lampur, Oct. 20 -- After a heavy downpour one afternoon, I found myself walking across a narrow bridge over Sungai Pantai in UM. The water below churned with mud and broken branches, and every now and then, something unexpected floated by - a shoe, a leaf, a crushed plastic bottle - each swept along by the same relentless current.

I stopped for a moment to watch. The river was in a hurry to go somewhere. And then, as if on cue, the familiar tune of Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 Bridge Over Troubled Water surfaced quietly in my mind.

"When you're weary, feeling small,

When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;

I'm on your side when times get rough,

Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down."

Standing there, the br...